Leah Remini Says Her Role as a Mom 'Changed Overnight' After Daughter Left for College

Leah Remini is getting candid about life as an empty nester.

The PEOPLE Puzzler host, who is returning to Game Show Network to host season 3 of the series, recently chatted with PEOPLE about how she's feeling after sending her 18-year-old daughter off to college.

Remini, 52, previously revealed to fans through an Instagram post in September that her daughter Sofia headed off to her first year in college as Remini began her second year at NYU. However, Remini tells PEOPLE "things didn't go as planned" and her daughter recently started school at another college.

"I moved her into a dorm room and came home heartbroken to a quiet house. Things didn't go as planned, and we got our daughter home for another few months," she says. "In January, we moved her into another college and her apartment. It's been a few weeks since she left for the second time, and my husband and I are even more of a mess now."

Now that Sofia is back at school, Remini tells PEOPLE her "role changed overnight" as a mom.

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"I've had the best job of being a mom with my daughter at home for the past 18 years. While I will always be Sofia's mom, my role changed overnight, and it's hard to celebrate the change," she admits. "I miss her and worry too much about her on her own."

Remini, who shares Sofia with husband Angelo Pagan, also shared the update about her daughter's education in an Instagram post on Monday.

"One of the things I've learned in life is that there is always time to course correct," Remini wrote. "There's no sense in sticking to something that doesn't work for you. In any situation. At any point in your life."

"For many reasons, that school didn't make sense for her, so she left, and we got to have her home for a few more months," she explained, adding: "A few weeks ago, she started courses at another University, and we moved her into an apartment."

"She's back at it now, going through all the things a first-year college student should be going through, and we, her parents, are going through what parents like us go through," she added. "Crying, not knowing what to do with ourselves now other than looking at pictures and videos and crying some more."

Season 3 of PEOPLE Puzzler will air weeknights at 6:30 p.m. ET.