Not that I’ve ever been a fan
May 23, 2005 Read/heard/seen
But if I did like Tom Cruise, I sure wouldn’t now. Whatta jerk.
It has been a quarter-century since Tom Cruise was a bit player - and Brooke Shields the star - in the angst-filled teen romance movie “Endless Love.”
Now, both are in their 40s and have gone their separate ways: Cruise to box-office stardom and evangelizing for Scientology, and Shields to television sitcom and Broadway success, as well as motherhood and a new book about her battle with postpartum depression.
But in an exclusive interview to be aired Thursday on “Access Hollywood,” Cruise tells host Billy Bush that Shields was misguided when she took the anti-depressant Paxil to fight her depression after giving birth to daughter Rowan - which Shields recounts in her memoir, “Down Came the Rain”
Cruise, who zealously preaches the Church of Scientology’s hatred of all mind-altering drugs, tells Bush: “Here is a woman, and I care about Brooke Shields because I think she is an incredibly talented woman. You look at, where has her career gone?”
I didn’t know that Shields’ career was in trouble. She’s currently starring in the London production of “Chicago.” Her PR rep didn’t return my call.
The 42-year-old Cruise sat down with Bush - for interviews to be broadcast all this week - as part of a surprising publicity campaign hyping his romance with 26-year-old starlet Katie Holmes.
“These drugs are dangerous. I have actually helped people come off,” Cruise maintains to Bush. “When you talk about postpartum, you can take people today, women, and what you do is you use vitamins. There is a hormonal thing that is going on, scientifically, you can prove that. But when you talk about emotional, chemical imbalances in people, there is no science behind that. You can use vitamins to help a woman through those things.”
source: Tom to Brooke: Don’t be a Woman of Substance
May 23rd, 2005 at 8:53 pm
I’m so glad he knows all about how to help a woman through post partum depression the right way. Actors are generally known for their expertise in that area. Asshole.
May 23rd, 2005 at 9:47 pm
ah, yes. Vitamins, why didn’t any of us WOMEN ever think of that? Thanks, Tom.
May 23rd, 2005 at 10:30 pm
I’ve always hated Tom…this just gave me yet another reason to explain my hatred. Bleech.
May 23rd, 2005 at 11:15 pm
I hate actors. What an ass.
May 23rd, 2005 at 11:49 pm
Suddenly I think Nicole Kidman is Einstein.
May 24th, 2005 at 9:00 am
I KNOW. I read this yesterday and just about barfed on the keyboard.
May 24th, 2005 at 10:14 am
Heh. I can tell you, having become very depressed after two pregnancies, that I think the rx for zoloft should be started in the hospital, and if I ever get pregnant again, it will be. I waited months for the hormones to wear off to really enjoy and bond with Steven, whereas with these two I realized I was losing it & started zoloft after three weeks and felt much more loving (even without sleep!) after a week. Maybe vitamins would work, but why risk it? Why risk impaired bonding and psychosis and anxiety and visions of babies succumbed to SIDS 24-7?
May 24th, 2005 at 11:29 am
I guess I’m alone in this, but if he doesn’t believe in using mind-altering drugs, he certainly isn’t the only one. He has a right to his opinion, but tact is not only knowing what to say, but the right way to say it. He lacks tact. If he has that much respect for Brooke Shields, then he would have called her up and talked to her privately vs through a reporter. And the comment about her career was just crazy, last I checked he wasn’t the box office draw he used to be either.
May 24th, 2005 at 1:40 pm
I agree ebony, very tacky.
Does he take vitamins for being gay? (snarky, sorry, feeling pissy.)
May 24th, 2005 at 5:35 pm
Not only was his comment ignorant, it was just plain dangerous. Thousands of people NEED psychotropic drugs just to function on a daily basis. Many years ago when I had no health insurance, I was forced to try the vitamin/natural route. I tried a huge number of different treatments, with no relief. The only reason I’m still alive today is because of my meds.
May 24th, 2005 at 6:05 pm
I don’t care for Tom Cruise at all, and this ridiculous MEDIA MISSION he is on of late, is really tiresome. What the hell would he know about pregnancy and hormones? What the hell does he know about anything? He creeps me out. I have no intention of seeing War of the Worlds because he completely turns me off.
May 24th, 2005 at 6:56 pm
Did you see him on Oprah?? I thought of you when he said that he has *never* thought or talked about race with his son. His black son, that is. Oprah didn’t really press him. He just kept saying “that’s my son” as if being his son meant that race was irrelevant. And, of course, even if Tom Cruise “doesn’t see color” it seems like his son and the rest of the world might.
Anyway, it was crazy.
Best!
Margaret
May 24th, 2005 at 10:13 pm
Ugh, I know - I have NEVER been a fan, even when my classmates were swooning over Top Gun. And he just gets yuckier and yuckier in my estimation. What a jerk.
May 25th, 2005 at 11:03 am
How dare he criticize how Brooke Shields coped with postpartum - something he has never and will never have to experience!? And refresh my memory, when exactly did he become a pharmacologist?
May 26th, 2005 at 6:15 pm
I was going to mention the same Oprah appearance Margaret did where he talked about his son. Oprah also briefly mentioned the issues that Stephen Spielberg and his wife were having with their black daughter’s hair. Cruise (who was acting very manic and strange throughout the interview) was firmly in the “love is enough” camp of transracial adoption. His son is bi-racial but he of course kept saying “he is my son.” “I don’t see color” etc.. The transcript service I subscribe to isn’t working so I can’t get you an exact quote but it was clueless at best. Oprah seemed to want to explore the issue but I think didn’t wanted to get into it on air since she was so busy kissing his a**. t I would like to think that she said something to him after the show. Really a strange hour overall. This brooke Shields thing is just ridiculous. I think Mr. Cruise’s publicist needs to have a little talk with him about keeping your mouth shut when you don’t know what you’re talking about.