All of us keep in mind Tom Cruise’s 2005 couch-jumping incident — the place he exultantly declared his love for then-girlfriend Katie Holmes mid–interview — however only one month later, the actor would have one other passionate outburst that lives on in infamy.
Whereas visiting As we speak to advertise Struggle of the Worlds (with Holmes wanting on off-camera), Cruise, then 42, obtained heated when host Matt Lauer questioned him about his criticism of Brooke Shields, who had beforehand revealed she relied on the assistance of antidepressants to deal with postpartum despair.
At one level, the star insisted Lauer didn’t “know the historical past of psychiatry.”
“I do,” Cruise proclaimed, earlier than passing judgment on Lauer whereas nonetheless stay on the air: “Matt, Matt, Matt, you’re glib.”
Preserve scrolling for a glance again on the tense change:
For 4 many years, Tom Cruise has been working laborious on our screens: sprinting throughout huge landscapes, leaping between rooftops and dodging explosions with the frenetic power and dazzling grin which have turn out to be his trademark. However past the death-defying stunts and age-defying bone construction lies an enigmatic determine. Some name him the final true film star. […]
Who Was Concerned
Solely America’s largest film star and a then-beloved TV persona!
Why We Keep in mind It
What began June 24, 2005, as the same old a.m. chitchat obtained cuckoo quick. For greater than 5 uncomfortable minutes, the actor tried to high school Lauer utilizing Scientology rules on why “psychiatry is a pseudoscience” (spoiler alert: it’s not, and PPD is a really actual situation that impacts one in seven pregnant girls).
The host pushed again (“Properly, if antidepressants work for Brooke Shields, why isn’t that okay?” he requested), however Cruise dismissed his arguments, at one level saying, “You don’t even know what Ritalin is.”
Key Particulars
On the time, Cruise had not too long ago changed his longtime publicist along with his sister. Inevitably, a string of misfires adopted. (Nepotism doesn’t at all times work out — shocker!)
The Aftermath
Everybody was speaking concerning the lack of Cruise management. The As we speak present acquired about 10,000 emails, versus the same old lots of. Shields responded to Cruise’s claims (that she ought to have handled PPD with nutritional vitamins and train) with a New York Instances op-ed piece titled “Struggle of Phrases.”
Brooke Shields (in 2005) wrote within the NYT that she hoped Cruise’s “rant” would carry “much-needed” consideration to PPD. L. Busacca/WireImage for Glamour Journal
Finally, the Prime Gun icon apologized to his former costar (they shared the display in 1981’s Countless Love) — albeit “not publicly, which might have been the proper factor to do,” she remarked in her current memoir, Brooke Shields Is Not Allowed to Get Previous.
He even invited her to Italy for his 2006 nuptials to Holmes. (They divorced in 2012.) Regardless of the blowback relating to Cruise’s claims and perspective, the incident actually didn’t harm the efficiency of Struggle of the Worlds: The sci-fi flick took in additional than $600 million.
A New Perspective
All is forgiven! “I got here throughout boastful. I completely may have dealt with that higher,” Cruise acknowledged on a 2008 return to As we speak. “I feel I realized a very good lesson.”
In the meantime, Lauer wished for a do-over on a 2014 episode of Watch What Occurs Dwell (the place he additionally placed on a “Tom Cruise” wig for a reenactment reverse Andy Cohen!). Concerning that tirade, the newsman stated, “I feel he obtained such a bum rap… To be sincere, he was an actual mensch after that. He got here and he apologized.”
Years later, Matt Lauer made mild of the interview on ‘WWHL’ with Andy Cohen. Watch What Occurs Dwell with Andy Cohen/YouTube
The place Are They Now?
Regardless of a bruised rep, Cruise stays a box-office powerhouse, at present in Mission: Unimaginable — the Last Reckoning.
Tom Cruise on the premiere of ‘Mission Unimaginable — The Last Reckoning’ in Could 2025 Toya Sarno Jordan/Getty Pictures for Paramount Footage
Lauer, who was fired in 2017 after alleged inappropriate sexual conduct, resides a quiet life within the Hamptons.
As for Shields, in her e-book she wrote that the entire flap “finally labored in my favor and in favor of girls in every single place.”
