Until Cruise took a swipe at her, she had been under the impression her career was going well. "Tom Cruise’s comments are irresponsible and dangerous," Shields said in London last week. "Tom should stick to saving the world from aliens and let women who are experiencing postpartum depression decide what treatment options are best for them."

Shields was referring to Cruise’s new sci-fi film, but she might have equally been thinking of Scientology, his religion, one aspect of which teaches that Xenu, an extraterrestrial, brought aliens to earth and exterminated them with hydrogen bombs but their souls stuck to the bodies of humans.