Cruise suggested Scientology's doctrine of "silent birth," emphasizing a calm, quiet atmosphere in the delivery room, free from screaming and shouts of "push!," was misunderstood and exaggerated by the media. "It's basically just respecting the mother, you know, and helping to be quiet. (But) not the mother. The mother makes as much noise ... you know, she's going through it. She does what she's gotta do, OK?"

Contrary to perceptions that Scientology frowns on giving painkillers to women in labor, Cruise added: "We're there, you know, with doctors. ... Whatever the woman wants. ... If she needs an epidural, she's gonna get her epidural." He denied a tabloid report that he had bought an adult pacifier to muffle the moans of his 27-year-old fiancee. Asked whether their baby would be given a Catholic baptism, Cruise said, "No," then added: "I mean you can be Catholic and be a Scientologist. You can be Jewish and be a Scientologist. But we're just Scientologists." "Katie, too?" Sawyer asked. "Katie, too," he replied.

It was the first public acknowledgment from the couple that Holmes has joined Cruise, one of Scientology's most prominent adherents, in embracing a faith founded by science-fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard. Cruise denied media accounts of tension with Holmes' parents, who are devout Catholics, over her association with Scientology. "They're OK with her being a Scientologist since they're Catholic?" Sawyer asked, to which Cruise answered, "Absolutely, yes." The couple have yet to set a wedding date, but Cruise said in a separate interview with GQ magazine that they were looking to tie the knot sometime in late summer and early fall.

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Tom Cruise to Buy Neverland Ranch?

Mike Walker of The National Enquirer reports that Tom Cruise is getting ready to made an offer on Michael Jackson's Neverland Ranch.

Following my exclusive that KATIE HOLMES wants TOM CRUISE to build a miniature amusement park for Baby on their BevHills estate, the planets of My Favorite Alien and Wacko Jacko suddenly and mysteriously orbited into alignment — and now Tom's advising Church of Scientology leaders to snap up MICHAEL JACKSON's embattled Neverland! Tom thinks the fabled estate would make an ideal Scientology retreat, and urged the church to strike a quick deal while it's shut down for non-payment of employee insurance and wages. (Note to Tom: Call a mechanic before riding the Ferris wheel.)

What a great idea! We were wondering what Tom Cruise was going to do to top his couch-jumping, Eiffel-tower, Brooke Shield-attacking antics of last year and now we know. He's going to take over for Michael Jackson at Neverland Ranch and host Scientology retreats at the amusement park. It's perfect! Note to Tom: you're really going to want to disinfect the house from top to bottom.

Posted on March 30, 2006
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Tom Cruise Fires Sister as Publicist

The barrage of negative publicity that has hounded Tom Cruise this past year has finally gotten to him. He's dropped his sister, Lee Ann DeVette, as his publicist and hired a pro again. It's not a moment too soon either.

Careful listeners could almost hear Hollywood breathe a sigh of relief as Tom Cruise this week fired his publicist, Lee Anne DeVette, who is also his sister, and replaced her with one of the movie industry's veteran star-wranglers, Paul Bloch.

The move followed a run of the worst publicity in his reign as the world's biggest movie star, with Mr. Cruise, 43, attracting negative reaction last summer to his criticism of psychiatry and antidepression drugs, his over-the-top wooing of the actress Katie Holmes and his open advocacy of Scientology, which some consider a dangerous cult.

In an industry where box office sales are dwindling even as the pool of bankable movie stars seems to be shrinking by the day, a reburnished Mr. Cruise becomes more valuable than ever. He remains one of the very few actors whose name on the marquee can virtually guarantee a successful movie opening, and Paramount Pictures is certainly counting on him to accomplish that in its big-budget sequel "Mission: Impossible 3," which stars Mr. Cruise and is currently in production.

By putting Mr. Bloch and his colleague Arnold Robinson in charge of his public image, Mr. Cruise has opted for seasoned professionals who have longstanding relationships with the entertainment industry over his sister, who had no previous publicity experience before taking charge in March 2004, and is, like her brother, a committed Scientologist.

Is it too late, or can Cruise convince us that he's still the same likeable guy he was before he dumped Nicole Kidman and verbally attacked sweet Brooke Shields? Only Mr. Bloch knows for sure.

Posted on November 8, 2005
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Cruise Restrains Himself in London

The Times reports on Tom Cruise's encounter with London Channel 4's latest attempt to punk a celebrity. The station sent a fake reporter with a fake microphone to attend a walkabout where Cruise was meeting fans. The "reporter" put a water gun that looked like a microphone in the star's face and sprayed him with water, hoping for an explosive reaction. But Cruise surprised everyone. From the clip on CNN this morning, Cruise looked like he wanted to pound the guy's face in, but showed admirable restraint, electing instead for a tersely delivered lecture and restraining the jokester so he couldn't melt away into the crowd. The joke bombed for the show, and the entire crew is facing assault charges. As one commentator noted on CNN, "How do you know what was being sprayed? It might not have been water." Good point.

The crew was shooting a comedy sketch at last night's London premiere of the War of the Worlds, where Cruise and fiancee Katie Holmes, who got engaged in Paris last Friday, were greeting the crowds. As he answered questions from journalists a bogus reporter, wearing a white and green T-shirt, stuck out a joke microphone and used it to squirt water into Cruise's face. The actor struggled to keep his cool, turning on the man to say: "Why would you do that ... why would you do that ... why would you do that?" As the interviewer offered a barely audible excuse, Cruise said: "That's incredibly rude. I'm here giving you an interview and you do that ... it's incredibly rude. Do you like thinking less of people, is that it?... You're a jerk ... jerk ... you're a jerk."

Cruise then held the man back before security guards escorted him into the Odeon cinema, where he was arrested along with the three members of his crew. A spokeswoman for the star was quoted as saying today: "Tom does want to take action but we will decide in due course what that will be. He is not just going to forget about it. He wants to make sure we get to the bottom of it. We want to know who was involved and what it was all for. We have not received an apology and are still waiting to get hold of the people at Channel 4 and at the production company. We have been told that there is no one there at present. We are doing everything we can to get some answers."

"I understand that the prank was for a new Friday night show and that they did a similar thing to Paris Hilton in Cannes and they pulled a similar kind of stunt on Sharon Osbourne a couple of weeks ago."

When Channel 4 pulled this stunt on Sharon Osbourne, the feisty star marched into a nearby restaurant, picked up a champagne bucket full of ice and dumped it over the camaraman's head.

We're with Cruise on this one. We hope he sues everyone even remotely involved in this stupid stunt.

Now, picture the same incident, only this time the star is Russell Crowe. Instead of a tongue-lashing, no doubt the punkster and his crew would now be in intensive care. Now that would be funny.

Posted on June 20, 2005
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Brooke Shields Strikes Back

He's not a doctor, nor does he play one on TV. But that didn't stop "Dr." Tom Cruise from offering medical advice to Brooke Shields. Now, The Sunday Times reports on Brooke's reaction to Tom's comments that she should have just taken some vitamins to get over her severe postpartum depression, instead of using "mind-altering drugs" aka the prescription antidepressant Paxil. Let's just say that she was less than thrilled with his advice -- not to mention his catty comments that the new mom's career is going nowhere. And who could blame her?

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.

Brooke is now appearing in the musical Chicago in London, she has a new book out, her two-year-old daughter Rowan seems quite happy, and she hasn't physically attacked Oprah Winfrey lately. Sounds like her career is doing just fine to us.

Posted on May 31, 2005
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Tom Cruise Loses It on Oprah

Well, apparently it's official. Tom Cruise is officially off his rocker, bigtime. He was so cute and likeable in Risky Business, Top Gun and even in Minority Report. We loved his marriage to Nicole Kidman. But somehow, after that divorce, it all went downhill. First, there was the giant Church of Scientology tent on the set of War of the Worlds, where cast and crew were welcome to get a massage. Then, he starts a PR blitz about his love life the likes of which no one has ever seen from the normally taciturn star. (Well, taciturn when the press asked him questions about his love life, anyway).

So then he announces to the world that he caught an episode of Dawson's Creek, was blown away by 26 year-old Katie Holmes, and asked her out on a date. The next thing we know, they're holed up at the Hotel Hassler in Rome, in a rose-strewn suite and canoodling in public. Then, he gives an interview with -- wait for it -- the most obnoxious presence on entertainment TV, Billy Bush of Access Hollywood. In that interview, he bags on poor, sad Brooke Shields for taking Paxil to combat her post-partum depression. He said she should have taken Scientology Vitamins instead of "mind-altering drugs" and then made a snide remark about how her career's going nowhere. What in the world did Brooke Shields ever do to him?

But all of that was just the appetizer to the full meltdown on The Oprah Winfrey Show yesterday. "I can’t be cool. I can’t be laid-back," an exuberant Cruise told Oprah. "Something happened and I want to celebrate it."

The New York Daily News shares:

A starry-eyed Cruise got down on his knees and repeatedly jumped up on the couch like a Robin Williams comedy act, saying that his love for Holmes was "beyond cool."

Will he propose? His answer did more than leave the door open. "I’m going to discuss it with her," the twice-divorced actor said. "Honestly, I haven’t (had this kind of experience before)."

Later in the show, Cruise went backstage to bring out Holmes, who was quoted in Seventeen magazine last fall as saying she grew up wanting to marry the Risky Business star. "I’m glad I was a big dreamer," she told Winfrey.

Before he dragged Katie onstage for an impromptu makeout session, he tried to get Oprah in a hammer lock, but she fended him off. (Apparently, all those workout sessions with Bob Greene have paid off.)

We feel faint now. More as the story develops.

Posted on May 25, 2005
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