Dr. Drew and Tom Cruise's Scientology kerfluffle

By Stone Martindale Jun 13, 2008, 3:05 GMT

04/24/2008 - Dr. Drew Pinsky - 12th Annual PRISM Awards - Arrivals - Beverly Hills Hotel - Beverly Hills, CA USA © Chris Hatcher / PR Photos

"Celebrity Rehab" reality TV star Dr. Drew has compared Tom's mental health to that of a Nazi in a Playboy interview.

"A lot of people in the public eye who behave strangely have mental illness we can learn from, and much of it is based on childhood trauma, without a doubt. Take a guy like Tom Cruise.

Why would somebody be drawn into a cultish kind of environment like Scientology? To me, that's a function of a very deep emptiness and suggests serious neglect in childhood - maybe some abuse, but mostly neglect."

Well, isn't that the general idea behind why people join cults? What's the big deal, it's just his professional opinion.

Tom Cruise is really rich, and he has lots of lawyers who have snapped the tort towel right back at the good Doctor:

"This unqualified television performer who is obviously just looking for notoriety is so grotesquely unprofessional as to pretend to diagnose Tom and others without ever meeting them. He seems to be spewing the absurdity that all Scientologists are mentally ill. The last time we heard garbage like this was from Joseph Goebbels."

According to Scientologists, the Nazis were among those they blame for creating psychiatry - a medical discipline they eschew.

In 1982, Scientology cult leader creator L. Ron Hubbard even called psychiatrists murders and said they “destroyed every great civilization to date." Adding that "the majority of psychiatrists maim and kill their patients and, by record, in all history have only worsened mental conditions. After all, that's what they seem to be paid to do by the government."

Tom Cruise is back to work on his Nazi film "Valkyrie."

The actor is shooting three final scenes on the movie, which began production a year ago in Germany.

The film is being directed by Bryan Singer, whose last film was "Superman Returns."

In "Valkyrie," Cruise plays a Nazi, Col Claus Von Starffenberg, who tries to assassinate Hitler.

The film is now scheduled for release on February 13, 2009.