People News
Fallout from Cruise - Lauer interview
By Cindy Locke Jun 27, 2005, 16:02 GMT
Plenty of folks, including bloggers and the nation’s major newspapers, have reacted to the on-air argument Tom Cruise and Matt Lauer had on the Today show last Friday.
The argument started after Lauer asked Cruise about his comments regarding Brooke Shields taking medication and seeking psychiatric help for postpartum depression.
Cruise would barely let Lauer get a word in and responded, “Here's the problem. You don't know the history of psychiatry. I do. There's no such thing as a chemical imbalance. You don't even – you're glib, Matt. You don't even know what Ritalin is. You should be a bit more responsible in knowing what it is because you communicate to people.”
Lauer took the attack personal and said, “You're now telling me that your experiences with the people I know, which are zero, are more important than my experiences.”
After the interview aired, the newspapers had their say. The New York Daily News called Cruise an “arrogant high-school dropout” and wrote: “Coupled with his over-the-top courtship of Holmes, it could be the biggest career misstep since fellow Scientologist John Travolta made Battlefield Earth.”
According to The Washington Post: "Cruise looked like a man possessed or at least in need of an Ativan leaning insistently forward in his chair, hammering Lauer when the host suggested that some people were actually, you know, helped when doctors prescribed psychiatric drugs."
The New York Times seemed to be on Cruise’s side and applauded him for leaving behind a publicist's script and attempting to say something obviously important to him.
”Mr. Cruise seemed unbound, and perhaps even a little unsound, but there was something enjoyably bracing and bold about his outburst," says The Times. "This latest display of kookiness lent the actor new credibility: his over-the-top declarations of love may look to some like a publicity stunt, but there was nothing self-serving or career-enhancing about his rant with Mr. Lauer.”
People are wondering if the stunts Cruise has pulled since the whole Katie Holmes love fest started and Cruise’s behavior in the Matt Lauer interview may hurt his career.
“Don't immediately assume that he is ruining himself,” Allan Mayer, managing director of Los Angeles-based Sitrick and Co., a celebrity-crisis PR firm, tells The Post. “He himself has said he doesn't care, and who are we to say he's made a mistake?”
Editor Note: See related articles for M&C readers' reactions to the spat.
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Older Talkback
page: 1
He is an ASS! There is no smart or dumb thing to it. He is an ego ASS!
Tom Cruise can't handle the truth. That is he is a self absorbed, self serving egostentric closet queen. I for one have enough of his diatribe. He's a dedicated follower Scientology. You know L.Ron Hubard who developed his cult after his encounter with an alien...Tom is a Hollywood phoney and the fake relationship with Holms speaks volumes about this guy...
Tom Cruise, as well-intended he is to educate those of use who are misinformed, has thrown open pandora's box. Yes, there are people who benefit from drug therapy, and yes, Tom, there are people who are harmed by the same drug therapy designed to provide relief from genuine mental illnesses. The real point is that our society, co-created by Hollywood and poorly managed news stations, somehow believe that if someone has pain, or is acting strangely, that there is a label we can attach to them, find ways to 'fix' it, and do anything to prevent it from happening in the future AND we need to do it NOW. Our society suffers from impatience and intolerance.
To the issue of Christian scientologists, well, Tom, please do some research. Read the Bible and tell me honestly, if someone is a Christian, how could they possibly be a scientologist? I respect your right to believe what you need to in or to make sense of a unstable and often times 'crazy' world, but just because you believe it, doesn't make it true.
Good luck with your career, your love, your family and your life.
Tom is an insufferable jackass. Please Tom, just shut your stupid pie-hole before somethimg else falls out of it. It's bad enough to have everyone in the world know you buy into LRH's insane space alien horse shit. You don't need to demonstrate your lack of common sense any further.
I have been incredibly offended by Tom Cruise's recent diatribes on psychiatry. In the first place, he doesn't freaking KNOW what he's talking about! All that crap about how HE knows all about the 'history of psychiatry,' HE really knows 'what Ritalin really is,' that he has read the 'research papers,' etc. was revealed as a total load of horse poopy by all the other things he said that revealed complete and MASSIVE ignorance of those very subjects!! Ritalin is NOT an 'antipsychotic drug.' It's a central nervous system STIMULANT, which is a totally different animal. Antidepressants and other psychoactive medications, WHEN PRESCRIBED AND ADMINISTERED CORRECTLY BY PROPERLY TRAINED HEALTH CARE PROVIDERS DO not just 'mask symptoms;' they cause changes in brain chemistry that have been scientifically verified. Imbalances in brain chemistry are a VERY real phenomenon, and the effectiveness of treating those imbalances with medication is extremely well-documented. In short, he absolutely did NOT know what he was talking about. That would have been offensive enough, but when accompanied by such a towering display of massive arrogance, it crosses over in the territory of unforgiveability. Tom Cruise is an obnoxious, arrogant, self-righteous, self-proclaimed know-it-all, who in actual fact knows absolutely nothing. Most importantly, he has absolutely NO right to go on television and criticize the lifestyle/health care decisions of others. NOBODY DIED AND MADE YOU GOD, TOM.
Tom stay as a actor like you always have and stop talking about things you do not know. Your just a actor nothing more. So stop. Stop! And let people do what best for them self.
I am horrified by the narcissm of this man. I have no interest in seeing any of his movies or listening to one more interview. He is ridiculous!
This guy is a jerk, just like he called the guy with the water gun, and I don't think he can act at all, looks are the only reason he has had success. Matt, Matt, Matt....
Tom is such a jackass! Who does he think he is? FREE KATIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Tom, Tom, Tom,
Pot? It's Kettle.......
Some interesting data on Personality Disorders. Sound Like anyone we've seen lately.........
Antisocial Personality Disorder: Lack of regard for the moral or legal standards in the local culture, marked inability to get along with others or abide by societal rules. Sometimes called psychopaths or sociopaths.
Avoidant Personality Disorder: Marked social inhibition, feelings of inadequacy, and extremely sensitive to criticism.
Borderline Personality Disorder: Lack of one's own identity, with rapid changes in mood, intense unstable interpersonal relationships, marked impulsively, instability in affect and in self image.
Dependent Personality Disorder: Extreme need of other people, to a point where the person is unable to make any decisions or take an independent stand on his or her own. Fear of separation and submissive behavior. Marked lack of decisiveness and self-confidence.
Histrionic Personality Disorder: Exaggerated and often inappropriate displays of emotional reactions, approaching theatricality, in everyday behavior. Sudden and rapidly shifting emotion expressions.
Narcissistic Personality Disorder: Behavior or a fantasy of grandiosity, a lack of empathy, a need to be admired by others, an inability to see the viewpoints of others, and hypersensitive to the opinions of others.
Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder: Characterized by perfectionism and inflexibility; preoccupation with uncontrollable patterns of thought and action.
Paranoid Personality Disorder: Marked distrust of others, including the belief, without reason, that others are exploiting, harming, or trying to deceive him or her; lack of trust; belief of others' betrayal; belief in hidden meanings; unforgiving and grudge holding.
Schizoid Personality Disorder: Primarily characterized by a very limited range of emotion, both in expression of and experiencing; indifferent to social relationships.
Schizotypal Personality Disorder: Peculiarities of thinking, odd beliefs, and eccentricities of appearance, behavior, interpersonal style, and thought (e.g., belief in psychic phenomena and having magical powers).
It really does say something about the credibility of the New York Times when they support an actor such as Tom Cruise. Cruise is using this opportunity in the spotlight to promote the invented religion of scientology and his new film. He's no Mel Gibson.
Bene
When Tom himself, discovers that he is completely MANIC, and he won't until he crashes, I'd like to know what route he takes to get well. I don't think fruit and veggies are going to do the trick.
He is so far off base here that everyone I know is absolutely outraged. What he is doing is irresponsibly dangerous.
I can only speak for myself, but I have suffered from depression (always did) and I have tried every imaginable remedy, diet, exercise, spirituality (which helps immensely) and so on. I have made leaps and bounds in becoming the person I would like to be and my life is one of success (according to me). However, there was always something just a little off. Turns out I have a chemical imbalance. This is proven by simple bloodwork. I now take an anti-depressant, which has completely changed everything. It does not mask my symptoms. IT CURED THEM. It does not stop me from feeling. I feel everything, because I am willing to feel everything.
Oh, and by the way, women with untreated post-partum depression can end up killing their children. They need help and I don't think L. Ron Hubbard is the one for the job.
Shut the hell up, Tom. You know not what you say. AND...there is nothing Christian (or spiritual) about judgemental, holier-than-thou nuts.
I didn't read all the posts here, so I apologize if this one re-hashes an earlier one. I used to be a Tom Cruise fan. He seemed very genuine, and I enjoyed most of his movies. But, this latest attack against psychiatry and psychiatric drugs has finally pushed me past the point of no return. As a child of sexual, physical, verbal, and emotional abuse, I have found prozac to be a life-saving treatment along with talk therapy. I started taking prozac in 1996 and suddenly, for the first time in my life, I could see color. I became the person I always should have been. Since that time, my life has completely changed. From the reclusive, frightened, and depressed shell of a person I used to be, I now have an active life. I went to college, got a degree, and I'm now pursuing a graduate degree. I have many new friends, and I no longer have the social anxieties I used to. I think a combination of talk therapy and prozac are responsible for these changes. For Cruise to blatantly and without proof denigrate this profession and anti-depressants is incredibly irresponsible. What really scares me is the reach he has. What about the poor soul out there who actually LISTENS to him? At one time, I was on the verge of suicide, but not from prozac - this was BEFORE I sought psychiatric help. I am very disappointed in this man who can so glibly slander a profession he obviously knows very little about. Would I have been better off living life as a recluse, afraid to step outside my door? I think not.
What a freakshow this guy is. Remember the fallout that Rosie O'Donnel suffered for going off on Tom Selleck? She turned into a side show act. Doesn't Cruise deserve the same fate? What a jerk.
At first I was really happy for Tom and Katie. But now he is just disgusting. Poor girl.....Katie gave up the Mother Mary for Aliens..... Now thier lovers but she is still a virgin. She won't stand up strait anymore and now wears more flat shoes so she won't tower over her new man. I don't like the Today Show, I like Matt, can't stand Katie, but Tom has crossed the line. How dare he try to force someone else to believe what he believes. Dude come on, free will. Do the aliens allow you free will and choice. And how dare you mention Scienfollogy and Christianity in the same sentence. If you knew so much, you would have never made that oxymoronic statement. I will not pay money in the theatres to see another one of his films. Tom there is a reason you never quite win the 'Oscar', you're just not that great dude....your a cutie....and that's about it. Free Katie....release her....you alien....and allow her the opportunity to live life to the fullest.....in peace..... FREE KATIE!!!.... ALIENS FREE TOM!
you dont need a pill for every ill!
free you brain from the pharmachutical industry and relegion
all you need is a little weed
guaranteed safer or your money back
shheeet yeh the mofoes crazzzy
Tom is ignorant and arrogant, and has taken to calling people the same.
I couldn't help notice that people have been calling Scientology a 'made up' religion. But really, all religions have been made up. By Jesus (or Peter?), Siddharta, Mohammed, Abraham... Scientology is just this Century's new religion. And like all Religions, one of it's potential disadvantages is the diminution of the importance of logic, reason, and thinking for yourself.
But hey, that's coming from a Secular Humanist who disregards religion in general, so take it or leave.
We all can agree that Cruise is a douchebag. Can we build a religion around that?
What a complete idiot. And, what a shame for the movie. I was really looking forward to seeing it, but now he's completely ruined it for me. Now all I'm going to do is think about what an idiot he is while watching it. I don't think I can spend money to do it. Tommy, your just an actor, get that straight in your head... your 'just' an actor, that's all... and now you've screwed that up, thanks a lot. Take a serious look back on your life, try to remember who you were 10 or 15 years ago, then watch the interview again and tell me your thinking rationally. What is it about entertainers and this god complex? Take a quick read of the 7 deadly sins pal - sound familiar?
Pride: is excessive belief in one's own abilities, that interferes with the individual's recognition of the grace of God. It has been called the sin from which all others arise. Pride is also known as Vanity.
Envy: is the desire for others' traits, status, abilities, or situation.
Gluttony: is an inordinate desire to consume more than that which one requires.
Lust: is an inordinate craving for the pleasures of the body.
Anger: is manifested in the individual who spurns love and opts instead for fury. It is also known as Wrath.
Greed: is the desire for material wealth or gain, ignoring the realm of the spiritual. It is also called Avarice or Covetousness.
Sloth: is the avoidance of physical or spiritual work.
Your going to hell dude... hope it was worth it
TOM NEEDS TO GET A GRIP, HE IS SHOWING SIGNS OF A MANIC BI-POLAR PERSON.
Although I believe that some people might have been helped by psychiatry, it's very fascinating to study its brutal history. Why have their methods been on purpose to destroy people? We are talking about lobotomy, ECT, Ritalin for kids, heavy drugs for psychosis, insulinshocks etc. Why is that?
Psychiatry of today believe that mental illness is caused by biological reasons. Hello? Is there such a thing as traumas in life? Bad things happening causing depressions etc?
Scientology tries to get to the real problems, which are on a more spiritual level. We're talking about the mind here. The E-meter used by the auditor guides the session forward until actual charge has been blown.
I admit that scientologists sometimes are too harsh in the critic about psychiatry, but none the less, psychiatry has not solved the problem of mental illness. It has only developed questionable methods of calming the symptoms.
Nick
Hey Scientologist-
Take a look at the history of just about EVERYTHING. The majority of history involves brutality in every form. Scientologists just single out psychiatry because psychiatry is their COMPETITION!!!! If people weren't paying to be 'audited' with an E-meter and being brainwashed into believing psych meds are the root of all evil, they may actually realize they could be helped by psychiatric counseling or the meds the evil doctors prescribe. Definitely good business sense using the scare tactic, but it kinda makes you and your 'religion' seem a little OUT THERE - no pun intended toward Xenu, the alien who banished all the human souls to a volcano on earth 74 million years ago or anything. What about the reports of people dying or being physically injured under Scientology's 'intense' program? I guess that's not considered brutal, under Scientology's warped point of view. If Scientology is so good, why are they consistently being monitored by the FBI, IRS, etc.? Why are they suing everybody? Hmmmmmmmm, makes an 'normal', unbrainwashed person think. They sue people to INTIMIDATE them, so they can keep them hush, hush, so they can make more MONEY from unsuspecting potential new believers. How much did YOU have to pay for YOUR audit?????
Tom doesn't appear to be very bright but Katie seems downright opportunistic.
I hope her folks do their job and convince her that marrying that kook will make her life difficult when he acts domineering, controling and strident with her. What will Katie do if she suffers from post partum depression one day?
Get a clue Katie! It's not all about power, fame and money!
Tom doesn't appear to be very bright but Katie seems downright opportunistic.
I hope her folks do their job and convince her that marrying that kook will make her life difficult when he acts domineering, controling and strident with her. What will Katie do if she suffers from post partum depression one day?
Get a clue Katie! It's not all about power, fame and money!
To Katie's parents: Help your daughter. She's in a mess! Aren't you worried about having to de-program her later? What's wrong with you people?
there is no such thing as hell
tom's aint going no where when he dies except in a casket
all relegion is bullsh.it
including scientiology and christianity
if you belive in the devil then your in a cult yourself
remember george or'wells 'Sugar Candy Mountain' where all the happy animals go when they die!
is that where you think your gonna go Picard?
lol
have fun in the cult of jesus
My job entails being in the company of patients/clients that suffer gravely from mental disorders. To relieve these people of medications long or short term is not the healthiest of choices especially when the chances of living half way normal do exist for them. Many of these individuals have their own religion that they embrace and to suggest that Scientology, diet, exercise and vitamins are the key to solving their problems is absurd. Balancing counseling and medication are only two stabilizing factors in bringing these patients back to health. Tom’s interview with Matt Lauer did not bring about any facts just his opinions. He was utterly rude to Matt Lauer, and Brooke Shields in suggesting that both did not know how to manage there business while he pushes his opinions off in a grandiose manner. His perspective on human imbalance, love, and new movie release does not make him an authority on all matters without proper statistics or documentation. If I am not mistaken he was in love twice before. Someone should challenge him on the fundamentals of love and staying married (or maybe not), he would simply explain the failures as an honest mistake on his part while using strong opinions to substantiate his winning position.
First Read what Ritalin is: http://www.gdcada.org/statistics/ritalin.htm
Now think, if your child is suffering from ADD or some psychological depression would you give Ritalin which gives you almost the same effect of addictiveness of Cocaine? It may help compress one thing but may give you many side effects that will cause you sickness in your health in the future. Cruise mention that it is a street drug because IT IS. It ranks as one of the top drug that gets stolen from pharmaceutical drug stores. Would you give your child a drug that is addictive has many side effects which will harm them in the future just to help there Attention Deficit Disorder?
There are many other treatments and natural procedures out there are done to treat these symtoms but they involve a lot of research because FDA will never approve herbal remedies or many procedures (accupuncture for example).
Yes there are many scams out there trying to pull your money in such as diet pills. Like Cruise said in the end of the interview: trust the power of life and research. The internet is the largest research tool you need out there. USE IT. Don't follow what everbody else does cause the world around is based on MARKETING. There will never be a cure for the common cold ever because Pharmaceutical companies will lose millions of dollar each year. If you think I am wrong, use research and PROVE THAT I AM WRONG. I will gladly admit it.
Build up your immune system today to help you prevent disease and colds in the future. The more medicines you take now, the more you will take in the future. Tips for boosting your system: obviously exercise, eat right, and sleep right; Get your colon clean and liver also(http://www.drnatura.com/?ovchn=GGL&ovcpn=Google&ovcrn=colon+cleaning&ovtac=PPC); ; Stay away from fast food and diet products; Think positive and let your emotions out to someone who is close and cares about you (compress feelings effects your body dramatically); Drink purified water and get an effective air cleaner, clorine water filter, something to block EMF waves (radio, satelite, cell phone, tv waves, etc.);
These are only a few things on top of my head right now. Your turn to do the research and prove me wrong. WIth a strong immune system you will less likely to get sick and if you are, you won't be for long. All the research in the world is right in front of you and no one bothers to take advantage of it. Live smart people.
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DianeJun 27th, 2005 - 20:43:31
I don't know which is more irresponsible - Tom Cruise or Nissan for their latest TV ad. Tom's apparent manic state over the past month or so makes me wonder at a possible bi-polar diagnosis. He's doing millions of people a huge disservice by suggesting they don't need their meds for chemical imbalances and can cure themselves through diet and exercise. He needs some serious help for an apparently serious problem. I, for one, will not ever, that's NEVER, support another film of his by buying a ticket. Somebody get hold of him and get him some help before he hurts himself or someone else. Katie?
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