Armchair Preacher

As if you thought the Tom Cruise freakout couldn't get any weirder, Cruise sat down with Today show host, Matt Lauer to discuss the recent events in his life, and -- oh yeah -- push that new movie he's in. Such a multi-tasker, that Level 6 Operative Thetan. Cruise proceeded to be downright condescending to Lauer in what was an uncomfortable segment for the usually light celebrity spotlight. Here are some of the more awkward moments, as stated in the CNN wrap-up [http://www.cnn.com/2005/SHOWBIZ/TV/06/24/people.cruise.ap/index.html]:

On Katie and Love:

"I have never worried ... about what other people think and what other people say." ... "I have to tell you. It's just a great time in my life," ... "I'm really happy. And, you know, I'm engaged. I'm going to be married. I can't restrain myself." The actor, whose marriages to Mimi Rogers and Nicole Kidman ended in divorce, declined to say what Holmes has brought to his life that wasn't there in the past." I don't want to compare things," Cruise said. "It's that thing where you just -- in life when it just happens. ... You meet someone. And it's -- I can't even describe it."

On Katie and Scientology:

"When asked if he could be with someone at this stage in his life who doesn't have an interest in the Church of Scientology ... "Scientology is something that you don't understand. It's like you could be a Christian and be a Scientologist."It is a religion. Because it's dealing with the spirit. You as a spiritual being."

On Brooke Shields, anti-depressants and psychiatry:

When Lauer mentioned Cruise's earlier criticism of Brooke Shields for taking anti-depressants, Cruise told the "Today" show co-host he didn't know what he was talking about. "You don't know the history of psychiatry. I do." ... "Matt, Matt, you don't even -- you're glib," Cruise responded. "You don't even know what Ritalin is. If you start talking about chemical imbalance, you have to evaluate and read the research papers on how they came up with these theories, Matt, OK. That's what I've done."

Phew. Hard to read. Even harder to watch, I presume. So glad I didn't have to catch this en vivo. I would have gotten that "embarrassed-for-him/feel-like-i'm-hanging-off-a-cliff" feeling I always get when someone is making a complete ass of themselves in public.

To CNN's credit, they posted an interesting poll alongside this story. Here are the results so far:

Tom Cruise calls psychiatry "a pseudoscience." Do you agree?

Yes 21% 8745 votes

No 79% 33434 votes

Total: 42179 votes

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--Joan