Highlights
- Tom Cruise's public image took a hit in the mid-2000s when he criticized Brooke Shields for taking antidepressants to cope with postpartum depression.
- Mark Wahlberg and Alec Baldwin spoke out against Cruise, with Wahlberg condemning his comparison of movie star treatment to soldiers' experiences and Baldwin criticizing Cruise's role in gender pay inequality.
- Leah Remini and Lisa Marie Presley, both former Scientologists, publicly criticized Cruise, with Remini calling him "diabolical" and Presley expressing her dislike for him while discussing her experiences with Scientology.
After decades in the public eye, Tom Cruise remains extremely popular with moviegoers of all ages. It can easily be argued that Cruise is the biggest movie star in the world today since practically everything he stars in becomes successful.
In Hollywood, there are a lot of actors who praise Cruise and even the people who criticize him often do so subtly. On the other hand, there are some celebrities who publicly called Cruise out despite how powerful he is in the business.
7 Why Did Brooke Shields Speak Out Against Tom Cruise?
During the mid-2000s, Tom Cruise went through a period where he did more damage to his public image than at any other time in his career. On top of jumping on Oprah Winfrey's couch, Cruise also once smugly criticized people for taking antidepressants during this era, according to People.
While talking to Matt Lauer about antidepressants in 2005, Cruise called Brooke Shields "irresponsible" for taking them to help cope with postpartum depression. Going further than that even, Cruise also judged Shields' career while implying that taking antidepressants may have played a role in her lack of success at that time.
Unsurprisingly, Shields was asked about Cruise's comments at the time and she was very blunt. “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 later revealed that Cruise had apologized to her when she was being interviewed by Jay Leno. "[Cruise] came over to my house and he gave me a heartfelt apology. And he apologized for bringing me into the whole thing and for everything that happened."
6 Why Did Mark Wahlberg Speak Out Against Tom Cruise?
In 2013, TMZ acquired legal documents from a $50 million libel lawsuit that Tom Cruise filed against a magazine publisher. According to TMZ's report, when Cruise sat for a deposition, he appeared to compare the work he'd done in the Middle East for a movie to soldiers serving in Afghanistan.
Unsurprisingly, the idea that Cruise compared his movie star treatment to soldiers fighting outraged many.
In Cruise's defense, TMZ's report appears to have been misleading. As Cruise's lawyer revealed, the actor was asked if he actually thought working on a movie and being a soldier were the same thing during the deposition. In response, Cruise clarified he didn't mean that by saying "Oh, come on".
Before it was revealed that Cruise clearly didn't mean that, Mark Wahlberg was asked about the training he did for the movie Lone Survivor. In response, Wahlberg went off on actors who would compare what they do to what soldiers go through. While Wahlberg didn't mention Cruise by name, it was incredibly obvious that he was responding to the Mission: Impossible actor's perceived comments.
"For somebody to sit there and say 'my job was as difficult as being in the military.' How f--king dare you, while you sit in a makeup chair for 2 hours. I don't give a s--t if you get your ass busted. You get to go home at the end of the day. You get to go to your hotel room. You get to order your f--king chicken."
5 Why Did Leah Remini Speak Out Against Tom Cruise?
After many years of being a Scientologist, King of Queens actor Leah Remini left the religion behind. Since then, Remini has seemingly made it her mission in life to publicly speak out against Scientology and give others who've left the religion the chance to do the same.
If Remini wanted, she could have spoken out about Scientology without mentioning the religion's most famous advocate. Instead, Remini has opted to speak about Tom Cruise very harshly. A perfect example of that is when Remini took part in a 2017 Reddit AMA where she unleashed on Cruise after being asked if he is a "good person".
"No! Just going to get straight to it, no! There is a public persona of the guy who looks at you directly in the eye and shakes your hand and hugs you and is an attentive person to you and there's the person behind the mask who is a completely different person"
Remini continued, "Someone could say we all have that - what we are to the public and who we are behind the scenes, but the people who are around Tom and work for Tom, not even people who are Scientologists, they will say he is diabolical."
4 Why Did Alec Baldwin Speak Out Against Tom Cruise?
In 2015 and 2018, Alec Baldwin played a supporting role in two of Tom Cruise's Mission: Impossible movies. Years before that in 2009, Baldwin was speaking at Elle magazine's annual Women in Hollywood dinner and awards show when he called Cruise out by name.
During his speech, Baldwin pretty much said that Cruise's greed plays a role in Hollywood's gender pay inequality.
"I believe we can balance the scales if Tom Cruise would lower his quote by a mere $29 million. I realize this may be a bit unfair since he's not here to defend himself and I really don't want to put this all on one man, but if I had to, that man would be Tom Cruise…I assure you my salary would not make a difference. My annual salary is the budget for Altoids on one of Tom's movies."
3 Why Did Lisa Marie Presley Speak Out Against Tom Cruise?
From the outside looking in, it seems like Lisa Marie Presley would be the last celebrity to call out Tom Cruise. After all, Presley wasn't an actor, so it seems like the two celebrities would have no reason to interact enough for her to have a strong opinion about Cruise.
As it turns out, however, the reason that Presley spoke out about Cruise is related to Scientology. A former member of the religion, Presley joined after her famous mother did.
Before Presley tragically passed away, she was interviewed by Scientology critic Tony Ortega. During that interview, Presley claimed that the religion's leader David Miscavige took interest in her once she turned 25 years old and inherited her father's fortune.
“At 25, after I got the inheritance, they started grooming me to be this person who would go out and get everyone else in.” Presley walked about from Scientology but not before meeting Cruise, and she told Ortega that she couldn't stand the famous actor.
“I f–king hate Tom[Cruise]. I met him 20 years ago. I said I never want to be in a room with him again.”
2 Why Did Judd Apatow Speak Out Against Tom Cruise?
Another celebrity who seems like an unlikely person to speak out against Tom Cruise, Judd Apatow seems to get along with everyone in Hollywood. On top of that, Apatow doesn't make the kind of movies that Cruise typically gets involved with, so it doesn't seem like he should have any reason to resent the actor.
In the past, Seth Rogen revealed that Cruise once tried to speak to him and Apatow about joining Scientology. Still, that doesn't seem like enough to inspire Apatow's incredibly harsh comments about Cruise during a monologue he gave at a 2023 Directors Guild of America.
First off, Apatow mocked Cruise's height. “The special effects in ‘Maverick’ were so top notch, I couldn’t even see the stack of phone books Tom Cruise sat on to reach the flight controls.” Apatow then went off on Cruise's jumping on Oprah Winfrey's couch. “Remember when Tom Cruise jumped up and down on the couch and we all thought, 'What a lunatic!'"
Apatow then discussed Cruise's obsession with doing his own stunts, stating that is an indication something is wrong with the actor. "Tom is not fine!" Worst of all, Apatow called out Cruise's parenting and comments about antidepressants. “The only thing he seems to be afraid of is co-parenting and antidepressants,"
1 Why Did Mickey Rourke Speak Out Against Tom Cruise?
At the end of the day, Tom Cruise is defined in the public eye as an actor and movie star. However, based on what Mickey Rourke had to say about Cruise when he was interviewed by Piers Morgan in 2022, he has no respect for the Mission: Impossible star as an actor. After Morgan spoke about Cruise starring in 2022's most successful movie, Rourke didn't hold back.
“That doesn’t mean s--t to me. [Tom Cruise has] been doing the same part for 35 effing years. I got no respect for that. I don’t care about money or power. I care about…when I when I watch Al Pacino or Christopher Walken working, or De Niro’s early work and Richard Harris and Ray Winstone, that’s the kind of actor I want to be like. A lot of guys that tried to stretch as actors.”
Later in the same interview, Morgan bluntly asked Rourke if Cruise is a "good actor". Since Cruise's performances in the past have received a lot of praise, it may seem like Rourke would give him that, but he simply responded, “I think he’s irrelevant".
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