Tom Cruise & Matt Lauer Faceoff

[Diorling]

Cruise, Lauer face off over psychiatry

June 25, 2005


People.com reports Tom Cruise grew testy during what grew into an outright debate over antidepressants and psychiatry with "Today" host Matt Lauer Friday.

Cruise faced Lauer's questions as fiancée Katie Holmes looked on in the studio. After saying, "I still feel that I will talk about what I want to talk about, and I will not talk about what I don't want to talk about," Cruise was asked point-blank whether his engagement to Holmes is a publicity stunt for his "War of the Worlds" movie.

Cruise replied: "There's always cynics, always have been, always will be. I have never worried, Matt, about what other people think and what other people say. You can't."

Noting that Holmes is embracing Cruise's religion of Scientology, Lauer then asked Cruise if he could be with someone who wasn't a Scientologist. He replied: "It's something you don't understand. You can be a Christian and be a Scientologist. It is a religion in that it deals with the spirit, you as a spiritual being."

Cruise also told Lauer he didn't understand the effects of prescribing the drug Ritalin when the host asked Cruise about Brooke Shields, whom Cruise previously slammed for promoting medication and psychiatry to deal with postpartum depression.

Cruise's tone grew fiercer -- Cruise accused Lauer of being glib -- and when Lauer mentioned how psychiatry helped Shields, Cruise declared: "I've never agreed with psychiatry, ever. Before I was a Scientologist I never agreed, and when I became a Scientologist, I never agreed. ... All it does is mask the problem."

Cruise also insisted, "There is no such thing as a chemical unbalance," and that through "vitamins and exercise" a person's problems can be cured. "Drugs are not the answer," said Cruise. "I think there's a better quality of life."



Detriot Free Press

 

[Diorling]

Tom Cruise is really crazy. Im not quite sure who he thinks he is but he's starting to lash out at the people who made him. What is this Scientology thing? He's obessed with it appearanlty but it's only made him crazier. Maybe he should take some vitamins and have some exercise so he can be normal.

If I were Matt Lauer I would snap on his crazy ***.

 

[tiffany]

Cruise also insisted, "There is no such thing as a chemical unbalance," and that through "vitamins and exercise" a person's problems can be cured.

That is the most absurd thing I've ever heard Disagreeing with prescription drugs for depression, I can understand, but claiming that chemical imbalance is a figment of medical professional's imaginations is ridiculous. I almost feel guilty for disliking Tom Cruise as much as I do

 

[Erin]

I think they made that interview into more than it was... I watched it, expecting this huge thing. But really, it was nothing (to me).

 

[eternitygoddess]

Tom Cruise should shut his trap about all this Scientology and antidepressant thing. He's irritating the whole world and making himself look like an idiot.

 

[yourbestfriend]

Hes just going down lower, and lower, and dragging poor katie into it.

 

[evexa]

I agree with him on some points.
He is wrong that chemical imbalances do not exist. They do. I do however agree with him about prescribing ritalin/adderal/antidepressants, they do indeed mask the problem - very few people truly need them.
I don't think it is right to chastise him for having his own opinion and stating it publicly - I just think he should have a better (medical) basis for his arguement.

 

[lunabella]

f**k tom cruise. his comments about brooke shields taking paxil for post-partum depression are out of line. unless he is a woman who has given birth, he has no place talking about post-partum depression. or psychiatry for that matter. if it's a "pseudo-science" then scientology is a pseudo-religion. what does tom know about psychiatry that matt doesn't? matt lauer is college-educated and tom cruise is a high-school dropout.

 

[eternitygoddess]

f**k tom cruise. his comments about brooke shields taking paxil for post-partum depression are out of line. unless he is a woman who has given birth, he has no place talking about post-partum depression. or psychiatry for that matter. if it's a "pseudo-science" then scientology is a pseudo-religion. what does tom know about psychiatry that matt doesn't? matt lauer is college-educated and tom cruise is a high-school dropout.

You tell him LunaBella! Karma for you!

 

[adorefaith]

lunabella,
with all due respect...
cursing tom cruise is not your role...
just as much as you say it was not his to speak out about post-partum depression, which he may or may not understand...

it does no good to lash back...

i dont know how i feel about tom...
though i do agree with him that medication is used too quickly to 'solve' problems....and that it does nothing of the sort...

everybody is passionate about their beliefs...
i applaud him for living his life with passion..
unofrtunately sometimes that causes one to hurt or offend others unintentionally...
which i think he may be doing..

but if we all take things a little less personally..
and see this as tom's journey...and tom's self discovery...
then i think we'd all be a little less 'put off'...

 

[rach2jlc]

I actually agree with you, LunaBella. He needs to stick to being an actor and act in movies and cut out the rest. Really, if he retired altogether I wouldn't lose any sleep. I'm SOOOO tired of seeing these celebrities get on television and act out. So, he's passionate. Good for him. I don't care. If I want to know the truth about paxil/anti-depressants, I will go and talk to physicians and researchers. I don't need an aging Hollywood star cum religious fanatic telling me about how much "he knows" about it.

As for the anti-depressant thing... my best friend from high school was severely depressed and began taking paxil. There were days in high school before he started taking it when he couldn't even leave his bedroom. A year later we were going out and having a good time and relaxing. I, too, am not one who says that drugs should be prescribed for everyone... but to say categorically that they don't work is rude at best and grossly misinformed at worst.

John

 

[tiffany]

I actually agree with you, LunaBella. He needs to stick to being an actor and act in movies and cut out the rest. Really, if he retired altogether I wouldn't lose any sleep. I'm SOOOO tired of seeing these celebrities get on television and act out. So, he's passionate. Good for him. I don't care. If I want to know the truth about paxil/anti-depressants, I will go and talk to physicians and researchers. I don't need an aging Hollywood star cum religious fanatic telling me about how much "he knows" about it.

As for the anti-depressant thing... my best friend from high school was severely depressed and began taking paxil. There were days in high school before he started taking it when he couldn't even leave his bedroom. A year later we were going out and having a good time and relaxing. I, too, am not one who says that drugs should be prescribed for everyone... but to say categorically that they don't work is rude at best and grossly misinformed at worst.

well put

 

[kit]

I actually agree with you, LunaBella. He needs to stick to being an actor and act in movies and cut out the rest. Really, if he retired altogether I wouldn't lose any sleep. I'm SOOOO tired of seeing these celebrities get on television and act out. So, he's passionate. Good for him. I don't care. If I want to know the truth about paxil/anti-depressants, I will go and talk to physicians and researchers. I don't need an aging Hollywood star cum religious fanatic telling me about how much "he knows" about it.

As for the anti-depressant thing... my best friend from high school was severely depressed and began taking paxil. There were days in high school before he started taking it when he couldn't even leave his bedroom. A year later we were going out and having a good time and relaxing. I, too, am not one who says that drugs should be prescribed for everyone... but to say categorically that they don't work is rude at best and grossly misinformed at worst.

John

I had severe endogenous depression due to enormous stress at work ,and a dreadful feeling of lack of self worth was the result , resulting in a suicide attempt .

I was put on SEROXAT by my psychiatrist , which I believe is the UK name for Paxil , and within 3 months I was back to my proper self , gradually reduced the dose , and after 6 months , off the drug .

I've been there , done that and even bought the tee-shirt , so to speak , and I think Cruise is talking through his fundament .

And as for Scientology - just DON'T get me started .

This has NOT been easy to say , in public , so to speak , but I feel it needs to be said in the face of so much drivel from the mouth of the ' recognized ' intellectual tyro that Cruise so obviously is .

Early onset male menapause , anyone ?

 

[tiffany]

Early onset male menapause , anyone ?

love that and thankyou for sharing kit, that was very informative and very brave of you

 

[rach2jlc]

Agreed! Thanks, Kit, for your humor and honesty (as always!)

John

 

[kit]

Thanks , Tiffany and John .

One feels so infuriated when some ' one neurone egotist ' shoots their mouth off and stigmatises drugs or psychiatric therapy merely for , in my belief , the purpose of his ongoing campaign to convince everyone that he is not gay , or bisexual .

A little decorum is called for at his age , NOT doing the damage he is doing to people who are SO in need of the treatment he decries , merely out of his pathetic attempts at self camouflage and attention seeking .

I pity Katie Holmes , as I do not think that she realises what she is taking on with this conceited idiot . And I don't care just HOW good looking he is .
Looks are No excuse for dangerous blather ...........

 

[scblonndie]

^I honestly believe they are both concieted idiots. They'll be ignorant and blissful together.

 

[splatooey]

I had severe endogenous depression due to enormous stress at work ,and a dreadful feeling of lack of self worth was the result , resulting in a suicide attempt .

I was put on SEROXAT by my psychiatrist , which I believe is the UK name for Paxil , and within 3 months I was back to my proper self , gradually reduced the dose , and after 6 months , off the drug .

I've been there , done that and even bought the tee-shirt , so to speak , and I think Cruise is talking through his fundament .

And as for Scientology - just DON'T get me started .

This has NOT been easy to say , in public , so to speak , but I feel it needs to be said in the face of so much drivel from the mouth of the ' recognized ' intellectual tyro that Cruise so obviously is .

Early onset male menapause , anyone ?

great post!! Antidepressants dont "mask" the problem, they fix the chemical imbalance, so how could you believe in the chemical imbalance and not believe in the drug that restores the balance? makes no sense.
tom cruise really needs an education.

 

[Label Basher]

I wonder what Nicole thinks about all this. Like what would happen if something bad happened to one of their kids and they needed drugs to survive.

Hopefully Nicole has a brain and would tell him that the kid is getting proper treatment. And if he got all stupid about it personally I would have him removed from the hospital. I'd rather save my child than stand by and watch my husband acting like a jerk.

If I was dying or badly hurt and my Dad was saying no drugs but mum stepped in and I got better I'd probably never speak to my dad again.

 

[evexa]

great post!! Antidepressants dont "mask" the problem, they fix the chemical imbalance, so how could you believe in the chemical imbalance and not believe in the drug that restores the balance? makes no sense.
tom cruise really needs an education.

That is not altogether true actually, ther eis still a very large grey area when it comes to medication.

I too took Seroxat, and it did help for the first couple of months - but after that it made me feel 'falsely happy' - i.e. I felt like I should be depressed, but I couldn't cry or be sad - which made me panic.

It works for some people some times - but I have seen its negative effects in my family and I know all too well how frivolously drugs are prescribed.