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
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