Celebs: Cruise Goes Crazy

Newsweek/December 26, 2005
By Sean Smith

Tom Cruise lost his cool in 2005. For 20 years he had maintained the most fiercely controlled—and aggressively bland—persona of any living star. But then he fired his longtime publicist, Pat Kingsley, and replaced her with his sister Lee Anne DeVette, and by summer he was declaring his love for Katie Holmes, jumping on Oprah's couch, slamming Brooke Shields for taking Paxil, grappling with Matt Lauer on the "Today" show and spending more time trumpeting his love for Scientology than his love for the movie he was supposed to be promoting, "War of the Worlds." In fact, Cruise had committed to be interviewed by NEWSWEEK about that movie, but at the last minute his sister refused to put him on the phone unless we put him on the cover. (We declined.) Even though "War" grossed a massive $589 million worldwide, Cruise had, in just a few short months, morphed from a public icon into a pop-culture joke. "It was like this horrible circus that dismantled the facade of one of our biggest stars," says one studio exec (who, like other industry sources, never criticizes stars publicly). "It was great to watch somebody who had been so packaged unravel publicly."

By November, Cruise's sister had been sent packing and had been replaced by revered publicist Paul Bloch. Still, there's debate within Hollywood about Cruise's future. "He did permanent damage, and I don't think he'll ever recover from it," says a top talent agent. "Now there are people in this business who think he's crazy." But, counters the studio exec, Hollywood has put up with drug-addicted, tantrum-throwing stars forever. Cruise is just an enthusiastic Scientologist. "If he comes with a tent and passes out pamphlets, that's not so bad," he says. Besides, there's no proof that audiences are stay-ing away. "War" is the highest-grossing Cruise movie ever. The exec says: "As long as he's in 'Mission: Impossible 3' riding a motorcycle and looking cool, the fans will come."