Tom snubs a mate

Sunday Morning Herald, Australia/April 23, 2006
By Rachel Browne

Despite a long-standing friendship with James Packer, actor Tom Cruise has delivered a crushing blow to the Nine Network by granting his first interview about his newborn daughter to arch rival Channel Seven.

Seven's breakfast show, Sunrise, has been locked in a pitched battle for viewers with Nine's Today show, and Nine staffers yesterday expressed their fury at the snub.

The decision to grant the exclusive interview to Sunrise co-host Melissa Doyle came just two months after Cruise, 43, and his then-pregnant fiancee Katie Holmes, 27, came to Sydney to comfort James on the death of his father, Kerry.

Cruise and Packer, who bonded over their mutual interest in Scientology, have been friends for nearly a decade.

Their close relationship made the decision to give the exclusive interview to Seven even more galling for Nine, with its long-running status as the top-rating station under grave threat from Kerry Stokes's rival network.

While Cruise, who is in the middle of a publicity blitz for his latest film, Mission: Impossible III, cancelled most of his interviews last week because of the birth of his daughter, Suri, he spoke to Doyle on Thursday.

Doyle said that Cruise looked like the happiest man alive in the interview, which will air on Sunrise tomorrow morning.

Sunrise has become a ratings success for Channel Seven, increasing its audience by almost 30 per cent this year.

While Nine was aware of the planned interview, it is believed that James Packer did not exercise his leverage to secure an interview for the Today show as well.

Cruise spoke at length to Nine's current affairs flagship 60 Minutes last year, but took umbrage at the line of questioning from reporter Peter Overton.

Overton quizzed Cruise about his belief in Scientology as well as about his former wife, actor Nicole Kidman.

After asking Cruise whether Kidman was the love of his life, the actor told Overton to "put your manners back in".

Nine insiders believe the exchange may be why Cruise decided to grant the interview to Seven, noting that Overton's wife, Jessica Rowe, is co-host of Today.

Yesterday, a Channel Nine spokesperson said: "We wouldn't have thought that round two with Peter Overton - or Jessica Rowe, for that matter - would have been that taxing for Tom.

"However, we do wish him and Katie and the baby well."

Meanwhile, Cruise's former wife Nicole Kidman - with whom he adopted two children, Isabella, 13, and Connor, 11 - has reportedly extended her best wishes to the new parents.

Relaxing in the Hamptons, north of New York, Kidman reportedly sent Cruise and Holmes two dozen red roses to congratulate them on the birth of their daughter, whose name means "red rose" in Persian or "princess" in Hebrew.