IN this highly competitive and materialistically driven world, overworked, stressed and anxious people look to the entertainment industry to relax, forget their problems and simply switch off. However, the relationship between actors, TV personalities, singers and the public is more often than not, fickle and unpredictable. Artists are the people we love to hate the most and Tom Cruise is certainly one of them.
Andrew Morton who made the headlines in 1992 with “Diana: Her True Story in Her Own Words “ has just written an unauthorized biography of Tom Cruise. On one hand, Cruise, the movie star, symbolizes the perfect success; on the other hand, the constant rumors and controversies surrounding his character, reflect the harsh reality of life and survival in Hollywood. In this latest biography, the author attempts to reveal the true personality behind the public persona.
Looking back on the actor’s life, it soon becomes obvious that Cruise was meant to become a star. As early as four, he dreamt of becoming an actor. About two years later, he was diagnosed with dyslexia. Creative but not in academic subjects, he was then encouraged to take up sports, art and drama. He enjoyed acting and his mother played an instrumental role in nurturing that talent.
Even before his teenage years, he was cool, confident, energetic and charismatic but his unruly side often got out of control. Cruise later acknowledged that he was a wild kid, always wanting to see how far he could go. This troublesome behavior, however, coincided with the breakdown of his parents’ marriage. Whereas Tom and his siblings loved their mother, they had a difficult relationship with their father, a bully, inconsistent and unpredictable. “He was the kind of person where, if something goes wrong, they kick you,” says Cruise who recalls his father’s bizarre conduct when during a two-hour drive to go skiing, he refused to stop to let his hungry son buy a snack. Instead, he told him to eat imaginary food.
“The fear Tom felt in his father’s presence may help explain his natural affinity for acting, as the great skill of a child in an abusive, difficult home is the ability to split off, to hide in the imagination, to simply no longer be present when things get bad. In short, to fake it,” writes Morton.
When Tom’s mother left her husband, accompanied by her children, the family faced financial problems but everyone helped. While Mary Lee, now the main breadwinner handled three part-time jobs, the two eldest daughters worked as part-time waitresses and Tom delivered newspapers, mowed lawns and cleaned neighbors’ yards.
If Cruise never denied his academic shortcomings, he told his friends he could not act and that he never appeared in a drama when in fact he had been performing from an early age. In his final high school year, he was persuaded to audition for a part in the school’s production of “Guys and Dolls.” He stunned everyone by how good he was. After he accepted the lead part, his life would never be the same again.
On the opening night, his awesome performance was noted by an agent, Tobe Gibson: “I am very psychic and when he came to see me and shook my hand I said to him, ‘Listen to me. You are going to be a great star’.” Spotting a holiday brochure in her office, she suggested he use “cruise “ as a stage name not even knowing it was in fact his middle name. He successively appeared in “Endless Love,” “Taps,” “The Outsiders,” “Risky Business” and especially “All the Right Moves” which highlighted his acting talents. His breakthrough came in 1984 when he was singled out to play the part of Maverick in “Top Gun.” He told the producers, Jerry Bruckheimer and his partner Don Simpson, he would sign up only if he were involved in the whole production, that is securing the choice of his costars, overseeing the director’s work on set and monitoring the editing. He became the first actor, in their company, to be involved in the whole production process, an indication of the actor’s supreme self-confidence, and the recognition of his potential talents as a “cinematic wunderkind.”
“Top Gun” was a huge success; it was Paramount’s highest grossing film that year and it definitely propelled Cruise to stardom. At the same time, he met the actress Mimi Rogers who became his wife. Very intelligent (she graduated from high school at the age of fourteen) and endowed with a strong personality, she is probably the only woman whose influence had far reaching consequences. She introduced him to scientology “a paranoid movement reflecting the schizophrenic personality of the founder, accusing psychiatrists and other health workers of being responsible for all the ills on the planet since the dawn of time,” writes Morton.
From there on, his newly found beliefs, have played a constant role in his life, especially concerning the divorce from his second wife, Nicole Kidman whose father is a psychologist.
The much publicized adoptions of his two children with Kidman, were due to Kidman’s health problems. Early in her marriage, she had an ectopic pregnancy and was warned that another pregnancy could be fatal. Incidentally, at the time of their divorce, Kidman learned she was pregnant. She subsequently suffered a miscarriage but her ex-husband never bothered to visit her. Tom Cruise is known to be very cold and mean with the people he no longer wants in his life.
His legendary self control and his reputation for saying only what he wishes to divulge, vanished during the, now, famous interview, with Oprah. He behaved in such a crazy way that Oprah said repeatedly: “You’re gone.” He was proclaiming his love for the twenty-six year old budding actress, Katie Holmes whom he eventually married.
Soon after, he generated another controversy, by criticizing Brooke Shield for taking anti- depressants when she was suffering from a postpartum depression. If his views on psychiatry are well known, he wants psychiatry to be outlawed, this attack on a respected actress, caused a public outrage. The American Psychiatric Association, the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill and the National Mental Health Association issued a joint statement, in which they condemned the actor, for deterring people with mental illness from getting the care they need.
Consequently, the actor’s image has suffered and polls suggest that more than half of the public has an unfavorable opinion of him. The final blow came when Paramount announced it was not renewing its contract with Tom Cruise. “Someone who commits creative suicide and costs the company revenue, should not be on the lot,” said Summer Redstone, chairman of Viacom, Paramount’s parent company.
Since his involvement with scientology has become more public, many feel that the man behind the flashy smile is threatening and even dangerous.
“During a career spanning a quarter of a century, he has played pilot, doctor, secret agent, warrior, assassin, vampire and war hero. Perhaps, the most complex character he has ever played is Tom Cruise himself,” concludes Morton.
While this unauthorized biography does not contain shocking revelations, it clearly shows how a sect can take control of a person’s life.
