Popularity
In 1990, 1991 and 1997, People magazine rated him among the 50 most beautiful people in the world. In 1995, Empire magazine ranked him among the 100 sexiest stars in film history.Two years later, it ranked him among the top 5 movie stars of all time. In 2002 and 2003, he was rated by Premiere among the top 20 in its annual Power 100 list.
In 2006, Premiere magazine established Cruise as Hollywood's most powerful actor, as Cruise came in at number 13 on the magazines 2006 Power List, being the highest ranked actor.
On 16 June 2006, Forbes magazine published 'The Celebrity 100', a list of the most powerful celebrities, in which Cruise came top. The list was generated using a combination of income (between June 2005 and June 2006), web references by Google, press clips compiled by LexisNexis, television and radio mentions (by Factiva), and the number of times a celebrity appeared on the cover of 26 major consumer magazines.
As of August 2006, "a USA Today/Gallup poll in which half of those surveyed registered an "unfavorable" opinion of the actor" was cited as a reason in addition to "unacceptable behavior" for Paramount's non-renewal of their production contract with Tom.
Controversy
Scientology
Cruise is arguably Hollywood's most outspoken member of the Church of Scientology. He became involved with Scientology in 1990 through his first wife, Mimi Rogers. Cruise has publicly said that Scientology, specifically the L. Ron Hubbard Scientology Study Tech, helped him overcome his dyslexia. It has been claimed that Cruise belongs to one of the highest echelons of the "Church of Scientology", known as "Operating Thetan Seven" or OT-VII,and it has been suggested that Cruise's increasing willingness to talk openly about Scientology may be a reflection of this.
A controversy erupted in 2005 after he openly criticized actress Brooke Shields for using the drug Paxil, an anti-depressant, to which Shields attributes her recovery from postpartum depression after the birth of her daughter in 2003. Cruise asserted that there is no such thing as a chemical imbalance, and that psychiatry is a form of pseudoscience. This led to a heated argument with Matt Lauer on The Today Show on June 24, 2005. Brooke Shields responded to Cruise's comments by calling them "irresponsible and dangerous". In late August of 2006, Cruise apologized in person to Shields for his comments; Shields said that she was "impressed with how heartfelt [the apology] was [...] I didn't feel at any time that I had to defend myself, nor did I feel that he was trying to convince me of anything other than the fact that he was deeply sorry. And I accepted it." Cruise's spokesman confirmed that Cruise and Shields had made up but said that Cruise's position on anti-depressants had not changed.
Tom Cruise with Dr. Thomas Szasz during the annual dinner of the Citizens Commission on Human Rights.
In 2006, Premiere magazine established Cruise as Hollywood's most powerful actor, as Cruise came in at number 13 on the magazines 2006 Power List, being the highest ranked actor.
On 16 June 2006, Forbes magazine published 'The Celebrity 100', a list of the most powerful celebrities, in which Cruise came top. The list was generated using a combination of income (between June 2005 and June 2006), web references by Google, press clips compiled by LexisNexis, television and radio mentions (by Factiva), and the number of times a celebrity appeared on the cover of 26 major consumer magazines.
As of August 2006, "a USA Today/Gallup poll in which half of those surveyed registered an "unfavorable" opinion of the actor" was cited as a reason in addition to "unacceptable behavior" for Paramount's non-renewal of their production contract with Tom.
Controversy
Scientology
Cruise is arguably Hollywood's most outspoken member of the Church of Scientology. He became involved with Scientology in 1990 through his first wife, Mimi Rogers. Cruise has publicly said that Scientology, specifically the L. Ron Hubbard Scientology Study Tech, helped him overcome his dyslexia. It has been claimed that Cruise belongs to one of the highest echelons of the "Church of Scientology", known as "Operating Thetan Seven" or OT-VII,and it has been suggested that Cruise's increasing willingness to talk openly about Scientology may be a reflection of this.
A controversy erupted in 2005 after he openly criticized actress Brooke Shields for using the drug Paxil, an anti-depressant, to which Shields attributes her recovery from postpartum depression after the birth of her daughter in 2003. Cruise asserted that there is no such thing as a chemical imbalance, and that psychiatry is a form of pseudoscience. This led to a heated argument with Matt Lauer on The Today Show on June 24, 2005. Brooke Shields responded to Cruise's comments by calling them "irresponsible and dangerous". In late August of 2006, Cruise apologized in person to Shields for his comments; Shields said that she was "impressed with how heartfelt [the apology] was [...] I didn't feel at any time that I had to defend myself, nor did I feel that he was trying to convince me of anything other than the fact that he was deeply sorry. And I accepted it." Cruise's spokesman confirmed that Cruise and Shields had made up but said that Cruise's position on anti-depressants had not changed.
Tom Cruise with Dr. Thomas Szasz during the annual dinner of the Citizens Commission on Human Rights.
Cruise also claimed in an Entertainment Weekly interview that psychiatry "is a Nazi science" and that methadone was actually originally called Adolophine after Adolf Hitler, a myth well-known as an urban legend. In an interview with Der Spiegel magazine, Cruise claimed that "In Scientology, we have the only successful drug rehabilitation program in the world. It's called Narconon... It's a statistically proven fact that there is only one successful drug rehabilitation program in the world. Period". While Narconon claims to have a success rate over 70%, the accuracy of this figure has been widely disputed.It has been reported that Cruise adopted his anti-psychiatry philosophies from Dr. Thomas Szasz, a leading critic of the moral and scientific foundations of psychiatry. Scientology is also well-known for its anti-psychiatry stance, which may also have affected his viewpoint on the subject.
As of 2005, Tom Cruise has begun campaigning on behalf of the Church of Scientology before politicians and government officials around the world. Such advocacy did not go well in several European countries where this organization is considered to be a cult. As an example, on July 13, 2005, after it was learned that he lobbied Nicolas Sarkozy and Jean-Claude Gaudin (the mayor of Marseille), the city council of Paris vowed "never to receive [before the council or the mayor] the actor Tom Cruise, spokesman for Scientology and self-declared militant for this organisation"
He has also campaigned and raised donations for Downtown Medical, which he co-founded, to offer New York 9/11 rescue workers detoxification therapy based on the works of L. Ron Hubbard. This has drawn criticism from the medical profession, as well as firefighters.
Concern has also been voiced about Holmes and her relationship to Scientology. Roger Friedman of the Fox News Channel claimed that Katie Holmes disappeared for sixteen days in April 2005 when even her own family did not know her whereabouts. Allegedly, the last time she had been seen, Holmes had flown to meet with Tom Cruise for a possible role in Mission: Impossible III. When she re-appeared, Holmes stated she was in love with Tom Cruise and studying Scientology. The actress then fired her long-time manager and agent and acquired Jessica Rodriguez, a prominent member of the Church of Scientology.
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