Tom Cruise

There seems to be numerous celebrity magazines these days - People, US Weekly, Vanity Fair (increasingly celebrity-oriented), to name a few. These mags do nothing but celebrate what celebreties eat (at restaurants run by celebrity chefs), who they wear (clothes by celebrity designers), and where they vacation (to get away from the pressures of being a celebrity). When I decided to make a blogsite, I had no intention of turning it into one of these mags. However, I want to discuss someone who has received much press and attention from these and other periodicals: Mr. Tom "The love doctor is in" Cruise. I specifically want to address two different aspects of Mr. Cruise's life.

1. "Dr. Tom"

Mr. Cruise recently criticized Brooke Shields for taking Paxil, an antidepressant medication prescribed by her doctor. Ms. Shields has been making the rounds of morning shows (notably the Today show), discussing her new book Down Came the Rain. Her book describes her experience with postpartum depression after her daughter Rowan's birth. Mr. Cruise had this to say about Paxil and other psychiatric meds: "These drugs are dangerous. I have actually helped people come off them ... When you talk about postpartum, you can take people today, women, and what you do is you use vitamins."

I don't keep up with what celebrities are doing. I subscribe to Entertainment Weekly, but it's not like it's filled with info on celebrities' private lives. However, I'm sure I would have heard about Mr. Cruise going to med school or getting a degree in pharmacology. I checked imdb.com and found nothing in Mr. Cruise's biography to suggest that he had been to med school. Yet, here he is talking about postpartum depression, medications and vitamins as if he is a qualified, licensed medical professional.

2. Mr. "I'm in love" (for the 28th time)

For the past two months, the public has been treated to the media blitz of Tom-and-that-chick-from-Dawson's-Creek - oops, I mean, Katie Holmes. I don't know about you, dear reader, but this just seems staged to me. The happy couple posed obscenely in front of the cameras at Oprah's "Legends Ball" (or whatever that party was - Oprah seems to be becoming increasingly celebrity-obsessed herself), mugging and dancing. The week after the party, Tom appeared for a whole episode of Oprah's show; he jumped up and down Oprah's couch, going on and on about how he feels now that Katie is in his life. Tom dragged Katie out from the green room for the last 5 minutes of Oprah's show, and it is on that show that he proclaimed, "I'm in love." Didn't Katie look completely uncomfortable while Tom was grabbing her? She didn't look like a woman in love.

Tom, Tom, Tom ... we'll see how all this plays out for you. We know how it went with your last loves - Mimi, Nicole, Penelope. Take solace in the fact that War of the Worlds will be huge.

UPDATE (6/1/05): Rumours are swirling that Tom was interested in dating another Kate (Bosworth, that is - Orlando Bloom's former flame), but she turned him down. He then turned his attention to Miss Holmes. For her part, Katie swears that her romance with Tom is not a publicity stunt: "I couldn't be happier. I'm so happy. He's the most amazing man in the whole world."

UPDATE (6/2/05): I'm not the only one worried about Tom. Sharon Waxman shares her concerns in the New York Times.

UPDATE (6/5/05): Wow. Us bloggers aren't the only ones who want Tom to stop talking about Katie.

UPDATE (6/7/05): Matthew P. Turner writes about what Tom has taught us.