Who's Behind Tom Cruise's Massive Image Overhaul, Tom Cruise Or The Church Of Scientology?
This past fall, Tom Cruise was preparing for a press tour to promote his new WWII epic, Valkyrie. It would be a serious understatement to say Cruise has had a bad year. In fact, 2008 began as a disaster for Tom Cruise.
The Downfall
Last January, just as Andrew Morton's controversial book, Tom Cruise: An Authorized Biography was set to release, a video was leaked to the internet of a private Scientology-propaganda film featuring the star addressing his "congregation" on how Scientologists must save the planet from itself. Cruise, using almost indecipherable-to-outsiders terminology, seemed unhinged and fanatical in the video, which was subsequently pulled from the user-generated video site YouTube. With threats of copyright infringement from the Church of Scientology looming, YouTube yanked the video from their site, but tabloid site Gawker claimed fair-use and has hosted the video on their domain ever since.
With the video controversy reaching a fevered pitch, an internet group calling themselves Anonymous, took exception to the censorship and waged a public war against the Church of Scientology, which including a viral video campaign which eventually spawned global monthly protests against the cult. These protests extended to Cruise (alleged in Morton's book to be second in command of Scientology) and his wife Katie Holmes. Tom and Katie, who were already popular targets of the tabloid media because of suspicions about the legitimacy of their relationship and how quickly it blossomed, were now being ridiculed daily on celebrity blogs.
It's significant to note, prior to all of this heightened Scientology/Cruise scrutiny of 2008, recent years weren't kind to Tom Cruise. The once Hollywood sex symbol departed his second marriage to actress Nicole Kidman, looking like an insensitive jerk. Pregnant with the couple's second biological child (their first ended in a miscarriage), it was during this difficult period in 2001, only weeks after celebrating their ten-year anniversary, that Cruise informed Kidman he was leaving her. Kidman miscarried three months into her second pregnancy after they separated. This was the beginning of what would be a slow, but steady descent into Tom's career suicide.
Fast forward to 2004 when Tom fired his longtime and highly competent PR flack Pat Kingsley (who successfully navigated his popularity for 14 years) and replaced her with his sister Lee Anne, also a Scientologist. From that point on, Scientology became a beacon of importance in Cruise's life. Cruise's image began to center around his "faith", with the star insulating himself with Scientology minders. This shift ultimately led to his falling out with Paramount Studios and a quiet war with Hollywood heavyweights like Sumner Redstone (Paramount chief) and director Steven Spielberg. Without rehashing all the intimate and grisly details, Cruise has taken more hits to his image on behalf of Scientology than a bong at a Michael Phelps house party. (groan)
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