In 2005 Tom Cruise sat across Matt Lauer in an interview promoting his film. Cruise commented on Brooke Shields’ book Down Came the Rain: My Journey Through Postpartum Depression. The actor got rather aggressive about his stance on Psychiatry and how people are not aware enough.
The Top Gun star belongs to the Church of Scientology which is said to be a cult. He claims that he has studied papers and knows about the study of psychiatry. Brooke Shields revisited the comments made by Cruise in her documentary Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields.
Tom Cruise called Psychiatry a pseudo-science
Commenting on Down Came the Rain: My Journey Through Postpartum Depression, Cruise said that he started believing less in Psychiatry after learning its history. The actor elaborated,
“I’ve never agreed with psychiatry, ever. Before I was a Scientologist, I never agreed with psychiatry, and then when I started studying the history of psychiatry, I started realizing more and more why I didn’t agree with psychiatry,”
When the interviewer tried to ask those who find psychiatry helpful, Cruise retorted quickly saying that there is no science in it, and the medications do not help the patients. “When someone says (medication) has helped them, it is to cope, it didn’t cure anything. There is no science. There is nothing that can cure them whatsoever.” The interviewer tried to ask about other areas where medications help, but Tom Cruise retorted fiercely, saying, “You don’t know the history of psychiatry, I do.”
He continued,
“You don’t even know what Ritalin is. If you start talking about chemical imbalance, you have to evaluate and read the research papers on how they came up with these theories, Matt, OK. That’s what I’ve done.”
These comments stirred a lot of hate and slander from netizens. They called out the actor for ignoring the plight of women all around the world who go through postpartum depression.
Brooke Shields addresses Tom Cruise’s remarks
Brooke Shields opened up in an op-ed in New York Times about Cruise’s remarks. She started by narrating how she was diagnosed and how the anti-depressants and therapy saved her and her infant, Rowan.
“I couldn’t believe it when my doctor told me that I was suffering from postpartum depression and gave me a prescription for the antidepressant Paxil. I wasn’t thrilled to be taking drugs. In fact, I prematurely stopped taking them and had a relapse that almost led me to drive my car into a wall with Rowan in the backseat. But the drugs, along with weekly therapy sessions, are what saved me — and my family.”
Brooke Shields also delved into how after writing about her experience with postpartum depression many women reached out to her opening up about their experiences and how the shame attached to it prevented them from talking about it. The writer continues,
“And comments like those made by Tom Cruise are a disservice to mothers everywhere. To suggest that I was wrong to take drugs to deal with my depression and that instead I should have taken vitamins and exercised shows an utter lack of understanding about postpartum depression and childbirth in general.”
Brooke Shields says she could never become a loving parent
“If any good can come of Mr. Cruise’s ridiculous rant, let’s hope that it gives much-needed attention to a serious disease. Perhaps now is the time to call on doctors, particularly obstetricians and pediatricians, to screen for postpartum depression.”
She continued,
“With a doctor’s care, I have since tapered off the medication, but without it, I wouldn’t have become the loving parent I am today. So, there you have it. It’s not the history of psychiatry, but it is my history, personal and real.”
The experience was very overwhelming for the writer. She has taken a strong stance on his comments and wants to reach out to as many women as possible. Tom Cruise’s comments still come under a lot of scrutiny and slander but the actor remains unchanged in his position.
Down Came to the Rain: My Journey Through Postpartum Depression is available on Amazon, Kindle, and Kobo.
Source: NYT
