A lot of A-listers have done controversial interviews in the past that made them face a lot of backlash from their fans worldwide. Tom Cruise also went through a similar condition when he appeared for an interview on Today’s Show with Matt Lauer back in 2005. The conversation got heated when they started discussing Scientology and psychiatric medication.
The famous podcaster and UFC commentator, Joe Rogan also opened up about Tom Cruise’s infamous interview with Matt Lauer and talked about how his comments could have ruined his career.
Tom Cruise’s infamous interview with Matt Lauer
Back in 2005, Tom Cruise appeared in an interview on Today’s Show with Matt Lauer, and the argument got kind of heated up when they started discussing Brooke Shield’s psychiatric medication.
He said, “I really care about Brooke Shields. I think she is a wonderful and talented woman and I want to see her do well.” The actor further went on to talk about the abuse of psychiatric drugs like Adderall and Ritalin and kind of got angry with Matt Lauer as they were not seeing eye to eye on the subject. Further talking about the use of psychiatric drugs in the treatment of patients, Tom Cruise said,
“All it does is mask the problem, Matt. If you understand the history of it, it masks the problem. That’s what it does. That’s all it does. You’re not getting to the reason why. There is no such thing as a chemical imbalance.”
This interview got Cruise a lot of unwanted attention back in the day and almost even ended his career.
Joe Rogan and Nate Bargatze talked about the Mission Impossible actor’s take on Scientology
Nate Bargatze appeared on the famous Joe Rogan Experience podcast last year and the duo discussed Tom Cruise’s infamous interview from 2005 and talked about why movie stars should just stick to their professions and keep making movies. Joe Rogan said, “Sometimes, they[the movie stars] step out of that and it ruins it… Remember when Tom Cruise went on, was it Good Morning America?” He further added,
“Today’s show with Matt Lauer and he was talking about Brooke Shields and psychiatric medication. And he was saying that it’s not a chemical imbalance. Like, these drugs are dangerous…It almost like ruined his f*cking career because everybody’s like ‘listen to this loon’. What the f*ck is he saying? … Just go back to doing Mission Impossible, brother.“
Nate Bargatze also weighed in at this point and revealed that he also felt that movie stars should stick to making movies rather than doing interviews that would threaten their career.
Despite everything, as it turned out Tom Cruise in fact did not ruin his career and went on to become one of the best action actors the industry has ever seen. The American actor will be reprising his role as Ethan Hunt in the upcoming Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One which is all set to be released in theatres on July 12, 2023.
Source: Today’s Show and Joe Rogan Experience
