Tom Cruise has been many things –movie star, three time husband, father of three, Scientologist spokesman – but one would hardly call him humble. However, after several years of outrageous, unheard of (at least in his case) antics, Tom Cruise is now admitting he has had at least one regret moment.
Cruise returned to the “Today” show to admit that his tongue lashing of Matt Lauer four years ago was a bit over the top. In the original interview with Lauer, Cruise argued that psychiatry was a “pseudoscience.” When Lauer tried to say he knew people that psychiatry had helped, Cruise told Lauer “You’re glib.” When Lauer admitted that Cruise had done his homework, he replied, “You don’t know the history of psychiatry. I do.”
Today, Cruise finally admitted that “It’s not what I had intended.” In a humbling moment, Cruise said to Lauer “In looking at myself, I thought, ‘Man, that came across as arrogant.’ … That’s one of those things you go, OK, I could have absolutely handled that better. I didn’t communicate it the way that I wanted to communicate it. That’s not who I am, that’s not the person I am, coming across that way.” Hum, well, okay, that is probably as close to an apology as Cruise will get.
Cruise then also talked briefly about Scientology, saying “I’ve been a Scientologist for 25 years [but] I think there’s a time and a place for it because things can get misunderstood and twisted.” He also said he would not talk about the religion while making the rounds for his latest film Valkyrie, which opens on Christmas day. Valkyrie is the tale of the German Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg, who came up with Operation Valkyrie, an assassination attempt on Nazi Germany leader Adolf Hitler. Not to ruin the movie for you, but the attempt didn’t work. However, Cruise said when he read the script, “I couldn’t stop turning the pages.”