… But thankfully, not for the reason you may think. Which would be weird, considering Playboy features nude ladies, and not nude men, but hey. Tom Cruise has never really done things the conventional way, so I suppose it wouldn’t be all that off-the-wall.
Tom discussed topics like how his career almost tanked after all of that couch-jumping back in ’05, all the business behind his Scientology, and how everyone thought he was completely bat-shit crazy. Tom says to Playboy:
“There comes a point when you just have to go, ‘You know what? Here’s how I’ve lived my life: I’ve never been late to set. I make films I believe in. I feel privileged to be able to do what I love.’ You just have to keep going and remember that. The other stuff? I hear it, I read it, I get it. But life is not a matter of trying to prove anything to anybody. …. There’s what people say, and there’s reality, and you can’t worry about stuff like that. Do you wish they wouldn’t say certain things? Yeah, you wish.”
And when the going gets tough, the tough … well, they pursue legal action:
“They know I mean it, that if I have to, I will sue. You start with a letter saying, ‘Okay, you know it’s not true. Apologize.’”
Tom goes on to talk about his favorite subject of all—“Kate” Holmes:
“She’s funny and charming, and when she walks into the room, I just feel better. I’m a romantic. I like doing things like creating romantic dinners, and she enjoys that. I don’t know what to say—I’m just happy, and I have been since the moment I met her. What we have is very special.”
And on his religious beliefs:
“What’s interesting is, if I don’t talk about my religion, if I say I’m not discussing it or different humanitarian things I’m working on, they’re like, ‘He’s avoiding it.’ If I do talk about it, it becomes, ‘Oh, he’s proselytizing.’”
And on that, he definitely makes a good point. Scientology is such an obscure thing to many people, and I agree—when he doesn’t talk about it in interviews, it seems like he’s trying to avoid the elephant in the room. And when he does, everyone kind of backs off and says, “Wait, whoa—creeper alert. Keep it to yourself, dude.” So, in essence, I guess it is a lose-lose situation for Tom when it comes to this topic.
Moving on, Tom says that even though people pretty much shit all over his belief systems, he respects others for their own. And really, isn’t that sweet?:
“I have respect for what other people believe. What I believe in my own life is that it’s a search for how I can do things better, whether it’s being a better man or a better father or finding ways for myself to improve. Individuals have to decide what is true and real for them.”
So, all in all, not a bad interview. Certainly not nearly as bad as what you’d expect from someone playing a character called Stacee Jaxx. I shudder to think.