»Cruise doesn't care what cynics say«

Let the cynics talk. Tom Cruise is in love - and he just can't restrain himself.

"You know what? There's always cynics. There always has been. There always will be," said Cruise, who hasn't been shy about displaying his affection for "Batman Begins" actress Katie Holmes. "I have never worried ... about what other people think and what other people say."

Cruise, 42, and Holmes, 26, went public with their romance in April, smooching and posing for photographers in Rome. They recently became engaged.

Many have doubted the romance - the words "publicity stunt" have rained down on the couple like an alien invasion as Cruise has been busy promoting his new film, "War of the Worlds," directed by Steven Spielberg, which opens on June 29.

"I have to tell you. It's just a great time in my life," Cruise said in an interview that aired on NBC television's Today show.

"I'm really happy. And, you know, I'm engaged. I'm going to be married. I can't restrain myself. It's like you've got two little cords on your mouth and you can't stop smiling."

The actor, whose marriages to Mimi Rogers and Nicole Kidman ended in divorce, declined to say what Holmes has brought to his life that wasn't there in the past.

"I don't want to compare things," Cruise said. "It's that thing where you just - in life when it just happens. ... You meet someone. And it's - I can't even describe it."

When asked if he could be with someone at this stage in his life who doesn't have an interest in the Church of Scientology - Holmes has said she's embracing the religion - Cruise told interviewer Matt Lauer: "Scientology is something that you don't understand. It's like you could be a Christian and be a Scientologist.

"It is a religion. Because it's dealing with the spirit. You as a spiritual being. It gives you tools you can use to apply to your life."

When Lauer mentioned Cruise's earlier criticism of Brooke Shields for taking anti-depressants, Cruise told the Today show co-host he didn't know what he was talking about.

"You don't know the history of psychiatry. I do," Cruise said.

The interview became more heated when Lauer, who said he knew people who had been helped by the attention-deficit disorder drug Ritalin, asked Cruise about the effects of the drug.

"Matt, Matt, you don't even - you're glib," Cruise responded.

"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."

Tom Cruise remains one of Hollywood's biggest stars, but since his manic, couch-hopping appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show last month, he also has leaped to the forefront of celebrity punch lines.

The 42-year-old actor has become the butt of jokes from late-night television comedians, tabloid columnists, internet spoof artists and pranksters in the midst of promoting one of this summer's most heavily publicised films.

Cruise drew the kind of attention most celebrities go out of their way to avoid in late May when he spent the better part of an hour-long interview with Winfrey giddily professing his love for actress Katie Holmes, 26.

Footage of the twice-married Cruise on Oprah, jumping on the guest sofa, dropping to one knee to pump his fist and ushering Holmes on stage to declare, "I love this woman!" has been played repeatedly. Bootleg copies were selling on eBay for $US20 ($A26)

The interview triggered suspicions of a shameless publicity stunt to promote his new film, War of the Worlds, and hers, Batman Begins.

The two upped the ante weeks later with a Paris news conference to announce their engagement.

The couple got engaged at the Eiffel Tower just two months after revealing their relationship. No wedding date has been announced.

Washington Post columnist Eugene Robinson called the romance an unintentionally hilarious act of "frantic, naked desperation."

"It's a sign of the celebrity-market bubble that a bona fide, top-gun movie star has to make such a spectacle of himself just to stand out from the crowd. There's such a glut of celebrities that they'll soon have to begin storing the surplus in silos in Iowa," he wrote.

Adding to the controversy has been Cruise's recent intense public discussions of his belief in Scientology, the church founded by science fiction writer L Ron Hubbard, including criticism of actress Brooke Shields for revealing that she had taken antidepressants.

In a testy exchange on NBC's Today show on Friday, Cruise called psychiatry a "pseudo science" and told co-host Matt Lauer: "You don't know the history of psychiatry. I do."

Cruise's behaviour has ignited speculation that he might damage his image and undermine the success of his movies.

"He needs to remain enough of a blank slate that we can forget about him as a person when we see his movies," said Marty Kaplan, a University of Southern California professor of communications.

"Whether we can still suspend disbelief, or whether all we can think about while watching him act is L Ron Hubbard and Oprah will be measured by his movie's grosses."

The fallout also has begotten a kind of open season of snickers rare for a movie star of Cruise's stature, putting him into a category of big-game celebrity prey recently occupied by the likes of Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck.

"Tom and Katie got engaged on Friday and, once again, the media somehow found out about it," late-night comedian Jimmy Kimmel said on his show last week.

"If we promise to go see 'War of the Worlds,' will you please make this stop?"

In Britain, a group of TV pranksters squirted Cruise in the face with water when he stepped up to a faux microphone.

They were arrested and an apology was issued, but film clips of the incident circulated on the internet.

Separately, a short internet spoof on the Oprah interview, titled "Tom Cruise Kills Oprah," (http://tcruiseko.ytmnd.com/) shows the actor jumping out of his seat to clasp hands with Winfrey, shooting simulated bolts of electric current into her body as he laughs madly.

Another website was hawking "Free Katie" T-shirts, stickers and coffee mugs.

Allan Mayer of the Hollywood "crisis PR firm" Sitrick & Co, said Cruise's recent soul-baring reflects his decision to cast off the carefully controlled "packaging" that publicists provide most stars.

By firing long-time personal publicist Pat Kingsley and replacing her with his sister, Mayer said, Cruise "has decided, 'I'm not going to be very carefully groomed when I speak in public. 'I'm going to speak my mind ... and let the chips fall where they may.'"

L. Ron Hubbard was given Vistaril® by Dr. Gene Denk in his final days, by intramuscular injection in the right buttocks. Vistaril® is a psychiatric drug, used to calm frantic or overly anxious patients. He died on January 24th, 1986, eight days after the fatal stroke, and one day after signing his last will and testament. He died in a 1982 Blue Bird motor home, about five miles East of Creston, CA, at the very remote "Emanuel Camp". His fingernails and toenails were long and unkempt. His hair was long, thin and receding on his forehead.

David Miscavige personally arrived with documents requesting that no autopsy be performed. 13 photographs taken of his body were later destroyed at the request of Norman Starkey.

These are public documents, available from the San Luis Obispo Sheriff's Office. Coroner's file #8936.

The American Psychiatric Association has sharply criticised actor Tom Cruise for televised remarks in which he called psychiatry a "pseudo science" and disputed the value of antidepressant drugs.

"It is irresponsible for Mr Cruise to use his movie publicity tour to promote his own ideological views and deter people with mental illness from getting the care they need," APA President Dr Steven Sharfstein said in a statement.

During interviews promoting his latest film, War of the Worlds, Cruise has discussed his deep scepticism of psychiatry to explain his belief in the teachings of the Church of Scientology, founded by science-fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard.

In one such interview last Friday on NBC's Today show, Cruise was asked about his recent criticism of actress Brooke Shields for revealing that she had taken the antidepressant Paxil to cope with postpartum depression.

"Before I was a Scientologist, I never agreed with psychiatry," Cruise said. "And when I started studying the history of psychiatry, I understood more and more why I didn't believe in psychology. ... And I know that psychiatry is a pseudo science."

Disputing the effectiveness of antidepressants generally, Cruise said, "all it does is mask the problem". He added, "There is no such thing as a chemical imbalance."
Cruise also singled out drugs, such as Ritalin, that are used to treat children for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, calling Ritalin "a street drug".

As Today host Matt Lauer pressed the 42-year-old actor on his views, Cruise said, "Here's the problem. You don't know the history of psychiatry. I do."

The rebuke from the APA, which represents nearly 36,000 physicians specialising in the diagnosis and treatment of mental illness, challenged Cruise's assertion that psychiatry lacks scientific merit.

"Rigorous, published, peer-reviewed research clearly demonstrates that treatment (of mental illness) works," the APA statement said. "It is unfortunate that in the face of this remarkable scientific and clinical progress that a small number of individuals and groups persist in questioning its legitimacy."