Update:
The "Today" show has now published the transcript of Matt Lauer's interview with Tom Cruise. Gawker's excerpt, posted shortly after the interview aired and reprinted below, differs from the official version in several places. Click here for the official "Today" transcript. ("Today" via MSNBC.com)
Morning Briefing:
Not again: Tom Cruise apparently lost it on national TV again this morning. No, he did not jump up on the couch, but he did rip into Matt Lauer on the "Today" show when the host turned the topic to his position (and Scientology's) on the use of psychiatric drugs. And yes, poor Brooke Shields got hauled in as a bad example yet again. Gawker did us all the great service of excerpting the transcript:
Tom: Do you know what Adderall is? Do you know Ritalin? Do you know now that Ritalin is a street drug?
Matt: I understand the abuse of all these things --
T: [interrupting] Yeah but you don't understand the history of these drugs. And if you do, you know that it masks the problem. There is no such thing as a chemical imbalance!
M: But --
T: No, Matt, I know these things --
[Then later ]
M: So, depression -- is it all gobbledy gook?
T: No, Matt, I'm not saying that. That's an alteration of what I'm saying. These drugs are dangerous, mind-altering chemicals. There are ways of handling these problems so that we don't end up in a Brave New World.
M: You want [other people] to do well, but you want them to do well on a road that you approve of.
T: No --
M: [interrupting] But if anti-depressants worked for Brooke Shields, isn't that OK?
T: I disagree with it.
M: But aren't there examples where it works?
T: You don't even know what Ritalin is! If you read the papers on how they came up with the drug, the dosage ... You should be more responsible in knowing what it is. I am responsible. I know these things.
M: You're saying that you know how it affected people you don't know, but I do? You're now telling me that what has and hasn't worked for people I know, and I'm telling you I lived with these people and I saw an improvement.
T: So you're advocating?
M: No, I'm not. I'm just saying that in their individual cases, it helped them ... We could go in circles on this matter. But do you want more people to understand Scientology? Is that a goal of yours?
T: Of course. And I don't talk about things I don't understand.
("Today" via Gawker.com)
In other Cruise news: The British tabloids are reporting that Cruise smiled and said "yes" when asked recently if he and Katie Holmes planned to have children. But Cruise also told People magazine that he and Holmes would "have to talk to our families about it" before starting a family. They might not want to consult Holmes' Uncle Fritz, though, whose friend and fellow parishioner Mike Sitter blabbed as follows to the National Enquirer: "Katie's Uncle Fritz said he reckons it [the relationship] will only last a couple of months because of the age gap ... He approached me and said, 'So what do you make of this Tom and Katie business? I think Tom seems like a real jerk. I give it 60 days.'" (This Is London, National Enquirer via ANI)
Oprah, not inclined to forgive: Apology or no apology, Oprah Winfrey's people say she has no intention of returning to Hermes to shop anytime soon. Not after they turned her away from their Paris store in what she feels was a racially motivated snub. "Oprah describes it herself as 'one of the most humiliating moments of her life,'" Winfrey's friend Gayle King told "Entertainment Tonight." "Her position is, 'I will shop where people appreciate my business, and I don't believe that any longer includes Hermes.'" (Entertainment Tonight via eitb24.com)
Another gropee? Another woman has come forward to level dope-and-grope allegations at Bill Cosby and has allowed herself to be identified by name in the press. Denver resident Beth Ferrier has told the Philadelphia Daily News that 21 years ago, when she was an aspiring model, she had a consensual affair with the comedian. After that affair ended, she said, Cosby came through town and slipped her a cup of coffee he said would "relax" her. After she drank it, she said, she passed out. Sometime later, she said, "I woke up and I was in the back of my car all alone. My clothes were a mess. My bra was undone. My top was untucked. And I'm sitting there going, 'Oh my God. Where am I?' What's going on? I was so out of it. It was just awful." Ferrier, who has reportedly passed a polygraph test about her allegations, said that when she tried to discuss what happened with Cosby, he told her she had "just had too much to drink." She said that when she read about similar claims being made by a woman who is now taking Cosby to court, she exclaimed, "Oh, my gosh! It's just like what happened to me." (Philadelphia Daily News via N.Y. Post)
Also: German critics are up in arms over the "War of the Worlds" embargo on reviews until the movie has been released, something that is common in the United States but according to the head of the German critics association "has never happened here in Germany before, and we won't stand for it." (Hollywood Reporter) ... The final edition of CNN's "Capital Gang" will air on Saturday. After 16 years on the air, it will be replaced by an expanded version of "On the Story." (Hollywood Reporter) ... Sirius satellite radio network has signed Judith Regan on to host her own two-hour show. Said Regan, "There's no Botox needed for radio, and no hair and makeup and no expensive outfits to hide behind." (Rush & Molloy) ... Robert De Niro is scheduled to testify today before a grand jury weighing whether to bring charges against the former maid he says stole items including a pair of $95,000 diamond earrings from his wife, Grace Hightower. (N.Y. Daily News) ... Roger Ebert has just gotten his own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. (The Guardian)
Money Quote:
Lindsay Lohan on life as a Hollywood gadabout: "It's very weird in L.A. You'll go out and see someone that you dated and they'll be with an ex-girlfriend and then you'll run into the ex-girlfriend and you'll like a person who dated this other girl and then you want to leave and it's not fun and then someone writes about it and there's drama and everyone hates everyone and then you're all friends again. It's so much." (The Fort Wayne Journal Gazette)
Turn On:
On Friday night at 8 p.m. EDT, HBO gives "Six Feet Under" fans a chance to catch up on (or rewatch) all three episodes of the show aired so far this season. And on Saturday night at 8 p.m. EDT, it brings viewers its acclaimed new film "The Girl in the Cafe."
-- Amy Reiter
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