Tom Cruise And "Friendship"



(image via merettapater)

One of the more interesting bits of American pop-cultural lagniappe hovering right above our radar is Tom Cruise and his revolving cast of Hollywood "friends (Averted Gaze)." We put "friends" in quotations because, even by Hollywood standards, Cruise is peculiarly disloyal, willing to part with a chum -- or a wife, for that matter -- dispatching them at a disconcerting clip, ne'er looking back in the rear view mirror. We bring this up at present because apparently Tom Cruise is disenchanted with the Beckhams. How brief! We supposed Cruise didn't want their Euro-pagan, Venusian values infecting the innocent former child-star of Dawson's Creek ("unnerving stare" notwithstanding).

One of the more dubious claims going round is that Tom feels Posh Spice is a bad influence, thinning his Katie with her 900-calorie a day diet. A birthday was skipped.

Probably the first "friend" who felt the sting of Cruise's famous fickleness in his rise to the top was Mimi Rogers. Does anyone remember Mimi Rogers? After their 1990 divorce, *allegedly*, Rogers was crushed at the rejection and -- as is the custom in Hollyood -- the couple's friends inevitably choosing the more successful partner to associate with and shunning the other. Three years later, for a quick ego boost (Hollywood-style), Mimi Rogers posed for a Playboy pictorial. The two are, at least in front of the cameras, presently cordial.

Nicole Kidman, another Cruise ex -- and we never quite figured out why they broke up other than the fact that the critics didn't like their heat in "Eyes Wide Shut" -- is not on good terms with the former star of "Top Gun." And we won't even entertain that rumor that Cruise "auditioned" the slightly-reptilian Jessica Alba before finally settling on Katie Holmes as his latest girlfriend. Of his well-choreographed and duly alliterative Cruise-Cruz "relationship (Exaggerated cough suggesting feigned detachment)," we will pass over in silence.

But the oddest and clearly non-alleged incident of Cruise on the subject of "friendship" came from the 3AM Girls, July 2007:

"'Midway through the party, previously cool Will, his wife Jada, Tom and Katie called Posh and Becks on to a platform and gave them a truly cringey LA welcome.

"Then Muhammad Ali star Will blurted: 'The wife instructed me to talk short. So I would like to say I love the dress baby, it's a hot dress. And Tom said to me the most important decision you'll ever make in your life is the groups you choose to be a part of.

"'He said that when you choose your wife you're choosing a life, and when you choose your friends you are choosing your life.'"

Creepy? More here.