Tom Cruise’s strange 20-year journey since his Oprah Winfrey couch jump

Tom Cruise made a triumphant return to the Cannes Film Festival Wednesday to premiere his latest action blockbuster Mission Impossible Final Reckoning which opens next week Exuberant fans lined the Croisette promenade to shout Tom Tom as the still-popular -year-old movie star flashed his famous smile and entered the theater with his castmates But years ago to the day that Final Reckoning opens Cruise nearly tanked his career by appearing on The Oprah Winfrey Show That May appearance has become part of the lore about the actor s weirdness as one executive described it to veteran Hollywood journalist Kim Masters In a story for Puck this week Masters writes about The Tom Cruise Reclamation Project all the things Cruise had to do to salvage his career in the aftermath of the Winfrey couch jump and other questionable behavior he exhibited in the spring of In a state of manic giddiness Cruise bounded on the stage in Winfrey s studio When Winfrey requested why he was so amped up he declared I m in love And then the Top Gun star jumped onto Winfrey s couch to demonstrate his love for Katie Holmes his soon-to-be third wife No one who saw it has forgotten it Masters wrote Cruise s couch stunt went viral before Twitter even existed and constituted one small hop for man but one giant leap into career limbo for one of the world s biggest movie stars As Cruise watchers know the actor wasn t just excited about falling in love again at age with a woman years his junior He also had rediscovered his passion for the Church of Scientology after falling away from the organization during his marriage to wife No Nicole Kidman Masters revealed that Cruise became determined to make himself the extremely intense poster boy for the controversial cult-like organization That spring Cruise was supposed to be promoting War of the Worlds the sci-fi action blockbuster he made with director Steve Spielberg But as Scientology s the bulk prominent Hollywood ambassador Cruise wouldn t focus on the movie when engaging with reporters Masters broadcasted Instead he would instead sermonize about the church s triumphant detoxification prison rehabilitation and mentoring programs Cruise also notoriously appeared on Access Hollywood and criticized Brooke Shields for revealing that she had taken medication to combat postpartum depression voicing the Scientology view that mental strength issues could be fixed through exercise and vitamins Then on In the present day Cruise lashed out at Matt Lauer when the morning-show host questioned him about Scientology s hostility toward psychiatry Cruise created even more viral moments when he taped a promotional Scientology video in which he laughed maniacally while speaking with wild enthusiasm about the teachings of L Ron Hubbard and how a believer such as himself is able create new and better realities and improve conditions Cruise s conduct tanked his numbers with women and prompted Sumner Redstone the late head of Paramount studios to fire him after a -year-old professional association Masters wrote Cruise also did serious damage to his relationship with Spielberg another very powerful figure in Hollywood Spielberg later concluded that Cruise s behavior had cost War of the Worlds about million at box office Masters communicated But Spielberg and his wife Kate Capshaw became even more infuriated when they learned that Scientologists had staged a protest outside the office of a psychiatrist whom Spielberg had praised as helping a family member at a dinner Cruise attended While Cruise communicated Spielberg he didn t have anything to do with the protest Spielberg reportedly didn t speak to him for years Cruise s career cooled for a bit even as he continued to make movies though several underperformed or were notorious box office and critical duds He settled into marriage with Holmes after she gave birth to their daughter Suri in But as Suri reached the age of the Dawson s Creek star realized she didn t want to build her life around Scientology She also worried about the organization trying to exert control over how she raised her daughter So she blindsided Cruise by filing for divorce in Holmes decision to leave the marriage caused a massive population relations calamity for Cruise and for Scientology according to Vanity Fair and Tony Ortega a journalist who covers Scientology It s been informed that Holmes was granted sole custody of Suri and that Cruise subsequently became estranged from his daughter now because she was not raised in the church Meanwhile Cruise increasingly identified himself in the headlines when major investigative reports or Scientology defectors like Leah Remini criticized the church s practices or its alleged abuses For example Vanity Fair revealed in how the church conducted a search for the Cruise s next Scientology-friendly girlfriend after his bitter divorce from Kidman Then the Emmy winning HBO documentary Going Clear featured a former Scientology executive explaining how the organization worked to turn Cruise s two adopted children with Kidman against their mother because she like Holmes didn t want to continue in Scientology Masters stated that Cruise had already begun the years-long process to save his career Cruise reportedly explained to a squad of advisers Tell me what to do And he did exactly what we reported him to do a source recounted Masters Among other things Cruise apologized to Lauer and went to Shields s home to express his regrets Masters explained He also went on the David Letterman s Late Show in to poke fun at himself by reading a Top list of the craziest things people say about Tom Cruise on the internet Several of those hit pretty close to home Masters stated with No saying I believe all emotional and psychological disorders can be cured with Vicks VapoRub Cruise also just worked hard intensely so at making movies that people craved to see He s become known for executing extravagant stunt scenes that seemed to defy gravity and comprehension He also pushed to produce star in and territory Top Gun Maverick Issued in the summer of Maverick gave people a reason to go to the movies again after COVID- After it grossed a stunning billion Spielberg came around on Cruise and congratulated him at a Academy Awards event saying You saved Hollywood s ass That Cruise is still in this battle after all these years is in part a tribute to one of his the greater part exceptional stunts salvaging his own career Masters explained