Tom Cruise: Scientologists take medication for ‘physical illness’


Tom Cruise taped an appearance on “The View” yesterday which will air this morning. The 46 year-old Scientologist answered some questions from Barbara Walters about the death of his friend John Travolta’s son, Jett, and the controversy surrounding Jett’s passing. Although producers likely cleared the questions with Cruise ahead of time he looked like he was put on the spot and was at a loss for words. Cruise called Jett’s death “horrific” and recalled meeting the boy when he was just a few months old. He said that it’s not true that Scientologists don’t take medication, and said they do go to the doctor, but he focused on the word “physical” as opposed to “mental” ilness:

Tom Cruise, a family friend of John Travolta and Kelly Preston, is speaking out about the tragic death of their 16-year-old son Jett.

“I remember Jett when he was born,” Cruise, 46, says on The View, scheduled to air on Friday. “I saw him when he was just a few months old and John just adored him, and both of his children, and Kelly.”

Jett died on Jan. 2 after suffering a seizure while vacationing with his family in the Bahamas. A private memorial service in Ocala, Fla. was scheduled for Thursday.

“I just don’t have the words for it,” says Cruise, who was on the show to discuss his movie Valkyrie. “It’s just horrific. Here you have a man, both of them doting parents, they’re wonderful people and…”

As for speculation that the Travoltas did not seek medical help for Jett, who had a history of seizures, because of their Scientology beliefs, Cruise, also a Scientologist, says the religion does not discourage medical attention.

“That’s just not true,” he says. “They say, ‘Get your physical, get your medication, get your physical illnesses handled.'”

[From People]

When this tragedy first happened I was upset at the way that people were so willing to rush to judgment and to blame Scientology and the parents for something they had very little information about. It was a logical leap that wasn’t warranted and used the same fallacious arguments that people accuse Scientology of. It’s fine to insinuate and gossip about Tom and Katie’s relationship, but after a boy has died it just seems wrong.

There are plenty of questions in this case that mainly focus on whether it could have been prevented if Jett was on the proper medication. We are not likely to ever know if Jett could have been seizure free or if the right medication could have prevented the seizure that ended up costing his life. Jett’s family will probably be haunted by that question forever, even if they sought the right medical treatment for him and did all they could. If they didn’t, their son paid the ultimate price for it. Again, we’re not likely to ever know or to even have enough information to adequately judge.

Jett Travolta’s private memorial service was held yesterday at his parent’s estate in a gated community in Ocala, Florida.

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21 Responses to “Tom Cruise: Scientologists take medication for ‘physical illness’”

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  1. CandyKay says:

    What a sad story all around.

    I think Jett’s parents sincerely believed that they were doing what was best for him.

    And while his life might have been unusual, it seems clear he was loved, which is more than you can say for a lot of “normal” kids.

    He wasn’t hidden away in an institution; he was a daily part of his parents’ lives.

    Speaking of beating up on Cruise, is Celebitchy ready to acknowlege that Valkyrie hasn’t been the huge flop she insisted it would be? The box office seems to be pretty good, and it got decent reviews from Time Magazine, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, the FAZ, et.al. – not just the “drunk and bribed” ones as she suggested. The box office columnist on the Rotten Tomatoes site calls it a “Christmas miracle.”

  2. geronimo says:

    Could he be more inarticulate??

    Tom Cruise is the last person in the world I want to hear offering public reassurances about scientology. His below-zero credibility automatically discounts anything he says.

  3. Mairead says:

    Obviously he means those who haven’t reached the status of “Clear” or beyond, as you’re hardly likely the get the sniffles if you can do super-cool things like levitate. *sarcasm*

  4. geronimo says:

    Mairead – watching the vid, I thought the screen had actually frozen because of the length of time it took for him to get his ‘thoughts’ out. They were unsurprisingly not worth the wait. Such a dullard.

  5. photo jojo says:

    He’s an actor. He’s acting quite sincere. It’s his job to act. He’s good at it.

  6. Wif says:

    So does that mean that he was taping the View instead of attending Jett’s funeral? Surely, for the sake of an old friend, he could postpone the self-promotion for the sake of the day.

  7. Wif says:

    Did you also notice that he didn’t say anything about Jett? Only that he saw Jett as a baby. His entire focus was on John and Kelly. It would have been nice to hear some kind words about the boy himself.

  8. Mairead says:

    Xenu forgive me for doing this, but that aspect of the transcript (can’t view the video) didn’t bother me Wif. I think you guys are right and I’m sure The View would have accommodated a taped interview with him on a different day.

    But since thursday was the day it done, we’ll run with it. He could have probably taped the interview early in the morning before the funeral or maybe even later in the afternoon (depending on where he was travelling to or from)

    Because it was the day of the interview he might have been a bit shaken which would have lead to the delays in the answers. And he’s concentrating on the parents rather than the child, as he’s a parent and can probably empathise with how difficult it is to lose a child. Sure what else could he say about the kid other than he was a great kid and will be sorely missed? ( I read his comment about Jett as a baby to mean that he knew him since he was a baby)

    If he told any anecdotes he’d have the usual suspects having a go at him for overstepping on Jett’s privacy.

  9. geronimo says:

    Did I not read elsewhere (here?) that it was a private family ceremony with just the Travoltas and their immediate family? Not that it matters but who says he was invited to the funeral?

  10. AnnaClaire says:

    Did he finish one single full sentence during that interview?
    Maybe Scientology doesn’t cure dyslexia if his thoughts are that scrambled.
    I’ve heard grief-stricken people speak eloquently at funerals, so not everybody just shrugs, mutters a single word and then falls silent as he did.

  11. Clare says:

    I found myself speculating on how much plastic surgery he’s had done on his face and neck recently! That was most distracting!
    And his body language- is there an expert on board who can interpret that weirdness? The eyepatch would have been a welcome distraction!
    Too bad he couldn’t have delivered his scientology-approved words on poor Jett Travolta’s death more coherently.
    Whoopi looked very uncomfortable and squirmy with him there, also.

  12. I Choose Me says:

    OK, here’s my two cents after watching the vid. He seems genuinely upset and affected by the tragedy that is Jett’s death. As a parent himself he must feel how devasting it would be to lose a child. Interesting body language though, he starts to fidget (moving his thumb)the moment the question is asked then he leans away from Babs – clearly uncomfortable as he braces himself for the question he knows is going to come next. Seems Tommy boy is very aware of the public sentiment towards $cientolgy right now and is trying to choose his words verrry carefully. Hence the long pauses, and disjointed sentences.

  13. vdantev says:

    Jesus Cruise helms the PR machine for the CO$. Soulless dead-eyed shill to the bitter end.

  14. NotBlonde says:

    Tom Cruise is a parent. One of his friends just lost a child. How would you feel?

    Being a celebrity doesn’t mean you are immune to feelings. Some people speak eloquently when they are grief-stricken and others don’t.

    After watching the video, he just seems lost. Probably thinking about his children and their mortality. Leave him be. He might be a Scientologist, but he’s still a human being.

    (edit) Some of you are really jerks, you know that? His friend’s child has DIED. He has children close in age. It sickens me that some of you can speak so horribly about this father who cannot get his head around the death of a friend’s child.

  15. Anon says:

    That’s nice. How about all the people who were told they could not proceed in scientology until they stopped taking their medication? Tory Christman was told time and time again that she had to stop taking her epilepsy medication and that going up levels in the cult would fix her condition.
    How about all the people inside the cult with severe illnesses who are not receiving medication because a) they must have ‘pulled it in’ and b) scientology will cure them? We’re talking cancer, ME, that kind of thing.

    You know what, Cruise probably doesn’t know about that. I’m sure that the real truth about what happens in the Sea Org is carefully hidden from his view. But these messages have been coming out long enough that he is remiss in not investigating further into this cult he’s chosen to devote his life to.

  16. Baholicious says:

    Oh he does so know all about it. And he likely wasn’t at the funeral because Travolta probably told him to stay the hell away. Partly for publicity reasons and also too to take heat off the Co$. And finally, who needs that phony bag of kak feigning emotion at their child’s memorial?

    I think he’s incapable of emoting anymore, period. All he knows how to do is laugh and grin like a maniac or…you know, it’s really, ah…to uh, to uh…come across as being deep and, boy…pensive, you know? Pensive. Because only a scientologist can know how to be pensive when uh…phew…when everyone else is just so…GLIB.

  17. vdantev says:

    Tom is a professional actor trained to feign emotions and entire personalities on cue. Everything he says is suspect.

  18. kate says:

    so scientology doesn’t consider mental illness a manifestation of a physical problem? tiny tom should talk to neurologists who will tell him about problems in the brain which can lead to depression, schizophrenia, etc. but then he wouldn;t be able to “cure” mental illness through scientology – with a fat monetary contribution, of course. what an asshat.

  19. NotBlonde says:

    vdantev: Every actor is like that so what every actor says is suspect.

  20. Mark says:

    Outer Space to Tom and the rest of the $cientologi$t$: Mental illnesses ARE physical illnesses. The brain is connected to the head which is connected to the rest of the body you f#cking idiots!

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