Yesterday Oprah had Tom Cruise on in front of her screaming studio audience in an attempt to remind us all why we fell in love with the crazy cult spokesperson in the first place. The show featured clips from Tom’s 25 years in film starting with Risky Business as well as taped celebrity tributes from his friends and coworkers. Oprah really laid it on thick with the audience, and emphasized how great Tom’s movies are as well as how normal and likable he is. I was skeptical at first, but she seems to have helped with Cruise’s image immensely. Oprah aired a full episode on Friday in which she visited Cruise’s Telluride home and asked him some semi-difficult questions about his “religion” and the couch jumping episode that aired in May, 2005. On Monday it was all about celebrating Cruise and welcoming him back into the good graces of public opinion. Maybe if Cruise continues distancing himself from his troubled cult he’ll be able to improve his image.

Scientology not mentioned at all; Katie and Suri were not in the audience and did not appear
I came away from the show feeling a little better about Cruise, but not one mention was made of Tom’s religion, Scientology, in the entire show, and you can assume he’s moving away from being so outspoken about it. Katie and Suri did not appear on stage or in the audience, despite a story from an audience member in In Touch yesterday that they came on stage at the end.

Tom launches very good PR website
The thing that really influenced my opinion of Cruise, and I’m not going to act like it didn’t, was his new super slick website, TomCruise.com. It has a well-produced montage of clips from his films, none of which feature his ex wife Nicole Kidman in their work together, set to music. The guy can really act. Jerry Maguire is one of my favorite movies of all time. No mention of Scientology or any apologies or explanations are offered on the site. They really handled it well by focusing on his career and accomplishments.

I wrote a more lengthy story on the entire show which follows, so I’ll just add a break here and let you know that all the videos are at the end of the post.

Then they showed a clip of Cruise on Risky Business at the age of 19 doing his thing singing “Old Time Rock and Roll.”

Oprah clarified that Cruise made up that dance. Tom waxed the floor on his hands and knees and decided to put his socks on to make the dance smoother.

Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith talk about what a great guy Tom is
The show featured segments with Tom’s celebrity friends talking about his films and their experiences with him. The first celebrities shown were Will Smith and Jada. Jada, with a bizarre mullet 80s cut, explained that she got to know Tom when they both worked on the film Collateral, in which he was trying to kill her. She said that was intense but that “to me, nothing he’s done professionally could hold a candle to who he is as a human being and that’s real.”

Will said “I’ve met very few people who’ve made that commitment that when they leave they want the world to be better - period - because they’re here.”

When the camera cut back to Cruise, Oprah asked what the friendship with the Smiths meant to him and he said “everything, they’re just real true people and I love ‘em.” Yeah, they’re Scientologists too.

After the break Tom admitted that he sang his song from Top Gun, “You’ve Lost That Loving Feeling” to Katie at their wedding after Oprah asked him specifically about it.

He said the best thing about making Top Gun was flying in the F15s, but that he’s been interested in airplanes his whole life.

Renee Zellweger calls Tom magical
They showed a clip from Jerry Maguire, and Renee Zellweger explained the “You Had Me At Hello” scene. She said Tom brought something with him that day. As for his personality she says that he has a heartfelt laugh. “You can’t dissect what makes Tom Cruise special. He just is. Hi Tom Cruise… I know that you’re a really good person. Congratulations.”

Cruise called Zellweger genuine. Oprah then threw him a super soft curveball and asked “What makes Tom Cruise nervous?”

He said that he gets excited, not nervous, making movies, and feels like he belongs there.

Victoria and David Beckham say one of their first dates was to Jerry Maguire
Victoria and David Beckham said that Jerry Maguire was special to them because it was one of their first dates. They said that Tom sent them the jacket he wore in the film and Victoria joked that David “hasn’t taken it off since.”

Jamie Foxx says Cruise came to him for advice, is bothered by stories about him
Foxx talked about “Born on the Fourth of July,” in which he says Tom departed from his movie style. He said “You saw how wide his acting muscle was.” He says Collateral changed his life. He joked that when his car crashed in the film people on set were more worried about Tom Cruise than him.

As for Tom’s past few years, he said “All the stuff that’s gone one the past couple years, it does affect him. He does feel it. Sometimes he will question ‘why’s it happening to me?’ you know. I said ‘you just keep being you, you keep being Tom Cruise and then you see him going through the worst of it and come out of it beautifully because he stays true to himself.”

Oprah asked about “Born on the Fourth of July” and Cruise’s Oscar nomination. He said people told him that it was a bad role choice and would ruin his career.

Dustin Hoffman distances himself from Tom
Hoffman was on for his segment and said that he farted in a closed phone booth while they were filming Rainman in 1988, and that they made it part of the scene. He said that it was his favorite scene in any movie he’s ever done.

Then Hoffman was slurping soup and joking that he had to eat lunch. He said “It’s a tribute that they thought you handsome enough to be my brother in the film. We were quote ‘brothers in the film’ but we were also brothers in life. It’s been extraordinarily painful experience for me not seeing you more often in these 20 years… We haven’t really connected. I hope you understand I’ve had to learn to cope.”

He kind of redeemed it by pretending to eat soup with a cut out version of Tom and saying they were going to go skydiving together, but despite the humor in the clip you can be sure that he’s making it clear that he’s not tight with Tom.

Dakota Fanning and Steven Spielberg pay tribute
Dakota Fanning was on and talked about being starstruck working with Cruise in War of the Worlds. She said he was very friendly to everyone and was always bumping fists. She said that Tom called her in the years after the film wrapped to “encourage or support me, or just to say hello” and that it meant a lot to her.

Oprah talked about how nice he is and how kind he is to the staff on his fims.

Steven Spielberg said that if he had to pick his favorite role of Toms, he wouldn’t pick one of his own films as that would be biased. He said Magnolia is “the deepest I’ve seen Tom go.” He said that Tom compels us to pay attention to him and “is a magnet”

The end part: laying it on thick
Oprah: “We all remember these films. We all remember going to the theater seeing these films.”

They fielded a question from an audience member about how Tom would spend a day off, and he said playing games with his family, going for a ride in his airplane and/or a hike, and having dinner at home and watching a movie.

Oprah: “They’re very normal. Lots going on at the same time.”

Another audience member asked Tom if he’d accomplished all his dreams. He said “I’m surprised how much I accomplished and I feel really privileged to be able to do what I do and I thank you all for allowing me to entertain you.” [Audience claps]

Oprah asked “25 years after Risky Business, isn’t it bigger than you’d ever dreamed?”

“Yes, as you go along you think ‘How can I keep challenging myself more?’ There’s always something else.’”

Oprah: “Do you feel most at home there? Like this is what you’re born to do?”

Tom: “I feel that this is what I’m supposed to do.”

Oprah: You Love It.

He says Suri calls him “Dada Cruise.”

Oprah gives the audience a boxed set of all of Tom’s 25 movies
Oprah: “Doesn’t this show make you want to go home and watch all of Tom’s movies.”

Then Oprah gave the audience a gift of all of Cruise’s movies and of course they screamed and yelled.

Here are the videos:

Part 1: Includes well wishes from Jada Pinkett Smith and Will Smith.

Part 2: Includes segments with Renee Zellweger and Victoria and David Beckham offering congratulations.

Part 3: Includes segment with Jamie Foxx.

Part 4: Includes tribute from Dustin Hoffman

Part 5: Includes tributes from Dakota Fanning and Steven Spielberg

Part 6: Includes audience questions emphasizing how normal and grateful Cruise is for his success

Part 7: Oprah gives studio audience DVDs of all his movies.

Part 8: Cruise autographs box set for Nancy, his biggest fan

All photos courtesy of Oprah.com.

A lot has already been said about the Tom Cruise interview on Oprah Friday, and now that I’ve had a chance to watch it I wanted to add my opinion. I came away with about a 10-15% better opinion of Tom, which was largely based on the final part of the interview in which his insane grin and rehearsed answers fell away and you could see that he was a guy who really loves his family and has what sounds like a great appreciation for them and for his lifestyle.

Here are a few things that I noticed about the interview that haven’t been covered elsewhere. Star Magazine and US Weekly have some good summaries of Tom’s response to specific controversies. Oprah.com also has a decent overview, but some sections of the interview are not covered.

Tom calls Holmes, “Kate” throughout, she only appears in the beginning
Katie Holmes and her monotone cooing voice only appeared at the beginning of the interview, in which she says hello to Oprah, shows her the mudroom of their Telluride home, and says that she’s going to town with the kids. You can tell that Tom chose to have the interview in Telluride because their house has a cosy feel to it. This is surely a sharp contrast to their new $35 million Beverly Hills mansion that’s being renovated and decorated with no expense spared. Tom gave a tour of the home which included Suri’s cute playroom under the stairs and her giant room with kids’ toys and stuffed animals.

The first part of the interview was more of Tom spinning things to make it seem like he’s not the wild-eyed cult devotee we know and mock. He wasn’t that convincing at first and came across like I expected him to. To paraphrase: “The Scientology tapes were stolen, they were taken out of context, it’s a minority religion, etc.” He referred to Katie as “Kate” throughout and Oprah followed suit.

Reveals that Suri was born a year to the day after he met “Kate” Holmes
He said that he can’t articulate what Kate means to him, it’s so special, and when Oprah asked him if he’s ever felt this way about anyone before, he said “no.”

“Suri was born a year to the day that I met her. The same day, April 18, is the day that I met her, April 18 Suri was born, and it just kinda has that thing, you know and it was just something that just… it just gets spun and spun and spun.”

As for the way people mocked him after that, he said he just took it in stride and it was a “confluence of things.”

Uses “amazing” way too many times to describe Holmes’ family
Cruises’ response to Oprah’s question “How’s Kate’s family accepting you?” sounded like the stuff that wide-eyed Holmes was spouting before she learned how to speak in that soothing low tone about how fabulous their life is. He used “amazing” way too many times without much detail:

“They’re amazing. I love them. Oh I love them. They’re such amazing people, and you see why Kate is such an amazing woman. Incredible integrity and strength and they’re family.”

Tom tries to say he has joint custody of children with Nicole, but is totally unconvincing
When Oprah asked Tom if Bella and Connor got to see Nicole, he again gave general answers without specifics and seemed like he was full of it.

Oprah: “What’s your relationship like with Nicole now?”
Tom: “Good. Easy.”
Oprah: “I’d read that she’d been pushed out of the children’s lives. True or not true?”
Tom [laughs, bobs head]: “No, that’s ridiculous.”
Oprah: “The children still maintain a relationship with her and see her?”
Tom: “No they share custody.”
Oprah: “How is it.. Is there a time when everyone’s together, Kate and Nicole.. whatever?”
Tom: “No, it’s just so busy… it just hasn’t eventuated in that way.”
Oprah: “But the children get to see her regularly?”
Tom: “We share custody whenever. Whenever. That’s what it is.”

When Tom talks about Suri his rapport improves with Oprah and she really warms up to him and the conversation flows. He calls Suri “magical” and tells a cute story about how Kate had a Santa outfit custom made for him. Suri immediately realized it was him and said “No daddy!”

It seems like too little too late for Cruise, but he’ll have another whole show with Oprah on Monday in front of the studio audience. The guy is really charming and gracious to fans and he will probably make a much better impression at that point. He got through the tough questions already and now it’s on to wowing the women with his bright eyes and laughing personality. He might make us forget his antics for the time being, but I don’t know if it will be enough to save that Valkyrie movie or his cult. It’s time that the axe came down hard on Scientology, and Cruise has been their apologist for way too long.

Here are the videos.

If you don’t have time: short clip where Cruise gives the quotes mentioned above

Full Interview follows
(some clips have commercials which are easily skipped by moving the cursor)

Introduction: Katie says goodbye and Tom shows Oprah the house:

Part 1 of interview:

Part 2 of interview:

Part 3:

Part 4:

Part 5:

Part 6:

I don’t know how it happened, but it seems that someone’s gotten to Tom Cruise – and I’m going to guess it’s someone in PR. Though it boggles my mind, Tom actually gave a reasonably normal and rational (at least for him) interview with Oprah – and from Us Weekly’s excerpts, it seems that the two got along well, though Oprah admitted to being a little hesitant at first.

Tom explains that he jumped on Oprah’s couch because he was just “so in love” with Katie Holmes, and he didn’t know how else to express it. As delusional as he can be, he seems to at least be able to understand that the results weren’t a great thing for his career.

Cruise tells Winfrey, “I just felt that way, and I feel that way about her. I can’t even articulate it, to be honest,” he adds. “That feeling, that connection. Just who she is and what she means to me.”

Of the negative response to his couch jumping, Cruise says, “It just kind of kept going. Those things I kind of go, ‘You just have to take in stride.’ It just kind of became a confluence of things.”

[From Us Magazine]

Tom even goes on to say that he’s relaxed his views about psychiatric medication a little bit. He had freaked out on Matt Lauer about the issue a few weeks following the Oprah couch jumping. Tom obviously still doesn’t support it, but is at least smart enough to say that it should be a parent’s decision.

Tom also says that he regretted criticizing Brooke Shields, who admitted to taking Paxil for post-partum depression. He doesn’t say he thinks she made a good decision, but says he regrets mentioning her in any way.

“I was feeling pressed in the interview with Matt Lauer,” Cruise says. “For me, my issue was really about child drugging. It’s not like it is today, like people are really kind of openly talking about this.”

(Cruise now says of medicating children, “I think the parent should be able to and should make that decision.”)

[From Us Magazine]

Tom glosses over some issues, like whether he thinks he’s targeted more for being a Scientologist, the reasons he and Katie waited so long to “debut” Suri, and the insinuation that his marriage to Katie Holmes is fake. But he actually does admit that he’s made some mistakes and could have done some things better.

It’s hard to tell if he really means it, but at least he’s got some better PR advice and knows to say it. In the past Tom has been so egocentric that he couldn’t seem to even understand how poorly he was coming across. It’ll be really interesting to see the interview in its entirety, which airs this afternoon.

Header photo of Tom and Katie at the LACMA’s Opening Celebration of the Broad Contemporary Art Museum in Los Angeles on February 2nd. Images thanks to PR Photos.

The Sex and The City stars were on Oprah yesterday in front of an audience that had screened the film the day before. There was a lot of screaming and enthusiasm for the cast and Oprah raved about how great the movie is. It’s out in the US on May 30. The studio audience had seen most of the film but were not allowed to see the end because they didn’t want all of the plot to get out. The women answered questions about their lives and their work and Mr. Big Chris Noth even came on and talked about his new baby son. Oprah didn’t ask them the standard question about whether they fought at all, and Kristin Davis wasn’t asked about her nude photos that were leaked earlier this year.

On fans surrounding them as they filmed in NY City, and the “dream sequence” story
Kim Cattrall: “I felt like a Beatle”
SJP: “You can’t be anything other than thrilled that people still care.”
Kristin Davis: “There were people writing down the dialog.”
SJP: “We kept going around saying ‘This is some crazy dream sequence we’re filming.’ We kept repeating this mantra to try and gaslight people a little.”
Oprah: “When you showed up in a wedding gown…”
SJP: “That crazy dream sequence”

Cynthia Nixon on her breast cancer scare and same sex partner
Cynthia Nixon talked about discovering breast cancer, and said “I did not cry.”

She talked in a matter of fact way about how she did radiation and had a lumpectomy and a lymph node taken out.

As for how Nixon fell in love with a woman and told her friends, she said “Kristin knew about it first” and Davis said “I know her. I know Christine,” and Nixon said “and then I think other people were left to fend for themselves when it all erupted and these ladies did great and so did Mr. Noth who I know is coming out later [crowd screams]

They were great the things they said to the press.”

SJP: “I think we all know Cynthia so well. She’s such a capable smart thinking person and our greatest concern was that Cynthia be happy… her happiness is everything.”

Oprah: “I heard you just sort of met Christine, fell in love and it didn’t matter to you whether she was male or female or what… how does that work?”

Nixon: “You haven’t met my girlfriend, she’s fantastic.” [others agree]

Davis: “What is love? I think that’s the important thing. There’s something real and intangible and solid about it, and that’s how I feel when I’m around them. It’s just undeniable.”

Kim Cattrall on her younger chef boyfriend
Oprah - to Kim Cattrall: “I hear you’re with a younger guy now.”

Catrall laughs. Oprah: “Did you have a limit to how young? Or is love is love.”

Cattrall: “As long as he has his driver’s license.

“He is 23 years younger than me and I wondered ‘what could we possibly talk about?’ but we talk about a lot of things, and he’s a professional chef, so it’s not just good in some areas of the house it’s good in all areas of the house. And he’s very sophisticated, he’s very zen.”

Oprah asked if it was true that they like cooking in the nude together. Kim said that wasn’t true.

Kristin Davis on feeling great in her 40s
Kristin Davis said she wasn’t happy in her 20s and didn’t know who she was. SJP said the 20s are about exploration.

Davis said that when she hit 40 the show ended and she wondered what she would do at that point, and she said it made her realize that she wanted to take more pleasure in small things in life. She said “Oh life is so fantastic, but it’s so charged up… you want to be able to feel like you’re connected to the earth.”

Davis said she was tired after all the frenzy at the end of the show, and Kim Cattrall said she went into a funk when the show ended. Cynthia Nixon said she was in love so she didn’t get depressed at that point.

Chris Noth says his girlfriend was told that she would miscarry their baby
Chris Noth came on to a lot of screaming. Oprah first asked if he gained insight about women from working on the show and he answered “Never interrupt makeup sessions.”

Noth said coming back for the movie was a no-brainer and that it’s the best job in the world.

As for how much he’s like Big, he says “He’s a lot more self edited than me.”

Davis said “Chris is very very male… like a Alpha male thing.”

They were joking about how Chris was doing Law and Order at the same time and how he had to do prison scenes and how much of a contrast it was to Sex and The City.

They showed pictures of Chris with his baby son Orion, who is three and a half months old. He explained that the constellation Orion was the first one he would see in the sky when he was in college. He introduced his girlfriend Tara in the audience, and said “I’m so lucky.”

Noth told a heart wrenching story about how doctors told Tara after she first found out she was pregnant that they couldn’t find a heartbeat and that she would have a miscarriage. He said she talked to the baby all night and that the next day a heartbeat was found. He called Orion a fighter.

SJP talked about her five and a half year old son and said he asks a million questions. She said it helps her realize how much you know and how little you know.

They showed the amazing shoes, dresses and purses used for the costumes and all the women said that it was a lot of fun getting dressed for the show. SJP had 81 outfit changes.

They had the director Michael Patrick King on via Skype and he joked that he’s “cutting out all the imaginary dream sequences.”

The dream sequence explanation sounds like a ruse
From the comments that SJP gave you can kind of tell that the dream sequence story was one they made up on the spot to try and keep the paparazzi and fans from guessing plot points after scenes were photographed in NY. But given all the well-deserved hype surrounding this film, I think it’s safe to say that whatever details were leaked won’t deter people from seeing it.

Here are links to the videos of the show, including clips from the Sex and The City movie. There are commercials but you can easily skip them.

Sex and The City cast on Oprah: Part 1
Sex and The City cast on Oprah: Part 2
Sex and The City cast on Oprah: Part 3
Sex and The City cast on Oprah: Part 4
Sex and The City cast on Oprah: Part 5
Sex and The City cast on Oprah: Part 6

David Blaine astonishingly broke the world record for breath holding today on Oprah. Suspended in the same sphere he used at Lincoln center two years ago for his week long stint underwater, he held out for 17 minutes and 4 seconds, a full 1/2 minute longer than the last record set less than three months ago by Swiss free diver Peter Colat.

Part of Blaine’s preparation for the stunt involved sleeping in a low-oxygen tent for a month. The tent replicates a high altitude environment and helps build red blood cells and increase oxygen transport throughout the body. He also went to the Caymen Islands and practiced free diving, which is where you swim deeply into the water without a mask. He helped his body to endure for so long without air by breathing pure oxygen for up to a half hour before he went underwater, which is allowed under Guinness rules.

The AP Reports that he told Oprah it was “A lifelong dream” after he emerged from the tank. He added: “I can’t believe I did that.”

Blaine became known for his on-the-spot magic tricks in his David Blaine: Street Magic show which aired 10 years ago on ABC. He has since moved on to public endurance feats including being suspended in a spinning sphere for two days in 2007, living in a water globe in Lincoln Center for a week in 2006, going without food in a Lucite box over the Thames River in London for 44 days in 2003, getting enclosed in a block of ice for three days in 2000, and buried in a coffin for a week in 1999. With this latest stunt he’s shown that he’s not just a masochist exhibitionist and that he really has the chops to break a very difficult world record.

I didn’t believe Blaine would be able to do this as he seemed to make it his mission just a few months ago, but he pulled through. As Ali G would say: “Respect.”

Here’s a quick video without sound. I’ll update the post with a better one that includes his remarks to Oprah as soon as it’s available. There are also two video blogs on YouTube which explain his preparation.

Update: Here’s the video of Blaine completing the challenge. His heart beat was raised throughout, and his doctor was worried that he wouldn’t be able to finish because he was using up more oxygen by not being able to lower his heart rate. Toward the end his heart rate slowed and started beating irregularly:

David Blaine is shown at the Tribeca Film Festival’s Redbelt premiere on 4/25/08, thanks to PRPhotos.

David Blaine told NY Post columnist Cindy Adams last December that his next public feat of endurance would be to try and attempt to break the world record for staying awake without going insane. His last stunt, in May, 2006, was spending a week inside a water globe displayed at Lincoln Center as crowds lined up to get a chance to press their hands against the glass. He tried to top off his human sea monkey experiment by holding his breath for the longest time for someone who had already been underwater for a while or something, which would have been 8 minutes, 58 seconds. He lasted for 7 minutes and 8 seconds before he started having convulsions and had to be pulled out. Doctors said he suffered liver damage from all that time underwater and that it’s a wonder he didn’t have more serious long term neurological problems.

Somehow Blaine decided to revisit that stunt instead of trying to stay awake, and this time in order to break the record after walking on land he has to hold his breath for an incredible 16 minutes and 32 seconds. He’s going to attempt it live on Oprah today, and has supposedly prepared for months. He’ll breathe pure oxygen for 23 minutes before entering into a “human aquarium” on stage.

I saw a very physically fit and well prepared diver fail at breaking the breath-holding record on live television on the German show “Wetten, Das?” two years ago when the record was set even lower, and I doubt Blaine can do this.

The underwater breath-holding record is an incredibly competitive one
A German diver, Tom Seitas, broke the record in August of 2007 live on the Regis & Kelly show, holding his breath for 15 minutes and 2 seconds.

Seitas has since been bested by a Swiss guy who did it for an incredible 16 minutes and 32 seconds less than three months ago.

According to medical experts, former record holder Seitas has the genetic advantage of having lungs that are 20% larger than the average person. He also credits his success to maintaining complete stillness to preserve oxygen.

It just doesn’t seem like Blaine can do this, especially considering the fact that he claimed to be going for a completely different record just a few months ago. He says he’s ready, though, and that having an audience will help motivate him to break the record.

We’ll have to see how he does today. He’s got to do something to keep himself in the news.

[Details from AP Report. Photos from Blaine’s stunt in May, 2006]

Tom Cruise has finally come crawling back to Oprah. Or Oprah has finally come crawling back to Tom Cruise. It’s really hard to say. Tom famously embarrassed the crap out of himself when he appeared- couch jumping like a moron – on Oprah’s show in 2005. It really marked the beginning of a significant decline for him. Unfortunately, Tom – being Tom Cruise – didn’t realize he embarrassed the crap out of himself. In all likelihood, he still has no clue.

Tom and Oprah haven’t had much to say to each other since then. It’s not really known if that’s a coincidence or if there was an actual rift between the two. Oprah wasn’t invited to TomKat’s wedding – and given that Tom used her show to announce to the world “I love this woman!” a million freaking times, you’d think Oprah would get an invite. Winfrey also did a show where she talked about what she was really thinking during bizarre moments in the Oprah Winfrey Show’s past. She admitted she found Tom’s behavior a little bizarre… and that Katie Holmes was clearly incredibly uncomfortable.

Either way, whatever might have been going on between Oprah and the Cruises is long over – Tom’s scheduled to appear on the show during May sweeps.

Tom Cruise is returning to “Oprah”! The actor hasn’t appeared on Winfrey’s daytime talk show since his June 23, 2005, appearance where in addition to promoting “War of the Worlds,” he very enthusiastically expressed his love for future wife Katie Holmes (we’re putting the whole couch incident in the past).

It’s not clear what the focus of this show will be, but it is well-timed to May sweeps, and a quick look at the calendar shows that this summer is the 25th anniversary of Cruise’s breakthrough role in “Risky Business.”

A rep for Warner Home Video does confirm that there are “special plans” for the anniversary, and details are being finalized. Other celebrities have been contacted about being involved in the show according to sources close to them, so expect it to be an A-list hour of television. Cruise’s publicist wasn’t available for comment and “The Oprah Winfrey Show” didn’t respond by deadline.

[From the Scoop]

Never let it be said that the pint-sized actor won’t rise to the occasion for the sake of publicity. I sincerely hope Oprah nails down all her furniture before Tom comes on stage. In fact, if I were Oprah’s staff, I’d make sure to find some weighted shoes to have Tom wear, to further discourage jumping of any sort. It’ll be interesting to see if he manages to conduct himself with a modicum of decorum, or if he goes all manic on us again. Something tells me Tom Cruise may re-enact the infamous underwear dancing scene from Risky Business. And at this point, I think I’d rather he keep his pants on.

Three different students at the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls attempted suicide in the past year, according to the National Enquirer’s review of local reports. In each case the attempts were thankfully unsuccessful, and details were kept private out of consideration for the girls and their families. One girl was recently expelled when her behavior and a suicide attempt made it apparent that she was mentally ill:

One student recently became suicidal after showing signs of mental illness and becoming disruptive in the classroom. This comes on the heels of two other suicide tries last year by girls at the school - one tried to kill herself by jumping off a building, and another cut her wrists.

None of the three girls died…

According to a local report, a 13 year-old girl began displaying signs of a mental breakdown shortly after her January enrollment. “She became disruptive in class and began cutting herself - she wanted to kill herself, ” a school insider told The Enquirer.

The academy administrators sent the girl to Tara Hospital, a respected Joahannesburg psychiatric clinic, where she later was diagnosed with epilepsy, the source said.

Shortly after the diagnosis, school administrators decided to expel the girl, who is now back with her family, according to the source.

[From The National Enquirer, print edition, April 28, 2008]

There was a big abuse scandal at Oprah’s school last October when it came out that a female matron had been physically assaulting and sexually fondling girls. Oprah hired an investigative team and extra security and the woman has been fired, arrested and is facing an investigation. Oprah also suspended the CEO who initially ignored the problem, and gave all the girls a cell phone programmed with her phone number so that they could personally contact her. She was praised by the South African press for her swift action in putting a stop to the abuse and making an example of the abuser.

Many parents complained that although a free top notch education at Oprah’s posh school was an amazing opportunity for their daughters, it also was also an abrupt isolation from their families. Impoverished girls from age 11 to 12 with demonstrated academic success were chosen as the first students, and most had never been apart from their families in their lives. Their parents are only allowed to visit once a month for just two hours, and only four people can visit at a time. Girls are not allowed to call home during the week and must wait until the weekends. Girls with many brothers and sisters were suddenly completely cut off from their siblings and the extended family they grew up with.

So when I read that three girls at Oprah’s school had attempted suicide, my first thought was that good food, beauty treatments and yoga sessions can’t take the place of loving family relationships, but that may be too judgmental on my part. According to South African researchers, the suicide rate among school age children is as high as 7.8%, so maybe it’s inevitable that some girls are troubled. Oprah is trying to do a good thing, and she’s put her heart and money into it, but it seems she’s imposed her idea of a materialistic good life on girls who could have taught Oprah a thing or two about the importance of family.

Mariah Carey was on Oprah yesterday and she talked about her diet and exercise plan and showed some of her moves with her trainer. She does isometric exercises and water aerobics and her workout looked surprisingly easy. Oprah clarified after the segment showing Mariah working out at an indoor pool that Mariah does do 60-90 minute workouts and that those were just additional moves. Mariah said that’s true but that it’s more about diet for her now. She has a cook prepare low-calorie meals planned by her trainer:

After a close friend made a comment about her weight, Mariah says she was inspired to make permanent life changes and get into shape once and for all. Mariah says she has a secret weight loss weapon—her nutrition and fitness coach, Patricia. “Finally I just said, ‘It has to be a life decision if you’re going to really lose the weight,’” she says. “So Patricia created a number of things for me…one is a workout regimen.”

Mariah says her workouts typically last for 60 to 90 minutes and combine cardio with resistance training. To tone her arms, Mariah uses her own body weight and stretches to sculpt long, lean lines. She likes to hop into a pool for the cardio portion of her workout. “What’s great about working out in the pool is the water acts as resistance,” she says. “You’re actually exercising twice as hard without feeling it.”

Mariah says the most important part of her new, healthier lifestyle is her diet. Patricia tries to cook Mariah’s food without using oil and butter. She’s also helped her stop snacking.

When Patricia told Mariah to cut mac ‘n’ cheese out of her diet, Mariah says the news broke her heart. “That’s the thing that I have difficulty letting go of because that’s comfort food,” she says.

[From Oprah.com]

Oprah said that Mariah’s main closet is an incredible 3,000 square feet, and that she has a secondary walk in closet just for her lingerie in her new apartment in NY. The sexy sleepwear is arranged by color and includes items from one of her favorite vacation spots, Capri, Italy. Mariah said she also collects perfume bottles. Here’s the clip:

And here’s Mariah’s exercise routine. It’s like Pilates but it does look rather dainty. Oprah said that this pool wasn’t in Mariah’s new NY apartment.

Mariah Carey is promoting her new album, E=MC2, which is out in the US today. She now has more number one hits than Elvis, and is second only to the Beatles.

Thanks to Oprah.com for the pictures.

A couple of weeks ago we reported on how Tina Fey, star and creator of the super-funny “30 Rock,” was dreaming of casting Oprah Winfrey as her best friend on the show. That dream may become a reality, according to a source who was at a recent taping of Oprah’s show, on which Tina was a guest.

Dreams really do come true, and don’t let anyone tell you differently!

Just two weeks ago, while discussing some dream casting options for her NBC comedy 30 Rock, Tina Fey told reporters, “I still want Oprah to play my best friend. I feel like I want to spend time with Oprah, and I don’t know what I need to do to make that happen…”

Well, as of today, it might happen. A Chicagoland source just wrote in with this fantabulous news, “I just got back from a taping of The Oprah Show starring Tina Fey and Amy Poehler for Baby Mama—it’s hilarious, BTW. Anyway, it looks like Oprah may be a guest on 30 Rock next season! Oprah said she had heard Tina wanted to be her best friend, and so Oprah asked whether Tina meant in real life or on the show, and Tina said both. Oprah said ‘Have your people, call my people,’ but she was definitely interested, and she said she’d like to do it. Tina gestured to the people in the audience, to the effect of ‘You heard her say it.’ They also addressed it on-air very briefly. And there is even a shout-out to Oprah in Baby Mama!”

[From E!Online]

I am excited about this- not because I like Oprah, but because having Oprah appear on the show might actually get more people watching it. Normally, I’m not a big fan of stunt casting, there are a few instances where it’s done really well and with great results, but at this point “30 Rock” can use the ratings.