These are some new photos of Tom Cruise and little Suri at Disneyland yesterday. I think these are sweet photos – as much as we bitch and moan about Tom Cruise and his lifts of delusion and his Xenu-centric lifestyle, he’s a pretty-hands-on dad, and he adores Suri. I think it’s adorable to see a father spending the day with his young daughter doing activities that he knows SHE will enjoy. Although… Suri’s got a look on her face like, “I was told there would be more princesses!”

Like Alice herself, Suri Cruise spent the day in wonderland on Wednesday, as her dad Tom Cruise treated her to an outing at Disneyland – including a spin in the Mad Tea Party.

Sporting a purple dress and a pink top with white polka dots, Suri, who’ll be 6 in April, found time to get pink-and-purple face paint in a swirling design around her eyes.

There was no sign of mom Katie Holmes, but Tom, 49, looked relaxed and happy, in jeans and a blue-and-white striped T-shirt, as he enjoyed the father-daughter bonding time at the Anaheim, Calif., resort.

[From People]

See? Nice. Nothing scandalous. Tom just had a day off and decided to spend it with his daughter, who… I guess she’s being home-schooled at this point? There were rumors of Suri’s enrollment in a Scientology school last year, but Katie seems to have taken Suri out of the school for NY Fashion Week, and then Suri just never returned. Tom is still riding high after Mission: Impossible 4 did so well at the box office – Cruise is back, bitches! So expect more photos of Tom showing off his good-dad cred!

UPDATE: Just adding another photo of Tom & Suri in the teacup!

Photos courtesy of WENN.

Last August, we covered an In Touch story that detailed Katie Holmes’ life of constant surveillance and control, which was based upon Scientology’s possession of “damaging” secrets gathered from extensive auditing of all celebrities who are dumb enough to become members. The story included details of Tom’s household staff, who are also all Scientologists and who are encouraged (even required) to report all of the ongoings within the Cruise home. There was also the implication that Tom and Katie were largely ignorant of their staff’s spying practices but that, to a degree, they also turned a blind eye because their lives are pretty comfortable, and why rock the boat?

Indeed, that boat will not be rocked. Cruise has reached OT Level VIII (and has gained amazing superpowers as a result!), so he’s basically a Scientologist lifer. Even though he underwent an emergency PR makeover to cover the crazy while promoting MI4, he’s still such a die hard that he “lovebombs” his own wife. At this point, even if he wanted to get out, the cult knows so much about him that it’s just not worth it. He’s staying put and enjoying his free slave labor that plants wheat fields and refurbishes vehicles just to keep Tom happy. In exchange? Scientology gets ownership of all of Tom’s filthy secrets. This happens at the behest of the current head of Scientology, David Miscavige, known to many simply as the “Tiny Tyrant”, which sort puts a new spin on why he and Tom get along so well. I mean, Tom even took the dude along on his honeymoon with Katie Holmes. To put it bluntly, Tom and David are thick as thieves:

Of course, Miscavige isn’t exactly a loyal friend (or whatever you want to call it) to Tom. The guy not only ordered all of Tom’s auditing sessions to be videotaped but also got drunk at parties and read Tom’s confessions aloud to all to hear. Then again, Scientology is an organization built upon spying on others for use in intimidation. Even the children of Scientology are programmed to tattle on their parents so that the CO$ automatically knows of potential defectors. It’s sketchy as hell in so many ways.

Now there’s a new article in today’s Village Voice that talks a lot about how Tom was brought back into Scientology after years of inactivity during his marriage to Nicole Kidman. To provide a bit of background (and I’m paraphrasing some findings from
Inside Scientology: The Story of America’s Most Secretive Religion, by Janet Reitman), Nicole was never really crazy about the CO$ to begin with, and she really didn’t like David Miscavige at all. It certainly didn’t help that Tom went OT Level III (and as such, was allowed to read the infamous Xenu story) and went batshit with rage. Supposedly, Tom was really angry about the whole experience and thought the alien story was utter crap. He couldn’t believe that he’d been promised so much knowledge and had ended up with a silly tale about volcanoes and aliens instead. So he quit the cult for a few years, and Miscavige decided that he’d do anything to get him back. This is where the Village Voice story comes into play:

​Three former Church of Scientology officials tell the Voice that for years — at least between 1991 and 2005 — church leader David Miscavige kept a close watch on Tom Cruise with the use of a man named Michael Doven, who served as Cruise’s personal assistant.

For much of that time, 1991 to 2001, Cruise, one of Scientology’s most famous faces, was actually estranged from the church (a closely-held secret until just a few years ago). While Cruise kept his distance from Scientology during that period, Miscavige still received detailed, daily reports about the Cruise household through Doven, the former officials say.

Doven was reached on the telephone Wednesday, but he hung up when he learned that it was the Voice calling. An e-mail was subsequently sent to him with specific questions about the allegation that he spied on his employer, Cruise, on behalf of the church, but he did not respond.

Part of the reason for the surveillance, says former church official Claire Headley, was that Miscavige and the church were worried that Cruise would cut ties entirely with Scientology. “Doven told us what Tom was complaining about, about what areas in his life he was having trouble with. Then we could use that information to tailor our approach to him,” she says.

​Thursday morning, the Voice published a story about Doven, who no longer works as Cruise’s assistant but photographs other Scientology celebrities for magazines. Our story was prompted by a mailer sent out recently by the church, which included a lengthy testimonial by Doven about how he had become the first Scientologist to complete testing on a corrected set of L. Ron Hubbard materials which were published in 2007, the “Golden Age of Knowledge for Eternity.”

After that story appeared, Marty Rathbun, formerly Scientology’s second-highest ranking executive, made public his allegation that for many years Doven had spied on Cruise for Miscavige. Since Rathbun made that allegation public at his blog Thursday afternoon, we have been confirming his statements with other church executives who worked with Miscavige, Cruise, and Doven.

Rathbun went through a detailed history with us of Tom Cruise’s involvement in Scientology, and his own role in helping to bring Cruise back into the fold in 2001.

“Doven was there the entire time, reporting to Miscavige everything that Tom was doing,” Rathbun told me. When I asked Rathbun how he knew that, he answered in Scientology jargon: “How do I know that? Because I was on that line.”

“Doven was personally reporting to you what Tom was doing?” I asked him, for clarification.

“Absolutely,” Rathbun answered. “He’d be telling me what was happening with Nic [Nicole Kidman], what was happening in the household, what was happening between Tom and Steven Spielberg. He had been reporting to us from the early 1990s.” After 1996, Rathbun says, Doven was making those reports directly to him, and Rathbun was in turn giving the information directly to Miscavige.

In 1998 or 1999, Claire Headley says she too became part of those communications while she worked with Rathbun at the Religious Technology Center, one of Scientology’s entities at the church’s secretive desert base.

“I was a party to the conversations that Doven was supposed to be, you know, feeding us information and getting Tom back on lines,” she says. “I do remember that Doven’s reporting led up to retrieving Tom. And subsequently I had a lot of involvement with Marty when he was running Tom on OT IV and OT V.” (We’ll explain that jargon later in the story. If you’re new to the subject, you might want to read our primer, “What is Scientology?”)

I asked Headley what kind of information Doven was turning over. “What was happening with Nicole and the divorce. And I remember hearing about problems with Nicole’s parents — or the problems that Tom perceived, with them not wanting Nicole to continue with Scientology,” she says.

In 1990, Cruise had begun dating Kidman. But if Miscavige was hoping that Cruise was going to become a more involved Scientologist, instead the actor pulled away. Late in 1990, Cruise and Kidman were married. In 1991, Cruise all but separated from Scientology, but the church managed to keep it quiet.

“Nicole was really sour on Scientology and kept pressing Tom to stay away from Int Base,” Marty Rathbun tells me. Until 2004, Rathbun was perhaps the highest-ranking official in the church after Miscavige. (He wore the title of the RTC’s Inspector General-Ethics, but all that really mattered was that he answered to only one person — Miscavige.) “Nicole spotted Miscavige and didn’t like what she saw. Her big issue was that Tom was becoming like Miscavige. Nicole didn’t like the relationship that was developing between them,” Rathbun says.

[From Village Voice's Runnin' Scared blog]

LMAO. So Nicole didn’t like the “relationship” between Tom and David Miscavige, and she wasn’t gung ho about Scientology to begin with, so the CO$ declared her a suppressive person. Now Nicole can’t even see her own children, Isabella and Connor, with Tom — although I do have hope that Connor will eventually leave the cult.

Anyway, the Village Voice article goes on at great length and is well worth a read when you can set aside some time to fully digest it. Of particular interest is more discussion on how the CO$ targeted South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone, which turned into quite the convoluted matter. Long story short — since Comedy Central is owned by Viacom, which also owns Paramount Pictures, Miscavige dispatched Michael Doven to apply pressure on both Paramount and Viacom to shut up the South Park guys. Further, Miscavige attempted to use CAA to force the LA Times to actually stop associating Tom Cruise with Scientology. Seems odd, right? Well, this all occurred at the height of Tom’s 2005 crazy, but the LA Times reportedly stood firm. Miscavige’s demands turned an already huge mess into a collosal clusterf–k, and the “end result” was that Tom parted ways with Paramount in 2006. In other words, this was “yet another case of Miscavige creating enemies in his fervor to try and protect his image.”

So why is Miscavige still around when Scientology is clearly imploding under his leadership? Well, it will take awhile for the “mighty” to fall in this case because the CO$ still has tons of money and plenty of slave labor. However and thanks to the internet, recruits are way down, and it’s only a matter of time. Especally when fundraising emails are leaked in such an amusing manner. Now if only the IRS would again revoke the tax-free status of the CO$, this cult would fall much more quickly.

Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet and Freedom Magazine

Tom Cruise’s BFF, cult leader David Miscavige

This story is somewhat complicated for non-Scientology people to understand, but I’ll try to explain it as I’ve come to understand it. A very high-up member of the Scientology cult, a woman whose photo and editorials were featured in their magazine every month for years, has written a mass e-mail questioning the “religion’s” direction under leader David Miscavige. The thing that makes this letter different is that unlike other prominent Scientologists, like the Oscar winning director/writer Paul Haggis, the author isn’t defecting from Scientology or urging other members to leave. Author Debbie Cook is using the basic tenets of their religion, as laid out by founder L. Hubbard, to emphasize that Miscavige is abusing his position and violating the church’s teachings by squeezing money out of parishioners and hoarding it. Cook is appealing to true believers not to leave but to question their leadership. This signifies a potential civil war inside this very criminal cult, between the people who are devoted followers and the people who are abusing their power.

A woman named Debbie Cook dropped something of an atom bomb on the membership of the Church of Scientology last night, and as of this minute — about noon on New Year’s Day — her Facebook page is still going a bit crazy as her fellow church members deal with the fallout.

Cook was once a very high ranking executive in Scientology’s Sea Org. She led the Flag Service Organization in Clearwater, Florida, which made her one of the most important executives at the spiritual headquarters of the worldwide organization. Several years ago, she left that position and the Sea Org, but she is still a member of the church in good standing.

That will probably change after the e-mail she sent out, reportedly to 12,000 members of her religion, which condemns church leader David Miscavige for turning Scientology into little more than a money-hungry fundraising machine.

Some things to keep in mind as you read her message. (New to Scientology watching? Here’s an introduction to the religion.)

– Debbie is aware that her fellow church members are not used to hearing criticism of church management, and would automatically suspect that such a message would be sent from someone outside the church, or from a disaffected member who had been declared a “suppressive person” (excommunicated). So she stresses repeatedly that she is still a member in good standing, is writing only for her fellow church members, and does not want her message to be seen outside the church (a very naive notion).

– She, like many other longtime church members who have been leaving Scientology, is fed up with the intense pressure under leader David Miscavige to raise money from people who are already giving every penny they can. As we saw in the recent blockbuster series in the St. Petersburg Times, “The Money Machine,” even very loyal longtime members are simply becoming exhausted from constant pressure to donate large sums.

– What really makes this document unique is the way that Debbie appeals to her fellow church members by going to the “Source” — L. Ron Hubbard’s own words — to show how “out-ethics” (outside of policy) Miscavige is with his emphasis on fundraising.

– We are left with a lot of questions after reading this clearly heartfelt appeal by a longtime Scientologist who is alarmed at what her church has turned into: what will become of Debbie Cook? Will she be declared a suppressive person for raising these questions, and will her many friends be told to disconnect from her? Will her e-mail generate an actual discussion among longtime church members about these problems and foster even more defections to Marty Rathbun’s blog and the independence movement? Or, will Miscavige finally begin to see the light and start making critical changes to save Scientology from problems that seem to be splitting it apart?

[From The Village Voice]

In the past, we would be very concerned about Cook’s well being at this point, considering all the ways that Scientologists have harassed, followed and intimidated defectors, often to the point of “suicide.” The story has received a ton of international press, which protects Cook from immediate reprisal. High ranking former member Mark Rathbun writes that Cook is not in imminent danger and that we can expect to see Scientologists and Miscavige pitifully try and spin this. You can read her full letter on Rathbun’s blog, and he has more information about how the cult is trying to discredit her.

Personally I would love to see Tom Cruise’s little buddy Miscavige implode and/or step down. We’ve heard so many truly scary stories about what a abusive, mean, vindictive despot Miscavige can be. Cruise is probably still a member in good standing behind the scenes, but he’s had to keep absolutely quiet about it following his nearly career-killing antics supporting the cult in 2005.

Thanks to a member of anonymous for the tip! These photos are of Cruise and Miscavige at a Sci event several years ago and at Cruise’s wedding to Katie Holmes

Man, I have to admit to thoroughly enjoying digging up the photos for this story because the memories of Tom Cruise’s 2005 public breakdown (particularly while he toured for War of the Worlds and MI3) really needed some refreshing. You see, Tom was rather well behaved during the entire Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol promotional tour. Basically, Tom was so tame in his behavior that we all focused instead upon his botoxy, nebulous, tweaked-up, plastic-surgery face. Well, that and his adorable little lifts, which by the way, really are much different Robert Downey Jr.’s lifts (RDJ proudly owns those things, and Cruise pretends they don’t exist at all). Yet Tom did very well during this tour to reign in the crazy. Someone very wise advised him to focus on talking about the stunts. There was no jumping up and down on couches, no mention of Scientology, no fingers pointed in journalist’s faces, no crazed expressions, no happy trails revealed at baseball games, no motorcyle rides down the red carpet, and no strange body language. In other words, there was none of this:

Tom also didn’t pull any sketchy red-carpet PDA on director Brad Bird like he did to poor Steven Spielberg:

In addition, Tom also significantly toned down the public perception of his relationship to Katie Holmes. Sure, he paid brief lip service how “amazing” she is, and he etched a love note to her on the Burj Khalifa, and then he papped himself for an entire weekend with Katie and Suri, but he also left Katie at home for all of the international premieres. When she did show up on the NYC red carpet, things were so restrained that Kaiser declared that Katie and Tom were “phoning it in”. That’s certainly a natural reaction while observing a zombie couple who used to act like this on the red carpet:

Essentially, Tom has been working very hard to reign in his wacky OT Level VIII, Scientology personality so that he can appeal more to the general public (a.k.a., “wogs”). Now he’s fully “refreshed” in more ways than just his face. A story in this week’s issue of In Touch confirms that Tom has enlisted the help of PR experts, who helped him cultivate a less “obnoxious” and more “sophisticated” vibe while promoting MI4:

As Tom Cruise strolled down the red carpet at the New York premiere of his latest blockbuster film, Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol, he looked cool, calm and collected. “He spoke in a soft voice, and was gracious to reporters and fans,” an onlooker at the December 19 event tells In Touch. “Everyone was so impressed with how warm and polite he was.”

Tom’s demure behavior was shocking — considering he usually acts totally amped up at his premiere extravaganzas, often dipping his wife, Katie Holmes, and greeting fans over-enthusiastically. But this time, Tom acted like a grown man, and it was intentional.

Six years after jumping on Oprah’s couch like a lunatic — and seeing his popularity dwindle — he is finally heeding the advice of his handlers. “While promting Mission: Impossible, Tom was instructed to keep the focus on the film and not his personal life,” an insider explains of the star, adding that Tom’s wild antics after he began dating Katie were blamed for the failure of his flick War of the Worlds. “He really aliented his fans with his bizarre behavior back then. This time, he was given guidelines on what is and isn’t acceptable.”

He wants everyone to like him. Now, instead of over-the-top publicity stunts and passionate public makeouts with Katie, 33, on the press circuit, a much calmer Tom is sticking to the subject. “I think making movies is a dream come true,” the 49-year-old told In Touch at his new film’s premiere. “It’s something I’ve never taken for granted.”

And with his mature new attitude, it seems like the dream will continue to be a reality for Tom. As the insider sums up, “He’s well on his way to regaining his throne as the most popular star in the world!”

[From In Touch, print edition, January 9, 2012]

This story mostly gets it right except for the finer detail about when Tom’s box-office potential tanked as a result of his outlandish behavior. Neither War of the Worlds ($234,280,354 domestic) nor MI3 ($134,029,801) were significantly affected because these were action films based either upon a great literary work or an existing franchise that people still really wanted to see regardless of the Cruise. However, when Tom tried in 2007 for a political drama in Lions for Lambs, no one showed up. That movie made a mere $15 million on a $35 million budget, and even though Meryl Streep and Robert Redford played supporting roles, people just didn’t want to see Tom in a leading role at that point. Part of this failure could be attributed to subject matter, but even a political movie should be able to recoup its relatively small budget when it stars A-listers. Primarily, that movie tanked because Tom’s crazy face continued well into 2006 and further tainted the well.

Here’s more memories, this time of 2006 in Cruiseland:

Photos courtesy of Fame and WENN

Here are even more photos of Tom Cruise papping himself with his family to promote MI4. The man is just … well, he doesn’t stop. I realize that he’s got a product to sell and has much at stake with this movie, and Kaiser described Tom’s attitude well in terms of “hustle,” but Tom really needs to take a break soon. I’m actually startng to worry about the little fella. It’s simply not healthy to run this hard for so long.

Also, Tom should really think about disappearing for awhile after he finishes up this MI4 publicity blitz because the backlash is commencing in earnest and from more than just a gossip standpoint. Even Reuters has published an article (a really “amazing“ one) entitled “The Curse of Being Tom Cruise” that includes much of what we’ve already discussed here including a bit about those paid fans in Mumbai. Overall, it’s a pretty brutal take on Tom’s public persona and concludes that Tom’s fame is quickly approaching that of a reality star instead of an A-list movie actor.

Now Hollywood Reporter has jumped in with a piece dedicated solely to the topic of Tom’s morphing face, which Kaiser, CB, and myself have already covered at great length. The HR article even discusses the Mail’s piece about Tom’s makeup fetish (which I referenced yesterday) and goes into detail about Tom’s secret professional relationship with a famous Brazilian plastic surgeon:

Tom Cruise, 49, is looking eerily younger than ever. Which leads us to surmise that A. he’s getting some help or B. he’s got a scary portrait in his attic. The actor — who turns 50 on July 3, 2012, — has looked particularly fresh-faced as he promotes his new movie Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol

So what’s his secret? According to the Brazilian mag EPOCA, Cruise has had meetings with world famous Brazilian plastic surgeon Dr. Ivo Pitanguy. Cruise even invited the good doctor to the 2009 Rio premiere of Knight and Day. And on that same trip, Cruise, wife Katie Holmes and daughter Suri, were photographed having a lunch at Pitanguy’s private island in Brazil’s Bay of Kings.

British tabs are already reporting that Cruise has become more concerned with his skin, even using his wife’s creams. Since Dr. Pitanguy’s skin care line, Beauty By Clinica Ivo Pitanguy, is also available at U.S department stores such as Berdorf Goodman, Cruise could indeed be slathering on his friend’s pricey goop. The New York Times has already lauded Pitanguy’s new “It” Cream, the Restoring Formula in his PreVious skin care line. The cost: $300 for 1.7 ounces.

Pitanguy is credited with triggering Brazil’s obsession with plastic surgery. He’s allegedly worked on Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Persian Empress Farah Diba, French president Francois Mitterrand and Frank Sinatra. A jet-setting multi-lingual Renaissance man, Ivo is also friends with Carla Bruni, the First Lady of France, Michael Caine and the late Salvador Dalí and Audrey Hepburn, The Times also profiled the good doctor, whose scapel has been said to be “guided by heaven.”

Another aging celebrity we’re keeping a close eye on is Rolling Stone Mick Jagger. Our sources say he’s now using his girlfriend L’Wren Scott’s magical skin potions from Dr. David Colbert, including Colbert’s Intensify Facial Discs, Stimulating Serum, Nutrify and Protect Day Dream and Heal and Soothe Night Cream, available at Bergdorf Goodman, Neiman Marcus and on his website.

If Dr. Colbert’s products can make a difference in Mick’s 68-year-old weathered face, we’re buying this stuff in bulk. And how many Frequent Flyer miles does it take to get to Brazil?

[From Hollywood Reporter]

A plastic surgeon who’s allegedly “guided by Heaven” doesn’t sound like he falls in line with the tenets of Scientology, right? Then again, the usual CO$ rules don’t necessarily apply to Tom. But yes, I totally buy that Katie and Suri were wined and dined while Tom was nipped and tucked.

Tom also appeared on “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon” to talk more about the MI4 stunts. Fallon’s praise was so effusive that I thought the poor guy was going to wet his pants in excitement, and when he called Tom a “manly man,” you could visibly see Tom’s feathers fluff right up. It was a lot like the final act of Black Swan. Anyway, Fallon totally beat Tom in a wreath-throwing contest too, and I bet it secretly killed Tom not to be the very best at something:

Meanwhile, here’s a photo of Katie stepping out alone on Tuesday evening (even robots need some breathing room) to check out the Broadway production of The Cherry Orchard, which sort of irks me because I adore Anton Chekov and even chose my daughter’s middle name based upon a character in that very play. Katie couldn’t possibly understand.

Later, Katie stepped out with Suri and Tom (photographed separately below) for yet another late night:

Suri, in an unusual gesture, seemed perfectly happy to interact with the paps:

Finally, here’s Tom walking by his lonesome behind Katie and Suri, which is strange because he usually likes to be front and center:

Photos courtesy of Fame

Tom Cruise isn’t quite finished pimping out his family for the sake of promoting Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol, which I guess is sort of understandable since he doesn’t mave much else to talk about other than his insane stunt work in the movie. I mean, he’s finally figured out that no one wants to hear him talk about Scientology and the evils of psychiatry, so that’s something positive. Still, Tom’s been around the globe a few times in the past few weeks, and then he returned to New York City to get papped with the family all weekend while carting poor Suri around without a coat. By the time he and Katie actually walked the red carpet, they both looked exhausted as hell.

As a general rule, I can’t even imagine how exhausting it must be for Katie to deal with Tom on a consistent basis and even experience his suffocating “lovebombing” when he’s away for work too. Make no mistake that Tom is still thrilled to have Katie as his wife (whatever that actually means to them as a couple), and he’s still giving interviews to discuss her “amazing” qualities. He really needs to learn some new adjectives, right?

The parties just don’t stop for Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes this holiday season. The couple celebrated their five-year anniversary last month and her 33rd birthday on Dec. 18.

“Every day I fall more in love with her,” Cruise, 49, told PEOPLE at the New York premiere of Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol on Monday at the Ziegfeld Theatre. “It’s been quite an amazing five years because of her. She’s an incredible woman. She’s everything to me.”

To mark her birthday, the couple enjoyed a Big Apple tradition at the Radio City Christmas Spectacular starring The Rockettes with daughter Suri, 5, and her grandparents, Kathleen and Martin Holmes.

The family then dined at Buddakan for a birthday meal on Sunday.

“We had a lot of fun. It was a great day,” Cruise says of the party, which included some romantic treats for his wife. “We had flowers and cake. All that stuff.”

[From People]

Yeah, Katie’s birthday must have been quite the event, what with the Sciento-clown in attendance. Shudder. Meanwhile, Tom hasn’t forgotten about his other girl either, for he’s also paying lipservice to Suri as well:

Suri Cruise isn’t a sartorial copycat.

The fashionable 5-year-old — who’s been known to rock faux fur jackets and kitten heels over the years — has an innate sense of style, according to her dad Tom Cruise.

“She was just born that way. I don’t know what to say,” a proud Cruise, 49, told Us Weekly at the Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol premiere in NYC Monday. “She really creates her own outfits.”

Adding that Suri “dresses herself,” Cruise said his wife Katie Holmes, 33, has helped curate their daughter’s love of clothes.

“Katie has her create things and sew and stuff like that. It’s kind of amazing,” Cruise said. “It’s beautiful. It’s really beautiful.”

Holmes — who recently admitted to coordinating outfits with her celeb BFF Victoria Beckham — also helps her action star hubby get dressed for red carpet events.

“Whatever my wife wants me to wear, I wear,” Cruise laughed. “It’s simple. She has amazing taste.”

[From Us Magazine]

Okay, that last part must have been a lie because, seriously, are we supposed to believe that Tom only wears lifts because “amazing” Katie dictates that he must do so? I think she sort of enjoys towering over him sometimes. Rather, it’s Tom who can’t handle the truth.

In addition to Tom’s vomit-inducing words about his lovely and incredible wife, the Cruise also stopped by “The Late Show with David Letterman” on Monday evening to promote MI4, and he barely gets a word in about his wife and daughter because Dave (mercifully) keeps quizzing him about the movie stunts. However, Tom does make quick mention of Katie staying home from the international MI4 tour because the schedule was jam-packed, not because she was lounging somewhere on a recharging dock as I previously guessed. My bad.

On a slightly amusing note, the Daily Mail has some photos of a very heavily made-up Tom outside the Ed Sullivan show after chatting with Letterman. While I’m aware that guests on the show wear make-up for the cameras, the amount of blusher and lipstick on Tom is ridiculous, and someone should’ve made him wash that stuff off before heading onto the street. Fortunately, you can’t really see it while he’s chatting to Dave onscreen though. Here’s a clip of the show, which is largely uneventful because Tom’s apparently taken a few PR lessons on how to hide the crazy. He does slip once though when Letterman says the word “ass” — Tom begins laughing hysterically and then repeats the word. What a freak.

Now as a special bonus, here’s ore of Tom’s freaky plastic-surgery face from the MI4 NYC premiere. You know you love it.

Photos courtesy of Fame and WENN

I’m embarrassed to admit how excited I was to see the NYC premiere photos for Mission: Impossible 4. I’m also embarrassed to admit that I’ll probably be seeing this movie over the holidays. As for Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes… well, they should both be embarrassed by their appearances on the red carpet last night. I’m not saying that they both looked like hell or anything – they didn’t. But it just seemed like both Tom and Katie were phoning it in. I’m not even sure if Tom was wearing his special red carpet lifts! And he just looked tired. He probably is really tired – the man has been hustling and hustling for weeks, and this premiere comes after a “candid” photo-op blitz in which every photo agency got thousands of new images of Tom, Katie and Suri. Poor Tom. You have to give him credit, though – very few movie stars have his hustle.

As for Katie – well, I don’t know what’s going on with her. When she’s flying solo, her styling has been improving so much, and I kept thinking that she had found a good makeup dude and a great hair person, but now I’m wondering if she pissed them off. Her makeup looks too cakey to me. Her hair is a boring ponytail. And the dress? The dress is Holmes & Yang. Meaning, Katie designed this herself, if you think “designing it herself” equals “copying a Lanvin design.” So… overall, not the best from either of them. But I’ll still see MI4. I might not admit it, though.

Photos courtesy of WENN.

Well, I suppose that these several new batches of photos are what we get for wondering where Katie Holmes and Suri Cruise have been hiding out, right? Here’s Tom Cruise dragging his unwilling daughter (seriously, she is not enjoying the act of getting papped) out in the brisk Manhattan weather on Friday. As you can see, Suri’s wearing what looks to be a spring-summer dress, no tights, and strappy kitten heels even though, as of late, NYC has been enjoying highs in the mid-30s and lows. Also, Tom is carrying Suri’s coat instead of making her wear it. Naturally. Later on, Tom was snapped picking up Suri from gymnastics class. He carried her while wrapping her up in a blanket but was still conspicuously carrying that damn coat:

This was only the beginning of a frenzy of appearances by the Tom and his two ladies. Over the past few weeks, Cruise has been showing off his excellent plastic surgery work while doing international promotion for Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol. There was the big question of where he’d stashed Katie during this entire extravaganza, but then last Thursday, Katie and Suri returned to public view after a month of absence. Then we heard about how Tom had been “lovebombing” his amazing wife while he was away, and suddenly, he returned to their side as if by synchronized dance. Now the trio has commenced a publicity blitz in New York City, which I can only assume will eventually culminate in the NYC premiere of MI4.

See this side-eye that Tom’s giving the camera? It’s the “Not only am I a sexy and botoxed-up, good little dancer who is both manly and sensitive, but I’m also a loving family man too. Now go see my movie!” look:

But the fun didn’t stop there. Here are Tom, Katie, and Suri on Friday evening as they headed out to watch The Nutcracker, and at least Suri was wearing a coat:

Then on Saturday, Tom and Katie stepped out for some alone time and headed towards a dance class together. You know he loved that. I bet he wore some tap-dancing shoes with lifts too.

On Saturday evening, the loving, perfectly normal family headed out for the Christmas Spectacular at Radio City Music Hall.

Oddly enough, a very sad-looking clown was photographed Sunday outside the Cruise-Holmes abode and was thought to be headed for the celebration party of Katie’s 33rd birthday. Introducing Sciento-clown:

Finally, Tom took his girls out to celebrate Katie’s birthday with dinner at Buddakan restaurant on Sunday evening. Yes, that’s three consecutive late evenings out for poor Suri in a row. But hey, Tom’s got a movie to promote! On a side note, how bad must those faux-work boots smell by now? Tom probably needs to air those things out for a good few weeks, you know, unless he just never takes them off. Ever.

Photos courtesy of Fame

Paula Patton is featured in the January issue of GQ as part of the promotion for Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol, and I finally now have an opportunity to say something that’s been on my mind for quite some time. I honestly think that Paula is far too alluring to play the romantic love interest (or leading lady) of Tom Cruise. Sure, he’s good looking in a very anticeptic, plastic sort of way, but Tom is so not sexy, and he hasn’t been for quite some time (and I’m talking about the pre-couch jumping era too). So putting him up onscreen next to a woman with such obvious sensual allure is almost comical. Really:

On Her MI4 Role: Paula joins Tom Cruise’s gang as a sexy lady-spy-as if there were any other kind—who vamps it up and gets dirty in equal measure, per the international lady-spy handbook Vamping It Up and Getting Dirty in Equal Measure: A Primer. “I was doing physical stunts,” says Patton excitedly, “feet in the mud, fingernails full of dirt, shooting and fighting for my life.”

On Her Husband: Sadly for you, she is married to singer Robin Thicke-son of Growing Pains patriarch and proud Canadian Alan. Somehow she has figured out how to bridge the vast cultural divide between her and her in-laws: Canadians are a lot like us, actually,” Patton jokes. “I’ve figured out how to blend in.” Spoken like a true lady-spy.

[From GQ]

There’s really not much of an interview available as of yet, but the photoshoot is just phenomenal and makes me giggle at how inadequate Tom must feel next to Paula. Don’t get me wrong — I know that she signed onto MI4 because it’s a great opportunity to get the kind of exposure that the Tom Cruise circus would necessarily promise. Still, most of his recent leading ladies have been somewhat lacking in the sex appeal department — his last cinematic love interest was Cameron Diaz, who is pretty (I guess) in her own unusual way but certainly not a knockout like Paula.

To provide a point of reference, here’s Paula with Tom in a still from MI4. Awkward, much?

In addition, I’m also rather conflicted over Paula’s strange fashion choices for the MI4 international red carpet tour. Here she is in a not-so-bad Georgio Armani dress in Dubai:

Also just okay was Paula’s Naeem Khan minidress in London:

Things took a turn for the worse with this Kardashian-esque Dolce & Gabbana dress in Madrid:

And here’s Paula wearing Dolce & Gabbana once more at the Rio premiere. This terrible tent dress does nothing for her figure:

Photos courtesy of GQ, Fame, WENN & AllMoviePhoto

This morning, Kaiser asked a very relevant question: Why has Katie Holmes disappeared for the past month only to surface immediately before the NYC premiere of Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol? It’s like she’s been stuffed in a closet somewhere.

Meanwhile, Tom Cruise has literally travelled around the world in the past week and a half to promote his latest jaunt as (the possibly washed-up) super-spy Ethan Hunt. He’s walked red carpets solo in Dubai, Moscow, Munich, Madrid, London (not to mention those fake fans in Mumbai). Now we have these photos from the Rio premiere on Wednesday, which took place immediately before Tom ‘coptered out of there and flew back to New York where he and Suri were snapped ogling a baby.

And there’s the rub. It seems that In Touch has received word that Tom’s gunning for another mini-Cruise (that is, besides himself), and Kaiser’s half-joking theory about Tom sending Katie back to the assembly shop for some “reprogramming” might be more correct than we’d like to seriously believe. It’s a scary possibility, really. However, in that vein of thought, Tom has been keeping tabs on Katie’s whereabouts while he’s away by “lovebombing” (a term of art where cults are concerned) her in their own home. Of course, Tom’s so hardwired to the Scientology mindset that he probably believes he’s only truly expressing his unconditional love to his amazing, remarkable, utterly devoted wife. In reality, what he’s telling her is to stay put, enjoy the pampering, and get prepared to pop out another one:

Tom Cruise’s real “mission” is to get Katie Holmes to agree to baby number two.

Tom Cruise may have been 5,000 miles away from his wife Katie Holmes, but he wasn’t going to let that stop him from serving her a super-romantic dinner in their Beverly Hills mansion. According to an insider, Tom recently hired the sushi chef from famed restaurant Nobu to prepare all of Katie’s favorites — and even got an assistant to make sure the table was bedecked with candles and fresh flowers. “She spent more than $3,000 on the sushi chef alone,” the insider marvels. “But he’ll do anything to keep Katie happy.”

You can say that again! On an all-out campaign to convince Katie, 33, to have a second child, Tom has returned to the over-the-top romance of their courtship — and has been showering her with pricey gifts on a daily basis. Even though he’s been traveling the globe promoting Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol, he’s been working overtime to make sure Katie keeps him — and baby number two — in her thoughts. “Instead of pressuring her to get pregnant, Tom is trying to show her how committed her is to her,” a friend explains. And in Tom’s mind, nothing says committment like flowers. The friend reveals that Tom’s been having Katie’s favorites, orchids and hydrangeas, delivered to the house every day, along with her favorite foods. “He’s spoiling her,” the friend laughs. And it seems to be working. Even though getting pregnant again isn’t Katie’s top priority, the friend says she just might give in — for Tom.

Tom isn’t the only one lobbying Katie to get pregnant again. A friend of the couple shares that their daughter, Suri, 5, has been asking for a baby brother or sister for more than a year. “It’s Suri who really might be the one to persuade Katie to have another child,” the friend notes. After all, Katie lives to please her little girl!

[From In Touch, print edition, December 26, 2011]

So will another over-the-top courtship convince Katie to get out the turkey baster? It worked the first time, and Katie’s not exactly gaining a will while being married to Tom. If anything, she’s regressed further with the passage of time. Tom will probably get what he wants, but it might be because of Suri’s desire for a sibling also. She’s about the same age as when my daughter started asking for a baby sister; and although I haven’t given in yet, I’d like to think that I’m a bit more stubborn than Katie.

Just think — another pregnancy would do wonders to promote One Shot next year. In other words, Katie might very soon be doing more than merely wearing flats to promote another movie for Tom.

Here are a few more photos from the MI4 Rio premiere. Nice tent, Paula Patton.

Photos courtesy of WENN