Things looked pretty tense for the Cruise family as they sat in a box at an LA Galaxy Game on Saturday. It was the first time Tom, Katie, Suri, Isabella and Connor have all been photographed together at an event or by the paparazzi since December, 2006. In the fall of 2006, Katie and Tom were pictured sitting on the sidelines and cuddling at Isabella and Connor’s sports matches near constantly. After Suri was born Tom’s older kids pretty much dropped out of site. Connor was seen out on his 13th birthday having dinner with his dad in January, but that was a rare sighting.

There may be a good reason for the palpable misery and tension among the Holmes-Cruises - The LA Galaxy soccer team featuring David Beckham lost that game on Saturday 2-1 to the New York Red Bulls.

Three of David Beckham’s sons, Brooklyn, Romeo and Cruz, were in the box with them, but their mom was not at that game. Victoria Beckham caught a flight from LA to London earlier that day, which may have made it convenient for her to avoid being seen with the Cruises. Victoria and David recorded a tribute to Cruise that aired during the Oprah special, but it primarily focused on his films and they did not talk as much about their friendship with him.

Little Suri, two, held her ears when the crowd cheered. Her older sister, Isabella, 15, is shown handing her a doll to try and make her feel better.

Thanks to Splash for these photos.

Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes looked like brother and sister at the premiere of Lions for Lambs at the AFI Fest in Hollywood last night. Tom has grown out his Nazi bowl cut while Katie’s short dark bob looks suspiciously similar. Add the matching outfits and they’re like any other couple that ends up looking alike, perhaps intentionally. Katie mercifully wore flats, which made her about even with Tom instead of towering over him like she did at the Berlin premiere of the film.

In terms of Tom and Katie’s home life, Cruise recently gave some statements to the press that show he’s mastered the art of revealing enough to create a news blurb without really giving too much information. He praised his wife’s acting ability and said that they’re good at coordinating schedules. He also admitted he doesn’t get a lot of sleep without complaining about it:

With his first anniversary fast approaching, Cruise said married life was “all very good, all very lovely,” and that he feels “lucky” to be wedded to Holmes, his third wife.

“I have a lot of respect for her as an artist, as a woman,” he said. “She’s a very strong, gracious woman.”

When it comes to juggling his responsibilities as a husband and father with his career as a leading man and studio mogul, Cruise admits that life gets busy.

“Just like everybody else, you just work it out,” he said. “We’ve gotten pretty good at organizing everything. I don’t sleep much anyway.”

[From EOnline]

Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt should take note, because Cruise provides enough general information to make it mildly interesting without revealing any weaknesses for tabloids to run with.

Cruise plays a Congressman in Lions for Lambs, which weaves different stories around the fates of two college students fighting in Afghanistan. Lions for Lambs is directed by Robert Redford and is out in the US on November 9. It also stars Michael Peña and Meryl Streep.

Here’s an introduction to the film, told by the young actors.

Thanks to PRPhotos for these pictures. Also shown are Will Smith, Meryl Streep, Robert Redford, Samantha Mathis, and David Beckham. What’s up with Beckham’s outfit? Is it deliberately messy or is he just unable to dress himself when Posh isn’t around?

You know how you used to see photos of Tom Cruise’s kids, Isabella and Connor, all the time before baby Suri made her triumphant but long overdue debut? Tom and Katie seemed to be attending a sports game for one of the preteens every week, but now like they’ve been missing for months.

Isabella dyed her hair blue the minute she was down in Australia visiting her mom Nicole Kidman, but that was back in May. Connor hasn’t really been seen much either.

According to Star Magazine, Tom Cruise’s other kids are away at Scientology camp learning how to be good little cult members who don’t question authority:

As Tom Cruise, Katie Holmes and their 15-month-old cutie Suri were snapped romping around Berlin in between his filming the World War II drama, Valkyrie, noticeably absent from these family outings were daughter Isabella, 14, and son Connor, 12. Nor were the two with mom Nicole Kidman, who is currently in Australia filming her own WWII epic. So where have the Cruise kids been all summer? Star has learned that the youngsters are in Oregon, at a camp 60 miles south of Portland run by the Church of Scientology! “The summer camp is part of the Scientology’s ‘get them while they’re young’ campaign,” a source who attended the camp tells Star. “While they will be enjoying horseback riding, swimming and all kinds of fun activities, some of their day is devoted to Scientology coursework.”

[From Star Magazine, print edition, September 3, 2007]

Oh so that’s why the Cruise kids have been discarded like last season’s PR tactic - they needed to get their personality chips reset! Just send ‘em to camp for another round of coercion and they’ll come out smiling and ready to pose for more paparazzi pictures.

Just you wait, little Suri, your free will is next.

While I was doing the research for this post I found an interesting article from nearly 10 years ago posted on Factnet.org. They interviewed a guy who was second in command of Scientology and left to reveal their secrets. He talked about how celebrities are paid to endorse Scientology and the tactics that are used to make sure they don’t leave the fold or criticize the cult. They blackmail people, put extreme psychological pressure on them, and will hound anyone high profile who dares to leave. Scientology arranged Cruise’s divorce from his first wife, Mimi Rogers, and made sure he remained under their influence afterwards.

Celebrities are constantly monitored and judged to make sure that they don’t leave the cult or question its practices. Anyone that dares to do so is subject to extreme harassment and exposure of all the secrets collected about them by the cult, which can potentially end their careers. John Travolta supposed wanted to leave when he met a guy he fell in love with, but the head of the cult, John Miscavige put the kibosh on that and made sure that his people were around to pressure Travolta to give up his relationship and marry fellow Scientologist Kelly Preston instead.

It’s one thing for people like Cruise and Travolta to be figureheads for the money-making soul-sucking cult masquerading as a religion. It’s another for their kids to be forced to join before they have a chance to learn about life.

Tom and Katie sure looked happy at Jada Pinkett Smith’s party on 2/9, but recent tabloids have them fighting over various issues related to Katie’s newfound independence.

Last week we reported that In Touch was calling her a nag, and the February 12 issue of Star claims that Tom is livid over the fact that Katie wants to take baby Suri on a three month film shoot with her.

They also claim Tom wants another baby right away, but that Katie is putting him off in favor of trying to get her career back on track. Tom is even trying to control Katie’s career and is rejecting potential roles for her, but Katie isn’t having that:

Sources say Katie, 28, is coming out of her shell and asserting herself. And after more than a year on hiatus, she’s even returning to work, having just joined Diane Keaton and Queen Latifah in signing up for the crime caper Mad Money, which starts filming in Shreveport, LA, this spring. Naturally, she wants to bring Suri with her, but Tom has other ideas. “Tom is very angry about that,” says the source. Why? [Tom] will be busy running a movie studio, United Artists, back in L.A. and can’t afford to spend much time in Louisiana…

“He’s going to make sure Katie has a security force and Scientology minders with her,” says the source. “He’ll visit Louisiana some, but when he’s not there he’s going to be sure he has eyes and ears listening in for him!” (The couple’s rep denies this story.

Where Suri will be living this spring isn’t the only issue the couple is fighting over. For the last few months, Katie’s been reading scripts, but, says another insider, “Tom rejected everything! They were either not good enough or not hit-movie matieral.”

[From Star magazine print edition, February 12, 2007]

This could be true that Tom and Katie are fighting over her career and where Suri will stay, but they seem to be keeping up appearances well as usual. If Katie is breaking out of her brainwashed shell, there are bound to be some problems between them.

One thing Tom is no longer in control of is his young bride’s height. CityRag points out that Katie no longer appears shorter than Tom like in their wedding pictures, and seems to be wearing heels in these latest candids.

Thanks to KatieHolmes.com for these pics and Sammie’s Effluvia for the story.

The gossip rags have moved on from calling wan Katie Holmes a brainwashed Stepford wife to championing the changes in her after she made an appearance at Paris fashion week without Tom. I guess a new face makes all the difference.

In Touch says she’s calling the shots now, and claims she’s trying to get her career back and is taking advice from Victoria Beckham to make sure her man is under control:

Until recently, Katie has rarely been seen unless she is attached to Tom’s hip at his kid’s soccer games, on the red carpet and at charity events. After she met Tom, Katie shut out most of her old friends in order to give Tom constant attention. However, her new, close friendship with Victoria Beckham is changing everything.

The duo travelled to Paris on January 23 to attend Couture Week. Strong, confident Victoria, 32, “is helping Katie assert her power and independence,” and insider says, and - as the mother of three boys… giving her tips on how to be a working mom…

Lately, Katie seems stifled around Tom. At a party for musician Prince at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel on January 15, “Tom practically had to drag her around,” an onlooker tells In Touch. And when Tom had a conversation with 24 star Keifer Sutherland, “Katie just stood there, looking totally bored,” the witness says.

[From In Touch print edition, January 12, 2007]

The article goes on to say that Katie is focusing on her career now and that she is in talks to star in what is sure to be a crappy movie with Queen Latifah called Mad Money. They say Tom wants more kids but that Katie probably won’t be popping out another one soon.

In Touch is most likely checking out the pictures and making this story up, but it seems fundamentally true. Katie is branching out, and if we can be forgiven for engaging in this same overanalysis of paparazzi photos, she looks like she’s having a good time, but also that she’s acting for the cameras and no longer thinks Tom is a God like everyone else in his cult religion.

If you check out the pictures of her out with him in Miami on Superbowl weekend she has this faraway look in her eye. It’s possible that she’s planning her next move, and that she really has broken out of that Stepford mold. Those must be the thetans talking though, and some intense auditing should cure her.

Here are Katie and Tom leaving their hotel in Miami on 2/3.

Story via Sammie’s Effluvia. Pictures from KatieHolmes.com.

or What Katie Didnt Do …

Lovely Liz Smith at Page Six reports that Katie Holmes suddenly remembers she’s an actress. Maybe they had to take her off the Stepford sedatives while she was recovering from her brash new rhinoplasty … don’t want to mix medications after all. Not when she has some good Thetan breeding years left in her yet.

Agency CAA is developing a new career plan since Katie has not worked during the two years since she fell for Tom. … [Moviefone] describe her connection to Tom Cruise as “a tabloid free-for-all” that didn’t do her any good, creating negative publicity. They say her “likability” rating has dived. And she’s been off the screen too long.

Lovely Liz exhibits some of the problems of an overly kind granny reading of gossip (usually a welcome change from the venom for venom’s sake). In trying to prove that launching the Tom Cruise Missile into a girl’s career is a force for good not for evil - Liz undermines her own kindly case.

Of course, Tom Cruise could produce his own movie to star his beloved. If you think such loving nepotism doesn’t work, think back to Norma Shearer and hubby Irving Thalberg. Being associated with Mr. Box Office didn’t hurt Penelope Cruz, his short-term girlfriend. She’s up for a Best Actress Oscar. And since her divorce from Tom, Nicole Kidman has come into her own.

Okay she gets points for going all ol’ skool with the Shearer/Thalberg reference, but the rest of the argument falls to bits … only proving that getting free of the TC works wonders. Sort of like time served in purgatory that might eventually get you the Keys to the Kingdom. As for producing a film for Katie … does the idea of Battlefield Earth Returns frighten anyone else down to their cotton socks.

Penelope Cruz’s Volver nomination is generally considered a Hail Mary (or I guess Ave Maria) pass from a Hollywood career with not a single good role. She had to basically rewind back to her pre- Cruise Hollywood days to get back on track. I think working with Almodovar again is clearly the key, not her year of T.ender L.oving C.ruise.

Kidman’s divorce let her wear heels again and start winning Oscars worthy roles et al. Isn’t the real lesson that Katie Holmes is either up Dawson’s Creek without a paddle or married and in flats? Success will follow when she’s paroled or granted a pardon.

I wonder if CAA stands for Cruised Actresses Anonymous - in certain knowing circles?

Pictures added by Celebitchy: Here’s Katie Holmes outside of CAA on 1/26, which Just Jared says stands for Creative Audio Associates, which handles music and sound for TV and film. There’s also a Creative Artists Agency, which is what I figure it stands for. Pictures are from KatieHolmes.com

The National Enquirer’s recent cover story claims that Katie Holmes is a shadow of her former self and has all aspects of her life controlled by her pint-sized cult-loving husband, Tom Cruise. They say he limits her phone calls to fifteen minutes, controls her extracurricular activities, and makes sure she approves all of her outfits before she is permitted to leave the house.

Pals of the 28 year-old actress are terrified that Tom and his fellow church members have virtually taken over eager-to-please Katie’s life, reducing an independent and free-spirited young woman to a submissive shell of her former self. Some insiders have even started calling her “The Stepford Wife” behind her back.

“It is like she obeys him like a pet or robot,” said a family insider. “It’s really creepy…”

Raised Catholic, she’s now dutifully following Tom’s lead and has immersed herself in Scientology, severing nearly all ties with her past.

“Any friends that Katie calls, and there are very few left since she hooked up with Tom, are cleared by him,” claims the insider.

Whats more, she spends only about 15 minutes per phone call, even when she’s speaking with family members….

Tom also approves his wife’s wardrobe, banning anything he considers too sexy.

“Tom doesn’t want Katie wearing anything flashy - and nothing too revealing either,” added the insider. “He’s very specific about what she wears - and if it’s not to his liking, she changes before leaving the house.”

[From The National Enquirer print edition, January 29, 2007]

To me, this sounds like a re-tread of an In Touch story from two weeks ago, in which they basically said the same thing about Katie. In fact, this Enquirer story even went on to repeat the anecdote about Tom overhearing Kirsten Dunst and Orlando Bloom invite Kate to Hyde and putting the kibosh on their plans.

There’s not much new information in that Enquirer story, and it seems likely that the insider is just a person who read the In Touch story and filled in some more details. Of course it ’s probably true that Katie doesn’t have a lot of freedom under the evil watch of the Scientology cult, but she could also just be tired or worn out from being a mom or whatever.

A jucier story is the one that Tom and Katie were seen celebrating what looked like little Suri’s birthday while out at a restaurant recently. The catch is that it’s January, and they claimed Suri was born in April of last year. This lends some credence to all those “conspiracy theories” about Suri not being Toms or being older than they claim. It’s not a conspiracy if it’s true.

Here’s Katie at the opening of Georgio Armani’s shop in Paris yesterday with Victoria Beckham. She dresses a bit frumpy, and maybe that’s why The Enquirer is saying Tom approves her outfits, but it could just be her style. She looks pretty happy and normal here.

Update: Oh No They Didn’t! has before and after photographs that suggest that Katie Holmes had a recent nose job. It looks like it to me.

Pictures from KatieHolmes.com

One of the ways the Scientology cult ropes in vulnerable recruits is through their sham drug rehab front, Narconon. Narconon tries to sound official with a name that can easily be confused for the legitimate self-help group, Narcotics Anonymous, with which they are in no way affiliated. They make addicts go cold turkey and advocate a medically unsound detox regimen that includes saunas and vitamins. Narconon uses mind control tactics to convert people to Scientology.

It’s not surprising, then, that Cruise is said to have recommended Narconon to Keith Urban, who was just released from an accredited rehab for alcoholism treatment. The National Enquirer reports that Tom Cruise and his ex, Nicole Kidman, are battling a religous war over how to raise their two children, Isabella, 14 and Conner, 11.

Now Cruise is pushing Nicole to get back into the fold and to bring her troubled new husband along with her.

Tom has suggested that Keith explore Scientology as a means to conquer his addictions, continued the friend.

That opened up a lot of old wounds from Tom and Nicole’s previous religious clases.

Tom, 44, also is worried about the children being around Keith until he can be sure Keith has conquered his demons, and he’s made that clear to Nicole…

Another close source confirms that Tom and Nicole’s long-standing friction over Scientology has resurfaced with a vengeance - especially since Tom has offered to help Keith get clean through the religion.

“Nicole feels she’s got everything under control and Keith is well on the way to a full recover,” said the source.

“The last thing she wanted to hear was a Scientology pitch from Tom - especially regarding Keith…”

[From The National Enquirer print edition, January 22, 2007]

They also claim that Tom’s new Stepford bride Katie Holmes backs him on the Scientology issue, and that Nicole probably feels like she’s being teamed up on.

The article quotes a cult expert who says that Nicole, who has left Scientology and is now a Catholic, risks losing her children entirely if she says one bad thing about the cult. It sounds like Tom is threatening to take away her children if she doesn’t play along. She seems to barely see them as it is.

Keith Urban has been released from rehab and was seen out at a Golden Globes after party with Nicole. He will start touring Europe in April, which is sure to test his newfound sobriety.

Here are Katie and Tom leaving a Golden Globes after party. Pictures from KatieHolmes.com.

The latest issue of In Touch, not the most reliable source I know, claims that “The Honeymoon is Over” for Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes and that Cruise limits Katie’s time on the phone with friends and has tried to change her interests and hobbies. They say that Katie was chatting with Kirsten Dunst and Orlando Bloom at their second wedding party/stateside Scientology recruiting blitz, and that Tom shut her down when she mentioned an interest in going to the exclusive nightclub Hyde. The article draws a lot of conclusions about Tom and Katie’s home life and implies that Katie is Tom’s shadow of her former self:

Tension was already in the air at Tom and Katie’s LA wedding reception on December 9, where a guest saw Katie talked to Kirsten Dunst and Orlando Bloom about the Hollywood hotspot Hyde.

“Katie was asking what it’s like and saying she’d never been,” the onlooker shares. “Kirsten and Orlando were telling her that a lot of their friends go.” But when Tom walked up and joined the conversation, the tide turned. “Kirsten said they had invited Katie to Hyde, and Tom got a concerned look on his face. He said, ‘Oh, that’s no plance for you or me to go, Kate.’”

When Katie walked off with Tom, 44, “she looked really embarassed,” the witness says. “It was like she’d just gotten into trouble.”

[From In Touch print edition, January 8, 2007]

If this is indeed a true quote, I would guess that the “guest” that overheard it was one of the servers, but who knows if it’s accurate?

The article goes on to say that Tom forces Katie to keep her phone calls with girlfriends short, and has convinced her to give up her favorite hobbies like ceramics, painting and singing Karaoke. The only things that she seems able to do are Tom-approved activities like shopping, attending his children’s sports games with him, and taking up his hobby of learning to fly an airplane. He is also controlling her career and insists on having approval of any new projects she takes on.

They say that Katie seems to be comfort shopping as she routinely drops tens of thousands of dollars on clothing and shoes with no concern for the price.

If all this is true and is more than conjecture on In Touch’s part it wouldn’t be surprising. Cults retain power over new members by limiting their social contacts with outsiders and coercing them into adopting a new identity so they can’t escape back to their old one. It seems like Scientology’s most visiible spokesperson Tom is using those same tactics in his relationship with Katie. I for one am not fooled by their PR wedding and cute baby.

Here are pictures of Katie out shopping on 12/19.

The NY Times’ Caryn James has a thought-provoking article that’s rather relevant to the realm of celebrity gossip blogs. She looks back on the year of celebrity gawking, and says that negative publicity affects the stars’ careers, but that the verdict is out as to how much.

2006 brought celebrity watching to new depths of detail. We saw Britney’s c-section scar, learned about Angelina Jolie’s method of birth control, and speculated about Tom Cruise’s sexuality while fawning over pictures of his supposed baby. We vascillate between mocking celebrities for the human foibles and admiring them for being skinnier than us with better accessories.

While old Hollywood presented screen stars as brands and shielded them from bad press, modern Hollywood throws them to the wolves and paparazzi. It’s not as damning as it once was to get a DUI, to go to rehab, or to be perceived as a husband-stealer, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t affect public perception. We say our most admired stars are the ones with home lives that are beyond reproach:

This emphasis on off-screen fame almost brings celebrity full circle, back to the era when actors were brands; their larger-than-life personalities were as flimsy as cardboard and constructed for the public, but so huge that “Cary Grant” was bigger than any Cary Grant movie. The crucial difference, of course, is that the fierce control studios maintained over actors’ images — covering up arrests, arranging bogus dates — has given way to a media culture in which virtually nothing remains hidden, from Mr. Gibson’s arrest report to Britney Spears’s no-underpants crotch. As an old-fashioned emphasis on personality collides with today’s ever-changing onslaught of truth, gossip and damage control, the result is a moviegoing public that paradoxically idolizes and mocks its stars.

What this cult of personality means for movies is still in flux, as stars, publicists and filmgoers adjust to a new tug-of-war over image-making, but the conflict certainly intensified this year.

Stars searched for ways to fight back, not very effectively. Some were mischievous: George Clooney suggested thwarting the celebrity-sightings section of the Gawker Web site by flooding it with fake reports. (There are already so many ludicrous reports, who could tell the difference?)

Others took the battle (nearly) to court. Reese Witherspoon sued Star magazine for falsely stating she was pregnant and in return got its version of a retraction: another photo of her in a bikini and the explanation “She’s not pregnant — it’s bloat!” At least we know she’s not pregnant. (She has reportedly settled the suit.)

And Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes’s Vanity Fair photo spread introducing their baby daughter, Suri (shot by the also-famous Annie Leibovitz), followed by their hugely hyped, celebrity-jammed wedding in Italy — what was that about if not image shaping? They allowed only their own photographers at the wedding, which made the hype more orchestrated, not less real. Their control added a veneer of desiring privacy, a sham the public didn’t buy…

There was more dismal news for image-shaping celebs recently, from the annual Gallup Poll measuring movie stars’ appeal. Asked which star’s films they would make a special effort to see, the respondents gave Tom Hanks the top spot, no surprise. He has always been an actor in the old-fashioned mold, sticking close to good-guy roles that mirror his clean-cut image.

Asked whose films they would avoid, those polled gave it to Mr. Cruise in a landslide, 34 percent. Coming in a distant second was Ms. Jolie at 18 percent. Being perceived as a wacko or as a home wrecker are obviously not the best P.R. choices.

It’s unclear how much the human failings of celebrities affect the box office. When people say that they’ll avoid Tom Cruise and Angelina Jolie’s movies, all these details about their lives do seem to hurt their careers, but at least they’re staying in the public eye.

The posts about Angelina always have heated discussions, and some people dislike her so much that they use different nicknames to say the same thing over and over again as if several people have the same point about her. Rationally-minded commentors note that she’s considered the poster girl for husband-stealers and is an easy target for scorned women. While some may hate her, she attracts so much constant attention that the impact on the box office may be slight.

I hope that Britney’s career is going to suffer for all her partying and poon-baring, though. She’s a clear cut case of a celebrity who has made her bed and hasn’t changed the sheets in a long time.