Brooke Shields Reflects on Falling-Out With Tom Cruise and Where They Stand Now

Yesterday at 01:18 PM

"I was sticking up for myself, and for women who were suffering, against irrational and dangerous comments from an unschooled actor who was speaking way out of his depth," Shields wrote in her memoir, Brooke Shields is Not Allowed to Get Old.

Brooke Shields is sharing some insight into her feud with Tom Cruise and the 2005 op-ed she wrote slamming the actor after he criticized her use of antidepressants for postpartum depression.

"Had Tom taken a public swing at me before I became a mother, I probably would have stayed quiet. I would have ignored his ridiculous rant. I might have been content to sit back while this very famous man hijacked my experience to advance his own (deluded) agenda," Shields wrote in her new memoir, Brooke Shields is Not Allowed to Get Old: Thoughts on Aging as a Woman. "I would have been satisfied that his behavior would speak for itself."

Cruise's 2005 comments came after the release of her earlier memoir, Down Came the Rain, in which she detailed her experience with postpartum depression after welcoming daughter Rowan, now 21. Along with Rowan, Shields and husband Chris Henchy also share 18-year-old daughter Grier.

"Sitting quietly and letting myself be attacked might have been my approach a decade earlier -- I might have even regretted sharing my story or felt insecure that maybe my career was stalling while a powerful male movie star was singling me out, sure that I'd never stand a chance in that fight -- but now I was emboldened by life experience," Shields wrote in the book, out now, adding that turning 40 changed her perspective, allowing her to grow into her "self-confidence."

Following the release, Cruise went on the Today show and "disparaged me," Shields wrote, with the Top Gun star referring to her use of of "antidepressants" as "dangerous."

"There is no such thing as a chemical imbalance. The thing that I'm saying about Brooke is that there's misinformation," Cruise told Matt Lauer at the time. "She doesn't understand the history of psychiatry."

"I was, according to Tom, spreading misinformation," she wrote. "An interesting opinion, coming from someone without ovaries."

Shields published an op-ed in The New York Times, not long after, sparking a war of words between the former friends.

"I was sticking up for myself, and for women who were suffering, against irrational and dangerous comments from an unschooled actor who was speaking way out of his depth," Shields wrote in her in new book, noting that while her op-ed "sparked outrage" at Cruise, it also "spurred discussions on the reality and prevalence of postpartum depression."

Cruise did eventually apologize, Shields confirmed her book, though "not publicly."

Per Shields, the actor went to her house and they had a conversation.

"It wasn't the world's best apology, but it's what he was capable of, and I accepted it," she wrote.

She still isn't on his Christmas coconut cake list, however, with Shields sharing that she received the cake for about 10 years -- even after the 2005 incident -- but got cut from the list and wants to get back on.

Brooke Shields Is Not Allowed to Get Old is out now.