Brooke Shields Admitted That Tom Cruise Gave a Half-Hearted Apology After Their Very Public Feud

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Tom Cruise‘s out-of-nowhere rant about Brooke Shields and her decision to take antidepressants for her postpartum depression on the Today show in 2005 is still a pop culture moment. Even though 20 years have gone by Shields still thinks about it and it’s why she dedicated space on the hot topic in her new memoir, Brooke Shields Is Not Allowed to Get Old.

“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 memoir, out Jan. 14. She “was emboldened by life experience” after giving birth to daughter Rowan, now 21, and was happy to call out Cruise who believed she was “spreading misinformation.” Shields sharply added, “An interesting opinion, coming from someone without ovaries.”

As a result, the 59-year-old actress wrote an op-ed for The New York Times to defend herself, bringing the topic of postpartum depression out of the darkness and into the light. It was one of Cruise’s more embarrassing moments in his career and it was during his uncharacteristic PDA while in a blossoming romance with Katie Holmes. That couch-jumping era was pretty unhinged for a star who worked hard to control his image.

Shields revealed in her book that the Top Gun star “eventually” apologized to her, but it was done in the privacy of her own home — Cruise never apologized publicly. She also wrote, “It wasn’t the world’s best apology, but it’s what he was capable of, and I accepted it.” The Suddenly Susan star even made the cut for his 2006 wedding to Holmes and was on his beloved Christmas coconut cake list for years. Still, Cruise’s words made an unfavorable impression on her.

Cruise’s heated interview with then-host Matt Lauer gave fans a glimpse at his beliefs with the Church of Scientology. “Here is a woman, and I care about Brooke Shields because I think she is an incredibly talented woman. You look at, where has her career gone?… These drugs are dangerous,” he said of Shields in 2005. “The thing that I’m saying about Brooke is that there’s misinformation. She doesn’t understand the history of psychiatry… she doesn’t know what these drugs are, and for her to promote it is irresponsible.”

While Shields forgave Cruise, it’s evident that a slight hint of the feud still lingers over two decades later.

Before you go, click here to see celebrity co-stars who allegedly hated each other in real life.