The Impossible Smile

At some point during my high school years, I was one of the ladies on this planet who was crazily smitten over one of the greatest actors to ever land on Hollywood…the man with the million-dollar smile…Thomas Cruise Mapother IV…or simply, Tom Cruise. He intrigued me in Interview with the Vampire, touched my heart in Far and Away, knocked me off my feet in M:I:II, had me respect him a lot as an actor in Rain Man, and held me captive as an avid fan in Jerry Maguire.

Labeled by Premiere as the most powerful actor in the world, and by another magazine as the greatest actor in Hollywood, one wouldn’t wonder why this guy has almost half of the women population on earth drooling over him. He grins, and uhhh, man…I’m just…gooone! He’s quite a charm, it’s more than obvious. The women in his life would greatly attest to that.

First, it was actress Mimi Rogers, whom he was married with for 3 years(they were officially divorced on my 3rd birthday…lol!). And then there’s the Aussie redhead enchantress Nicole Kidman, whom he had two adopted kids with. I was heartbroken when they got divorced. I was just a heeeyoooooge Tom-Nic fan. But definitely the 10-year marriage was something. Marriages like that, in Hollywood, don’t come in loads, ya know. Then Pé came…I mean Penelopé Cruz, his Vanilla Sky co-star. Pé was what Tom called her. I detested her at those times, thinking that she probably was the reason for Nic and Tom’s divorce. They dated for about 3 years. Quite a couple, huh? The only lady he was with(publicly) who was shorter than him. But then, if it’s Tom Cruise, would the height still matter? Well…Katherine Noelle Holmes(*grin) certainly didn’t mind. Yep, that’s Katie Holmes‘ full name. Tom sure is besotted with her. Make that besotted, times two! Man, he’s sooo taken with her…and vice versa. The Oprah interview, which he had about a year ago, simply tells it all. This clip is a chunk of the 42-minute talk show episode. I watched it(the full interview) about an hour ago and was kinda taken aback with how Tom was. It was the first time for me to watch the whole show. All I saw before were just excerpts and clips.

As I was watching the whole thing, you know..the whole jumping-on-the-couch and getting-on-the-floor thing…I couldn’t help but wonder how much of it was true. I mean…I’m fanatic, not insensible. While I go gaga over my favorite Hollywood hunks, I don’t skip reminding myself that behind the camera, they’re not fairy tale heroes anymore…they’re simply humans with as much body parts and probable emotions as I have. Their only edge is that they get to be whoever they want to be in front of the whole world. But then, that’s where the point comes in. Is the persona they’re trying to project in front of millions the same as who they actually are?

In Tom’s case, the answer to that, according to directing genius Steven Spielberg, is a yes. He says on a videotape during that Oprah interview…“What you see, on your show, Oprah, what your audience sees with Tom, is how I know Tom. There are no secrets, he doesn’t have an agenda.”. Hmm…that’s pretty comforting. But then, you’ll never know. I don’t completely buy it…but for old times’ sake, I give Tom Cruise the benefit of the doubt…just as I do all my other favorite stars.

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