Jenny McCarthy said Tom Cruise repeatedly tried to pull her into Scientology, a claim she made during the Thursday episode of her podcast, according to Page Six. McCarthy’s comments, published Oct. 16, also included her recollections of Katie Holmes and Cruise’s 2006 wedding and the years that followed.
“Always trying to lure” is how McCarthy described Cruise’s efforts to recruit her and her then-boyfriend Jim Carrey into the church. She also called Cruise a “very nice human being,” though she said he seems “programmed.”
What McCarthy Said On Her Podcast
McCarthy told listeners she knew both Holmes and Cruise while she was dating Carrey and would periodically check on Holmes at social gatherings. She said Holmes’ demeanor changed as the marriage progressed.
“At that time, she looked like a deer in headlights. This was well into the marriage. During the wedding part, she still seemed like Katie, but into the marriage it seemed there was a shift in her,” McCarthy said, according to Page Six.
McCarthy attributed that shift in part to Cruise’s entourage from the Church of Scientology. “They would come over and Tom would have his group and they would just follow him from room to room,” she said. She added her own interpretation of why: “Those handlers are there because they don’t want them to stray or say the wrong thing.”
The Wedding And Rehearsal Dinner Accounts
McCarthy said she attended the 2006 wedding and sat near Will Smith, Jennifer Lopez and Carrey during a 30-minute best man speech from Church of Scientology leader David Miscavige. She recalled the speech as focused on “how Tom and Katie are now going to be the most important couple in the world,” including the phrase “no other powerful force, mega celebrity duo.”
“I was so shocked and I was looking around at everyone’s faces and I could just see all of Katie’s family going, ‘What? What?'” McCarthy said.
She also described a lighter moment at the reception, where Holmes’ maid of honor gave a speech about their high school years full of parties and drinking, which McCarthy called “very Midwest” and “adorable.”
McCarthy’s most pointed story centered on the rehearsal dinner, where she said she asked to hold the couple’s newborn daughter, Suri, who is now 20. She claimed the room’s reaction stunned her. “It looked like ‘Rosemary’s Baby,'” McCarthy said, adding that she got “the Scientology stare” and had “never been so scared in my life.”
Background On Cruise, Holmes And The Church
Cruise joined the Church of Scientology in 1986 after being introduced to it by his first wife, actress Mimi Rogers, and has since become one of the organization’s most prominent global advocates. Holmes began dating Cruise in 2005 and became involved with the church during their relationship.
Holmes filed for divorce in 2012 and left the Church of Scientology immediately afterward, according to Page Six.
What’s Next
Neither Cruise nor Holmes has publicly responded to McCarthy’s claims, and none of the specific incidents she described have been independently verified. McCarthy made the remarks on her own podcast, and no further episodes addressing the topic have been announced.
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