Tom Cruise has stepped into a war of the words with actress Brooke Shields after he publicly blasted her for admitting that she took anti-depressants to control postpartum depression. The actress has finally broken her silence and in an op-ed in The New York Times had dismissed Cruise's statements as a "ridiculous rant."
It should be recalled that Tom Cruise had waxed eloquent about his pet peeves; psychiatry and Shields' admissions that she took anti-depressants, on NBC's 'Today' show with Matt Lauer.
Commenting on the controversy, Cruise had old Lauer, "And as far as the Brooke Shields thing, look, you got to understand; I really care about Brooke Shields. I think here's a wonderful and talented woman. And I want to see her do well. And I know that psychiatry is a pseudo science." Now Ms Shields has hit back at him by pointing out that he obviously never suffered form postpartum depression. Brooke Shields elaborates by saying that she never expected to fall a victim to the condition, "After two years of trying to conceive and several attempts at in vitro fertilization, I thought I would be overjoyed when my daughter, Rowan Francis, was born in the spring of 2003. But instead I felt completely overwhelmed," she wrote.
She added that she wasn't joyful at all and dreaded the moments when her husband would bring her daughter to her. Her doctor then told her that she had postpartum depression and prescribed Paxil. Shields says, " The drugs, along with weekly therapy sessions, are what saved me — and my family." She adds that after writing about her battle with the condition in 'Down Came the Rain: My Journey Through Postpartum Depression,' many women "have told me their stories and thanked me for opening up about a topic that is often not discussed because of fear, shame or lack of support and information." She says that Tom Cruise was doing a disservice to mothers everywhere by making irresponsible statements.
Ms Shields hopes that if any good were to come out of Cruise's statements, "let's hope that it gives much-needed attention to a serious condition." She concludes her piece by saying, "It's not the history of psychiatry, but it is my history, personal and real."
New Jersey’s acting governor, Richard J. Codey, who said that Tom Cruise should stick to his acting and not poke his nose in what is definitely not his business, has supported Brooke Shields. It is noteworthy that Codey's wife, Mary Jo, has battled with depression for the past 28 years. She has been relentlessly campaigning to raise awareness about the postpartum depression and has been at the forefront of the campaign to force lawmakers on Capitol Hill to support legislation regarding the same.
