Sunday, 3 September 2006

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Brooke Shields: Tom Cruise apologized

Tom says he's sorry for critizing Brooke's use of medication

Tom Cruise apologized to Brooke Shields for criticizing her antidepressant use, the actress said Friday on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.

On Thursday, Cruise "came over to my house and he gave me a heartfelt apology," Shields, 41, told Leno. "And he apologized for bringing me into the whole thing and for everything that happened.

"And through it all, I was so impressed with how heartfelt it was. And I didn't feel at any time that I had to defend myself, nor did I feel that he was trying to convince me of anything other than the fact that he was deeply sorry. And I accepted it."

Cruise's rep, Arnold Robinson, told the Associated Press in a statement, "It is true that his friendship with Ms. Shields has been mended. He has not changed his position about antidepressants, which, as evidenced by the black label warnings issued by the FDA on these types of drugs, are unhealthy."

Last summer, Cruise for told Matt Lauer on the Today show that Shields should not have taken medication to combat postpartum depression after the birth of her first child, daughter Rowan. Cruise insisted depression could be treated by "vitamins and exercise."

Shields responded with an op-ed piece in the New York Times in which she wrote, "I'm going to take a wild guess and say that Mr. Cruise has never suffered from postpartum depression."

A week ago, Kathleen Kennedy, who co-produced Cruise's War of the Worlds, told CNN's Showbiz Tonight that Cruise probably "feels bad" about criticizing Shields, although she had no first-hand knowledge of his feelings.

Cruise has been under fire since Viacom chief Sumner Redstone said Paramount Studios had severed ties with the actor because his recent conduct "has not been acceptable."