Actress writes remarks on medication ‘a disservice to mothers everywhere’
Updated: 6:46 a.m. ET July 1, 2005
NEW YORK - Actress Brooke Shields on Friday fired back at Tom Cruise after the actor criticized her for having revealed she had taken an antidepressant to cope with post-natal depression.
Shields called Cruise’s comments “a disservice to mothers everywhere” in an opinion column for The New York Times.
“To suggest that I was wrong to take drugs to deal with my depression, and that instead I should have taken vitamins and exercised shows an utter lack of understanding about postpartum depression and childbirth in general,” the actress wrote.
“If any good can come of Mr. Cruise’s ridiculous rant, let’s hope that it gives much-needed attention to a serious disease.”
During interviews to promote his new film, “War of the Worlds,” Cruise has discussed his skepticism of psychiatry to explain his belief in the teachings of the Church of Scientology, founded by science-fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard.
Masking problems?
In one such interview on NBC’s “Today” show, he was asked about his recent criticism of Shields, a film and television star now appearing as Roxie Hart in the London staging of the musical “Chicago”.
“Before I was a Scientologist, I never agreed with psychiatry,” Cruise said. “And when I started studying the history of psychiatry, I understood more and more why I didn’t believe in psychology ... And I know that psychiatry is a pseudo science.”
Disputing the effectiveness of antidepressants generally, Cruise said, “all it does is mask the problem.” He added, “There is no such thing as a chemical imbalance.”
Shields said her doctor prescribed Paxil for postpartum depression after she experienced extreme despair and had suicidal thoughts following the birth of her daughter, Rowan Francis, in the spring of 2003.
“I wasn’t thrilled to be taking drugs. In fact, I prematurely stopped taking them and had a relapse that almost led me to drive my car into a wall with Rowan in the backseat. But the drugs, along with weekly therapy sessions, are what saved me -- and my family,” she said.
Shields is author of “Down Came the Rain: My Journey Through Postpartum Depression.”
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