Tom Cruise yells all the way across the Atlantic
It's Gossip Time!
Hello and welcome to Gossip Time, a weekly guide to the stars by Allie Jones. This week: an actor raises his voice, an NBA star has a regular dinner, and Kaley Cuoco reminds us of history.
Do you hear what I hear? It’s Tom Cruise, screaming all the way from the U.K. that he’s saving the film industry, one Mission Impossible sequel at a time. If by some chance you haven’t hit play on this secret on-set recording published by the British tabloid The Sun yet, please, take two minutes and 48 seconds to get into the holiday spirit:
WE ARE THE GOLD STANDARD. THEY’RE BACK THERE IN HOLLYWOOD MAKING MOVIES RIGHT NOW BECAUSE OF US. WE’RE CREATING THOUSANDS OF JOBS YOU MOTHERFUCKERS. DON’T YOU EVER FUCKING DO IT AGAIN. THAT’S IT. NO APOLOGIES.
Oh man. According to The Sun, the 58-year-old movie star yelled because he was upset that two members of the crew were standing too close to each other on the Hertfordshire set of Mission Impossible 7, thus violating the studio’s stringent COVID-19 restrictions. Cruise was one of the first big actors to return to moviemaking in the midst of the pandemic, and it’s clear he thinks he’s a role model for the rest of Hollywood. Does Hollywood think that?
The response to the leak has so far been mixed. On the one hand, you have George Clooney saying on Howard Stern’s show that, “I understand why he did it,” but “I wouldn’t have done it that personally.” On the other, you have five crew members reportedly quitting after Cruise launched into another (as-yet unreleased) tirade. In my opinion, it’s never appropriate to yell at people who work for you, even if you think you have a good reason.
But yelling, of course, is what Cruise does, onscreen and IRL. He yells when he’s happy, he yells when he’s pissed off, he yells when he’s telling Matt Lauer, “You don’t even know what Ritalin is.” According to actress and former Scientologist Leah Remini, the pandemic is an especially fraught challenge for Cruise, because Scientologists believe that sickness comes from being associated with “suppressive persons.” (You can read Remini’s full, frightening analysis of the situation here.)
According to TMZ, today was Cruise’s last day on set for the year: He’s taking an early Christmas break to visit his son in Miami. And oh look, here’s another story about Cruise in The Sun today, which definitely did not come directly from his PR team: The tabloid reports that the actor is dating his MI7 co-star Hayley Atwell.
A “production source” revealed that Cruise and Atwell, 38, have become “fairly inseparable” on set, and that they were spotted holding hands once. Oooh.
I know what you’re thinking: What does Cruise’s ex-wife Katie Holmes think of all this? Nothing, I hope. This week, she was photographed carrying a guitar around Manhattan, which is nice. Her restaurateur boyfriend Emilio Vitolo Jr., meanwhile, did some (virtual) yelling of his own on Wednesday night, calling Governor Andrew Cuomo a “fuck face” for closing indoor dining in New York City.
More than anything this holiday season, I wish Katie Holmes peace.
What is the perfect birthday gift for your husband if you recently filed for divorce but then dismissed the case without prejudice? Ask Cardi B, and she will tell you: a rare golden Lamborghini Aventador SVJ. The rapper surprised Offset with the car on Monday night for his 29th birthday, and he seemed very happy with it.
This comes after Offset got Cardi a Rolls Royce truck for her birthday in October, just a couple weeks before she decided to dismiss their divorce case. He also got their daughter Kulture a matching $8,000 car seat. Looks like these two are fully back together.
So are Khloe Kardashian and boyfriend Tristan Thompson, despite a rough couple days in the tabloids. The couple reunited on Tuesday in Boston, where Thompson is starting a new job with the Celtics. They were spotted having dinner at Zuma in the Four Seasons hotel (with a small camera crew, of course). The outing came just two days after Thompson was photographed dining in the very same restaurant with a “mystery blonde” who was not Kardashian.
The blonde, as the tabloids were quick to clarify, was Thompson’s “real estate manager” Julia. (Last name unknown.) “There was nothing going on. They were just having a regular dinner,” a source told Us Weekly. “Our sources say there was nothing romantic about the dinner,” TMZ reported.
E! News followed up the dueling dinner dates with a more general report about the state of Kardashian and Thompson’s relationship. "Tristan is very committed to Khloe and they are on good terms right now,” an insider revealed. So that’s that!
STUFF BY HILARY DUFF: You guys, the Lizzie McGuire reboot is officially … not happening. Hilary Duff made the announcement herself in a superlative Notes app statement on Instagram.
If you know what happened here, can you please tell me?
Finally, I’ll leave you with some gossip history. This week on Watch What Happens Live!, Andy Cohen asked the actress and horse enthusiast Kaley Cuoco about her past with Henry Cavill, the guy who plays Superman. Do you remember when they dated?
The year was 2013, and the relationship lasted for exactly 11 days. Over the course of a week and a half in July, they made two pap strolls — one to the grocery store, and one on a hike (classic) — and sources told the tabloids things like, “they’re totally hot for each other” and “they’re having a great time.”
But then, suddenly, they weren’t. E! News exclusively reported on July 11 that the fledgling couple had broken up. A few months later, Cuoco started a relationship with tennis player Ryan Sweeting; they quickly married (she wore a pink wedding dress like Jessica Biel did the year before) and divorced, and now she’s married to fellow horse person Karl Cook. Cavill went on to date a teenager and say weird things about it. They both probably have even more money now. (P.S. I highly recommend The Flight Attendant; I logged onto Pinterest for the first time in awhile last week just so I could start a board about Cuoco’s hair.)
This is the last installment of Gossip Time for the year. Thanks so much to everyone who’s subscribed; I’m having a lot of fun. And I really enjoy hearing your celeb theories and opinions, so please, keep them coming, and I’ll see you in 2021. Happy holidays!
I love this newsletter so much
HAYLEY NOOOOO run away while you still can!!