Managing a rising star could be a Risky Business and Tom Cruise’s very first personal manager, Eileen Berlin would surely concur. We have had a glimpse of one of Tom Cruise’s infamous fits of rage when a leaked recording revealed the actor yelling at the Mission: Impossible 7 crew. While the reason behind the explosion was mismanaged Covid-19 restrictions, it wasn’t the first time Tom Cruise lost his cool.
Eileen Berlin talked about the terrible temper Tom Cruise has been sporting since he was just starting out in the entertainment industry. She also stated that the tempers were a result of his tainted relationship with his biological father. Tom Cruise’s temper would often get out of control and one such instance was when he threw an album at Eileen Berlin’s face which ended up hurting her.
Tom Cruise Threw an Album at His Manager
In an interview with The Daily Mail, Eileen Berlin was taking a trip down memory lane, remembering the days she used to work with Tom Cruise. During the interview, Berlin addressed Cruise’s anger management issues and stated that he had a horrible tantrum. Berlin linked the actor’s temper to his father. In an older interview, Cruise stated that his father, Thomas Cruise Mapother III was a “bully and a coward” and that “He was the kind of person where, if something goes wrong, they kick you. It was a great lesson in my life – how he’d lull you in, make you feel safe and then, bang!’”
In the interview with The Daily Mail, Berlin stated that a lot of Cruise’s anger was toward Mapother. She recalled an incident where she gifted him an album of all the teen magazine articles he was mentioned in. This was on his 19th birthday and apparently, the sweet gesture was not sweet enough for Cruise. First, he threw a tantrum stating he wasn’t a teen idol and then he threw the album toward Berlin, which ended up hitting her cheek.
“Tommy had a terrible temper. He harbored a lot of anger at his natural father. He was moody and would get angry in a snap of your fingers. It was like something was smoldering and it would boil up and explode. I put it down to his insecurity. I presented him with an album with all his publicity articles from teen magazines for his 19th birthday. He screamed, ‘I don’t want to be in the teen mags.’ He had told me he considered himself an adult, not a teen idol. He threw the album hard at me and it hit me on the cheek.”
That can’t be a happy memory! Berlin also recalled how Cruise locked himself in a bathroom to prepare for a role in Taps. In order to get into the zone of blasting a machine gun, Cruise had to imagine his sister getting r*ped. Yikes!
Eileen Berlin Gave Tom Cruise a Place to Stay
When Cruise signed with Berlin after his eighteenth birthday, he desperately needed a place to stay. Since he was working so hard to make some money, Berlin decided to let the actor stay with her, in her son’s room. Not only was Cruise given their son’s room, but he was also allowed to drive Berlin’s husband’s car whenever he needed.
“He was trying to support himself by working as a waiter. He wasn’t making enough money to rent a place so we told him he could move into our apartment. Our son was at college so we gave Tommy his room and when he needed a car he drove my husband’s blue Cadillac. He was having some difficulties with his mom but she would come and visit him at our house or he’d use the car to see her in New Jersey.”
It looks like Berlin and Cruise shared a relationship that went beyond work. The 1986 film, Top Gun, was the last project for Cruise and Berlin’s professional relationship. Cruise was heartbroken when she couldn’t move out of New York to embark on his journey to stardom with him.
Source: The Daily Mail
