(Miguel Campos / Shutterstock.com)In August 2006, it seemed like Tom Cruise was finished.
In an announcement unprecedented by the head of a major conglomerate, the chairman of Viacom, Sumner Redstone, publicly ripped into the star, who at the time was one of the most profitable at Viacom's movie studio, Paramount Pictures.
“We don't think that someone who effectuates creative suicide and costs the company revenue should be on the lot,” Redstone told The Wall Street Journal. “His recent conduct has not been acceptable to Paramount.”











 (Kevin Winter/Getty Images)Viacom chairman Sumner Redstone and Cruise.
Nine years ago was certainly the toughest and strangest time of Cruise’s career. The then 43-year-old actor had a lifetime box-office gross of over $1.5 billion, but his flawless transition from young heartthrob to respected dramatic actor to gargantuan action star had seemed to self-destruct as quickly as one of the messages his character, Ethan Hunt, receives in the “Mission: Impossible” movies.
The studio he'd called home for 14 years was parting ways with him.


(Paramount Pictures)"Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation." Today, on the heels of Cruise's awesome new trailer for “Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation,” it's hard to imagine the veteran actor's career being at such a low point.
His strange downfall and subsequent rebirth as one of the most bankable movie stars all began with an innocent act of love.
When Cruise agreed to go on “The Oprah Winfrey Show” in May 2005 to promote his next blockbuster film, “War of the Worlds,” it was a big deal. Not only did most women believe he was one of the sexiest men alive, but Cruise rarely did interviews, especially on daytime TV.
As Cruise walked onto Oprah's stage, the crowd went wild. Oprah playfully tousled Cruise's hair, and the actor was clearly in a great mood.

("The Oprah Winfrey Show")During the interview, Oprah brought up Cruise's latest love interest, Katie Holmes, who was off-stage where no one, especially the cameras, could see her. The excitement of talking about his new girlfriend led him to leap up on Oprah's couch with joy (he did it a second time for good measure).
After the couch jumping, Oprah even got Cruise to chase down Holmes and get her to come on stage.
It seemed harmless at the time, but thanks to a very young internet video-posting site called YouTube, the image of Cruise on top of Oprah’s couch would become a pop-culture phenomenon.

A month later, Cruise agreed to go on the “Today” show to continue promoting “War of the Worlds,” and also talk about his religion, Scientology. But when the interview topic changed to Scientology, and specifically to Cruise not agreeing with psychiatry, the tone changed. Especially in regard to Brooke Shields’ use of antidepressants for postpartum depression. Here’s an excerpt of Cruise and Lauer's uncomfortable exchange:

Cruise: “Do you know what Adderall is? Do you know Ritalin? Do you now Ritalin is a street drug? Do you understand that?”

Lauer: “The difference is — ”

Cruise: “No, Matt, I’m asking you a question.”

Lauer: “I understand there’s abuse of all of these things.”

Cruise: “No, you see here’s the problem: You don’t know the history of psychiatry. I do.”