This caused the audience and Cruise to laugh. As he continued telling the story of how the passenger passed out due to the lack of oxygen, Cruise kept laughing, making Letterman appear uncomfortable.

At first, Letterman was confused and asked: “But honestly, looking at it from another direction isn’t that attempted manslaughter? You just turned a guy’s oxygen off. You’re lucky you’re not doing time, for the love of God.”

Once Letterman was assured of the passenger’s safety, the host joined in with Cruise’s laughter.

2005: Tom Cruise shocked everyone by jumping on a couch on “The Oprah Winfrey Show.”“The Oprah Winfrey Show.” OWN

The couch jump on “The Oprah Winfrey Show” in May 2005 is one of the most memorable moments in Cruise’s career.

The actor was talking to Oprah about his new relationship with Katie Holmes, whom he eventually married a year later. Cruise made his excitement clear throughout the show by getting up and doing victory poses.

At one point, he jumped on the couch in the middle of the conversation right next to Oprah. While the moment seemed slightly over-the-top at the time, and was clearly loved by the live audience, further inspection of the clip changed Cruise’s perception by the public forever.

2005: Tom Cruise got into a feud with Brooke Shields over prescription medication.Brooke Shields. Jamie McCarthy / Getty Images for American Ballet Theater

Towards the end of May 2005, Cruise criticized actress Brooke Shields for using antidepressants, which caused a rift between the two stars.

Cruise told Access Hollywood (via People) that Shields was “irresponsible” for saying in her memoir “Down Came the Rain” that antidepressants helped cure her of postpartum depression following the birth of her daughter Rowan in 2003. Shields responded to People by saying Cruise should “stick to saving the world from aliens.”

Cruise was later asked about his views in an interview on the “Today Show” and got into a heated discussion with journalist Matt Lauer about taking antidepressants.

He said there is “no such thing as a chemical imbalance” and antidepressants mask the problem rather than cure it. He also insisted that vitamins and exercise were better ways to “cure” depression and accused Lauer of being “glib.”

Shields wrote an op-ed in The New York Times saying that Cruise’s comments were a “disservice to mothers everywhere.”

Shields later revealed on “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno” that Cruise came to her house and apologized to her. The relationship seemed to have recovered because Shields attended his wedding to Katie Holmes in 2006.

2005: Cruise said an Australian TV reporter crossed a line by asking him about his relationship with ex-wife Nicole Kidman.Nicole Kidman and Tom Cruise in 1990. Terry McGinnis/WireImage/Getty Images

In June 2005, Cruise was interviewed by “60 Minutes Australia” to talk about his Scientology beliefs and Hollywood stardom. During the interview, journalist Peter Overton asked a series of questions about Nicole Kidman, Cruise’s ex-wife. The pair divorced in 2001 and have two kids.

Eventually, Cruise felt the questions had gone too far, prompting the “Mission: Impossible” actor to say: “You’re stepping over the line now. You’re stepping over the line. You know you are.”

When Overton said he was asking questions that the public wanted to know, Cruise replied: “Peter, you want to know. Take responsibility for what you want to know. Don’t say what other people. This is a conversation that I’m having with you right?”

Cruise continued: “I’m just telling you right now, OK. Just put your manners back in.”

Overton apologized but in 2020 said on “The Kyle and Jackie O Show” that he didn’t regret asking the question.

2005: Tom Cruise called a prankster who threw water at him a “jerk.”Tom Cruise and Dakota Fanning in “War of the Worlds.” Paramount Pictures

At the London premiere of “War of the Worlds” in June 2005, a prankster sprayed water on Cruise’s face using a fake microphone. The practical joke was part of the British Channel 4 prank series “Balls of Steel” where comedians compete in dangerous challenges in the real world.

However, Cruise did not find the prank funny and told the prankster off before he could walk away.

“Do you like thinking less of people, is that it?” Cruise said. “That’s incredibly rude. I’m here giving you an interview and you do that … it’s incredibly rude.”

Cruise then said: “You’re a jerk … jerk … you’re a jerk.”

The prankster and his three camera crew members were then escorted into the cinema and arrested by the police. The Guardian reported that Channel 4 later apologized to Cruise in a statement but said the stunt was “intended to be light-hearted rather than malicious.”

2015: In her memoir, former Scientologist Leah Remini said the actor shouted at assistants while baking cookies.Leah Remini is a former Scientology member. Allen Berezovsky/Getty Images/Lia Toby/BFC/Getty Images

In November 2015, Leah Remini published her memoir “Troublemaker: Surviving Hollywood and Scientology” after leaving Scientology. In the memoir, the actress mentioned her multiple interactions with Cruise — who is a Scientologist — and his family.

On one occasion, Remini wrote, according to Vulture, Cruise allegedly shouted at his assistants because he wanted to make cookies but he couldn’t find the prepackaged cookie dough.

“‘Guys, where’s the cookie stuff?'” Remini recalled. “Goddamn it! Can I just get the stuff for the cookies, guys? Get in the fucking present time, is what you need to do.'”

A spokesperson for Scientology denied the claims in Remini’s book at the time of publishing in a public statement. In a recent email to Insider about this story, a Scientology spokesperson called Remini’s account “lies and malicious false claims.”

2020: Thandiwe Newton said it was “a nightmare” working on “Mission: Impossible 2” with Tom Cruise.Thandie Newton and Tom Cruise in “Mission: Impossible 2.” Paramount

During an interview with Vulture in 2020, Thandiwe Newton said she was “so scared” of Cruise when working on “Mission: Impossible 2.” In the 2000 movie, she played Cruise’s character Ethan Hunt’s love interest Nyah Nordoff-Hall.

“He was a very dominant individual,” the “Westworld” actress said. “He tries super hard to be a nice person. But the pressure. He takes on a lot. And I think he has this sense that only he can do everything as best as it can be done.”

Newton recalled a moment when she and Cruise were “frustrated” with each other because they were not able to get a balcony scene down. Eventually, they tried to rehearse on camera and say each other’s lines to try and get the scene right by Cruise’s standards.

“I can’t think of anything less revealing,” Newton said. “It just pushed me further into a place of terror and insecurity. It was a real shame. And bless him. And I really do mean bless him, because he was trying his damnedest.”

She continued: “He wasn’t horrible. It was just — he was really stressed.”

However, Newton recalled phoning a friend, Jonathan Demme, after the first night they shot the scene and saying it was “a nightmare.”

2020: Tom Cruise was recorded yelling at the crew of “Mission: Impossible 7” because they disobeyed COVID-19 safety rules.Tom Cruise’s rant occurred on the set of “Mission: Impossible 7.” Samantha Zucchi/Insidefoto/Mondadori Portfolio via Getty Images

In December 2020, The Sun published leaked audio of Cruise yelling at “Mission: Impossible 7” staffers after COVID-19 safety rules were broken on set.

The crew had already halted production at Warner Bros. Studios in Leavesden, England, earlier that year because of coronavirus regulation. The Sun reported that Cruise “flew into a rage” after spotting two of the crew members standing within 2 meters of each other.

“And if you don’t do it, you’re fired,” he said in the audio leaked by The Sun. “I see you do it again, you’re fucking gone. No apologies. You can tell it to the people that are losing their fucking homes because our industry is shut down. It’s not going to put food on their table or pay for their college education.”

Fans and celebrities were divided in response to the news. George Clooney said Cruise didn’t “overreact” in an interview on Howard Stern’s SiriusXM radio show. Meanwhile, former Scientologist Leah Remini called Cruise’s audio “psychotic,” in a letter published by the blog The Underground Bunker.

2022: Tom Cruise’s former manager recalled the actor once refused to speak to a waitress because he was “still in character.”Cruise as David Shawn in the 1981 movie “Taps.” Major Studio Partners / Twentieth Century Fox

Cruise’s former manager, Eileen Berlin, told the Daily Mail in a recent interview that the actor once refused to speak to a waitress when she recognized him because he was still in character.

Cruise had a role in the 1981 movie “Taps” filmed at Valley Forge Military Academy and College in Pennsylvania where he met Berlin for lunch at a nearby restaurant, she said.

“The waitress asked him, ‘Aren’t you one of the actors?'” Berlin recalled, adding that Cruise was upset that she’d recognized him. “Tom said to us, ‘Please tell her not to ask me any questions. I’m still in character.'”

During the interview, Berlin said Cruise had a “terrible temper.” She recalled presenting Cruise with an album full of articles about himself from teen magazines for his 19th birthday, which the star didn’t take kindly to.

“He screamed, ‘I don’t want to be in the teen mags,'” Berlin said. “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.”