Dr. Drew Pinsky made some remarks in next month's issue of Playboy that are coming back to haunt him."A lot of people in the public eye who behave strangely have mental illness we can learn from, and much of it is based on childhood trauma, without a doubt," the host of VH1's 'Celebrity Rehab' said.
"Take a guy like Tom Cruise. Why would somebody be drawn into a cultish kind of environment like Scientology? To me, that's a function of a very deep emptiness and suggests serious neglect in childhood - maybe some abuse, but mostly neglect," he added.
Cruise's lawyer, Bert Fields, responded to the comments in Page Six, comparing Dr. Drew with one of Adolf Hitler's friends, Joseph Goebbels, Nazi minister for public enlightenment and propaganda.
"This unqualified television performer who is obviously just looking for notoriety is so grotesquely unprofessional as to pretend to diagnose Tom and others without ever meeting them," he was quoted. "He seems to be spewing the absurdity
that all Scientologists are mentally ill. The last time we heard garbage like this was from Joseph Goebbels."Dr. Drew issued an apology for his remarks today.
"Dr. Drew meant no harm to Mr. Cruise and apologizes if his comments were hurtful," Pinsky's rep said in a statement.
"Although Mr. Fields's intent is clearly to slander and discredit Dr. Drew, under no circumstances is Dr. Drew making a blanket diagnosis about Scientology nor Mr. Cruise whom he does not know," the statement added. "Dr. Drew was simply using Mr. Cruise as an example of someone who is recognizable to help the public understand. Again, Dr. Drew meant him no harm."
