Tom Cruise (left) and Dr. Drew Pinsky
Miguel Villagran/AP; Mathew Imaging/WireImage
Pinsky, the host of VH1's Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew, speculates in an interview with Playboy that Cruise's Scientology beliefs could be a result of childlhood "neglect."
"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," says Pinsky. "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."
His remarks got a sharp rebuke from Cruise's lawyer, Bert Fields.
"I don't know what kind of a doctor this guy is, but this posturing flake pretends to diagnose people he's never met and suggests all Scientologists are mentally ill," Fields tells PEOPLE. "This should tell you something about the quality of his opinions. They're ridiculous."
The Pinsky-Cruise dispute was first reported in the New York Post's Page Six
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