The heated interview between Lauer and Cruise made headlines and currently has 13 million views on the “Today Show” YouTube channel.
In her new memoir, Shields reveals that she was “gobsmacked” by Cruise’s comments, adding his perspective was “an interesting opinion, coming from someone without ovaries.”
“Had Tom taken a public swing at me before I became a mother, I probably would have stayed quiet,” Shields writes. “I would have ignored his ridiculous rant. I might have been content to sit back while this very famous man hijacked my experience to advance his own (deluded) agenda.”
Shields continues, “Sitting quietly and letting myself be attacked might have been my approach a decade earlier — I might have even regretted sharing my story or felt insecure that maybe my career was stalling while a powerful male movie star was singling me out, sure that I’d never stand a chance in that fight — but now I was emboldened by life experience.”
Cruise eventually apologized, which Shields comments on, writing, “Not publicly, which would have been the right thing to do, but he came to my house and said he was sorry and that he felt cornered by Matt Lauer and that he attacked me, basically, because he could.”
“It wasn’t the world’s best apology, but it’s what he was capable of, and I accepted it,” Shields writes.