A former celebrity recruiter for the Church of Scientology says it was ‘really huge’ that Apatow publicly cracked jokes about Scientology and referred to Cruise’s reported estrangement from his 16-year-old daughter

US actor Tom Cruise leaves his hotel carrying daughter Suri for her gymnastics class on July 17, 2012 in New York, NY. (MEHDI TAAMALLAH/AFP/GettyImages)

When Judd Apatow roasted Tom Cruise about his Scientology beliefs at the Directors Guild of America Awards Feb. 18, he demonstrated that people in Hollywood may have become less afraid to publicly criticize the actor or the controversial, cult-like organization, a former Scientology executive said.

Karen Pressley, who spent two decades as a recruiter in Scientology’s Celebrity Center, said it was especially striking that Apatow, the awards show host, took not-so-subtle aim at the “Top Gun” star’s alleged choice to distance himself from his daughter Suri following his 2012 divorce from Katie Holmes. Vanity Fair first reported in 2012 that Holmes left Cruise in part because she didn’t want their daughter, now 16, to be raised in the Church of Scientology.

“These are serious digs,” Pressley said about Apatow’s jokes in a newly released podcast interview with journalist Tony Ortega, a leading Scientology critic.

BEVERLY HILLS, CALIFORNIA – FEBRUARY 25: Judd Apatow attends the 2023 Producers Guild Awards at The Beverly Hilton on February 25, 2023 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Emma McIntyre/Getty Images)

In roasting Cruise, Apatow first cracked some of the usual jokes about the 5-foot-7-inch actor’s height, his infamous 2005 couch jumping on “The Oprah Winfrey Show” and his desire to do increasingly dangerous-looking movie stunts himself, such as riding a motorcycle off a cliff, Variety reported. The famed producer and director then turned to the actor’s controversial statements about psychiatry and medications and made a searing reference to his personal life and his choices as a father.

“The only thing he seems to be afraid of is co-parenting and antidepressants,” Apatow quipped. “I doubled my Prozac today just for this. I doubled it! Do you think if Tom Cruise took antidepressants, he’d be like, ‘I’m not jumping out of a (expletive) cliff. I’m rich!’”

Pressley said that Apatow’s reference to Cruise’s alleged estrangement from his daughter was “huge, really huge” in terms of people feeling increasingly free to criticize Cruise for adhering to Scientology’s controversial practices.

Pressley shared her belief that Cruise has been so “radicalized” by the church that he would allegedly “ditch” his daughter and break up his first two marriages, to Mimi Rogers and Nicole Kidman, at the organization’s behest.  Pressley discussed the “double-edged sword” of Cruise’s “brand.”

“Everyone who works with Cruise on a professional level: They see his brand,” Pressley began. “He is a guy who is now showing up in jokes because he has ditched his daughter, he has broken up three marriages and he supports a cult that’s involved in lawsuits for human trafficking, slavery, sexual abuse and on and on and on.”

“That’s his values,” Pressley continued. “And, yet he’s a fabulous movie maker. On a professional level, his brand is superlative — when it comes to movie making. But when it gets down to his personal values, he’s branded as a vile human being. … I think he really deserves that because his values are at the bottom. He turns a blind eye to crimes and oppression.”

US actor Tom Cruise holding his daughter Suri greets his wife Katie Holmes after she finished running the New York City Marathon in New York 04 November 2007.(TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP/Getty Images)

Cruise’s reported decision to not be part of Suri’s life, leaving ex-wife Holmes to raise her on her own, is related to Scientology’s policy of “disconnection,” according to ex-members. The church expects members to cut ties with friends, colleagues and even close family members who are deemed to be “potential trouble sources” or “suppressive persons.” Former Scientologists, including Pressley, who left the church in 1998, say disconnection has ended marriages and separated children from their parents.

Scientology has routinely denied allegations of systemic abuse within the church. However, Scientology’s website acknowledges its policy of disconnection, saying people have a fundamental right to stop communicating with whomever they chose. The church, though, denies that it expects members to end relationships with others because of different beliefs.

Presley agreed with Ortega that Cruise probably wasn’t expected to “disconnect” himself from Suri, given his stature in Scientology. Ortega said Cruise, unlike lower-level members, probably could have continued to see his daughter but he chose not to. Presley said this choice indicates the extent of Cruise’s “radicalization.”

“Let’s just look at Cruise’s life,” Presley said. “This guy’s family life is very unsuccessful. I have to believe it was because of radicalization.”

Following Apatow’s jokes, some publications noted that he and Cruise have “a history.” In 2021, Apatow’s friend and collaborator Seth Rogen told Howard Stern that Cruise tried to recruit him and Apatow into Scientology in 2005, Indiewire reported. That was the year that Cruise drew negative attention to himself while promoting “War of the Worlds” by jumping on Winfrey’s couch to proclaim his love for Holmes and by pushing Scientology’s opposition to psychiatric medications in a contentious interview with “Today” host Matt Lauer.

Rogen said he and Apatow visited Cruise at his home in Los Angeles and the “Mission: Impossible” star blamed the pharmaceutical industry for his recent bad publicity and compared his plight to the media treatment of his “friend” Louis Farrakhan, the controversial leader of the Nation of Islam.

“A few hours into the meeting, the Scientology stuff comes up,” Rogen recalled of his and Apatow’s meeting with Cruise. “He said, ‘I think the pharmaceutical industry is making me look bad. You should see what they do to my friend Louis Farrakhan.’”

Rogen continued, “I’ll never forget the wording he used: ‘It’s like with Scientology. If you let me just tell you what it was really about, just give me like 20 minutes to, like, really just tell you what it was about. You would say no (expletive) way. No (expletive) way.’ I remember being like, the wording was like, is that a good thing to be saying?”

The “Superbad” co-writer added that he and Apatow looked at each other during the “very loaded moment” and hoped they would be able to “come out of this” encounter with Cruise, facing no repercussions from turning down Scientology. Presley confirmed that in the past Scientology would organize PR campaigns to discredit and silence critics. It would even hire private investigators to find embarrassing private information about a critic that it could could make public.

Nearly 20 years later, Apatow didn’t seem too concerned about repercussions when he cracked jokes about Cruise and Scientology at the Directors Guild Awards. With the church’s power appearing to be on the wane, it’s not clear if it would organize an effort to discredit Apatow, but Presley said it wouldn’t be surprising if, in the near future, to see some scandal attaching itself to him.