Resurfaced Tom Cruise interview with Ellen DeGeneres took an awkward turn we can't unsee
Tom Cruise has had many memorable talk show appearances over the years but his most memorable one is perhaps when he was on 'The Ellen DeGeneres Show' during its first season in 2003. A clip of the same recently resurfaced, and boy was it unnecessarily awkward. At the time, DeGeneres’ new show was attracting big celebrity guests like Jennifer Aniston, Betty White, Justin Timberlake, Alicia Keys, George Lopez, Mary J. Blige, Ted Danson, Dwayne Johnson, and Jennifer Love Hewitt. Cruise was one of the standout guests, appearing in December alongside Gloria Estefan. At the time, Cruise was promoting his film 'The Last Samurai', where he played an American military advisor fascinated by samurai culture.
During his interview, Cruise spoke about the movie, but things took a different turn when DeGeneres started asking him some random questions. She began the segment by declaring she had "important questions that need to be answered,” as reported by The Things. One of the first questions was about Cruise’s “favorite song to boogie to.” Cruise mentioned he’d been listening to Joss Stone, a rising artist at the time. DeGeneres followed it up with a more personal question: “Boxers, briefs, or nothing at all?” Cruise laughed for a full minute before replying, “At which point in the day?” DeGeneres, not holding back, asked what he was wearing at that moment. After laughing some more, Cruise admitted, “Briefs.” In response, DeGeneres revealed she prefers boxers and stood up to show the pair she was wearing— it had 'Tom' written on them. Awkward much?
DeGeneres continued with more questions, asking if he preferred “Britney [Spears] or Christina [Aguilera]". Cruise hesitated and answered, “I’ve never thought about it.” DeGeneres also brought up Cruise’s famous dance scene in 'Risky Business', where he dances in his underwear. After explaining how he prepared for the scene, Cruise was persuaded to recreate the iconic slide but joked, “I’m going to leave my pants on.” Despite the embarrassing questions, Cruise returned to the talk show a few more times. In 2006, he appeared twice during the third season. In January, he came on the show with his then-fiancée Katie Holmes, who was pregnant with their daughter, Suri. DeGeneres joked about becoming the baby’s godparent and even suggested they name the baby 'Ellen' if it was a girl.
In May of the same year, Cruise returned to promote 'Mission: Impossible III'. He surprised the audience for Mother’s Day by giving away 225 bouquets from Speaking Roses. Cruise has had other memorable interviews over the years. In 2005, he appeared on 'The Oprah Winfrey Show' and famously jumped on the couch while talking about his love for Holmes. Reflecting on it years later, Cruise told Winfrey, “It was a moment...That’s just how I felt.”
That same year, he had a heated argument with Matt Lauer on 'The Today Show' about Brooke Shields using antidepressants for postpartum depression. Cruise called Lauer 'glib' during the exchange. According to Lauer, Cruise’s publicist tried to get the argument removed from the broadcast. Lauer later shared this story during an interview with Howard Stern, as reported by the Daily Mail.