Matt Lauer didn't waste any time revealing newsroom secrets after joining Facebook on Tuesday, June 10. The Today show co-host took part in a Q&A with former co-anchor Meredith Vieira, and also interacted with fans of the NBC morning program. When asked what was his most awkward interview ever in his career, he replied: Tom Cruise.
"A bit awkward with Tom Cruise a while back!!!!" Lauer, 56, wrote. "It was one of those unforgettable moments that became a part of pop culture."
Indeed, back in June 2005 Lauer and the 51-year-old Edge of Tomorrow actor went toe-to-toe when the topic of psychiatry vs. Scientology came up during their sit-down interview. Promoting film War of the Worlds at the time, Cruise, completely flustered, criticized friend Brooke Shields for taking anti-depressants and called Lauer "glib." See recent pics of Tom here.
"It's very impressive to listen to you," Lauer said at the time, "because clearly, you've done the homework. And you know the subject."
Cruise replied: "And you should. You don't know the history of psychiatry. I do." he added: "You just communicate about it. If I want to know something, I go and find out. Because I don't talk about things that I don't understand."
Lauer similarly reflected on the infamous broadcast eight years later during an appearance on Howard Stern's Sirius XM radio show last June. "There are times where, when you least expect it, you get someone who sits on this couch…and all of a sudden you say something and you can see in the person's' eyes a physical change," he said to the disc jockey. "That was one of those times…I knew I was going to go in a certain area, and you watch the change, and then it's your job almost to get the hell out of the way."
"[He] has gone out of his way to be awfully nice to me since then," Lauer noted. "He since has come forward and said, you know, that was a strange time in his life and he regrets the way it came across." (The awkward ordeal happened at the beginning of his relationship with now ex-wife Katie Holmes, and shortly after couch-jumping on The Oprah Winfrey Show while discussing the Dawson's Creek alum.)
Cruise's gesture has clearly done the trick. As Lauer said during his Q&A Tuesday, the men have since put the uncomfortable incident behind them. Lauer told readers: "Important to note: he and I have a great relationship today."
