Tom Cruise's former manager, Eileen Berlin, opens up about working with star in his early career

vt-author-image

By Nika Shakhnazarova

Article saved!Article saved!

Tom Cruise's former manager has opened up about working with the Top Gun star during the early stages of his career.

Eileen Berlin, 82, worked with the Hollywood star at the beginning of his career and even let the actor stay at her home.

Berlin told Daily Mail that Cruise was "sweet, respectful and mannerly to a fault" and "always addressed me as 'ma'am' and my husband as 'sir'."

However, she also recalled seeing his alleged ill-tempered behavior.

 wp-image-1263145674
Credit: insidefoto srl / Alamy

"Tommy had a terrible temper," she said, recalling an incident when Cruise was allegedly unhappy with a present she gave him for his 19th birthday.

"I presented him with an album with all his publicity articles from teen magazines," she recalled, adding: "He screamed, 'I don't want to be in the teen mags.'"

"It was like something was smoldering and it would boil up and explode. I put it down to his insecurity."

She went on: "He had told me he considered himself an adult, not a teen idol. He threw the album hard at me and it hit me on the cheek. What I have never seen is a real display of happiness in Tommy."

 wp-image-1263145675
Credit: Sebastian Frej / Alamy

"He was always very, very ambitious, very, very determined to be a star. And that made him a perfectionist. That's what drove him when I managed him and I'm sure that's what drives him now," she added.

Cruise made headlines in December 2020 after he was recorded yelling at the crew of his forthcoming Mission: Impossible 7.

Furious after appearing to spot two crew members failing to observe strict social-distancing rules, Cruise was heard screaming: "They're back there in Hollywood making movies right now because of us. Because they believe in us and what we're doing."

 wp-image-1263145676
Tom Cruise on the set of Mission: Impossible 7. Credit: Sipa US / Alamy

Cruise allegedly went on: "I'm on the phone with every f***ing studio at night, insurance companies, producers, and they're looking at us and using us to make their movies. We are creating thousands of jobs, you motherf******. I don’t ever want to see it again. Ever!"

He later addressed the rant in an interview in May last year, saying: "There was a lot at stake at that point. But it wasn't my entire crew. I had the crew leave the set and it was just select people."

"I was thinking about the people I work with, and my industry," he went on, adding: "And for the whole crew to know that we’d started rolling on a movie was just a huge relief. It was very emotional, I gotta tell you."

Featured image credit: Sebastian Frej / Alamy