If you are a pop culture maven such as I, the personal lives and public actions of a celebrity can sometimes greatly sway your opinion of them and their likeability factor when it comes to watching their movies, listening to their music, or whatever. 

In the 1980’s, I was a HUGE Tom Cruise fan.  Because, I was swept up, like the rest of the world in “Legend”, “Risky Business”, “Top Gun”, “Cocktail”, “Rain Man” etc. fever. 

I was still Team Cruise in the 90’s with “A Few Good Men”, “Jerry Maguire” and “Interview with the Vampire”. 

And then something happened. We began to see his personality, controversial opinions, the way he handled his marriages/divorces/children.  Oh, and let’s not forget his moratorium on asking him any questions about Scientology and his lofty perch therein.   The pendulum of Cruise likeability began to swing in the other direction for me. 

I know he’s a perfectionist. A hard worker. Dedicated to doing the best he can in his craft. Does his own stunts. Always gracious with fans. Maintains his face and body. A box office and franchise king. Check, check and check; got it. 

But I haven’t seen a movie of his in years. I don’t give any effs that the Mission Impossible franchise are all gangbuster films. All I can think of when I see any image of Tom Cruise is just the many layers of domineering cray.   

Sometimes you feel like a nut. Sometimes you don’t. 

Regarding the autographs here:  Tom Cruise is a generous signer and there are tons of examples online of in-person signatures.  You will see one constant in that his C and T always intersect.  Therefore, I really think that the black index card is a forgery (even though it has a handwritten note on the back in pencil “Tom Cruise on set 4/28/96”).  Additionally, his C almost always loops downward, sometimes deeply – I don’t see any with an uptick at the end of the C.  And his T’s are usually loopy, rarely, if ever, with straight lines.  So, I’m going to say that the 8x10 in military whites is also most likely a forgery.  I’m confident that the index card signed in blue is authentic as matches so many examples, especially from earlier in his career.