Reuters News Article:

"He can't stop talking about Scientology, which is, arguably, his star-sapping kryptonite. In August's Rolling Stone cover story, he took the writer on a tour of the famed Scientology Center. 'He's such a zealot now,' says someone who received one of his Scientology Christmas cards. 'There are no halfway measures anymore. He's beside himself with trying to convert the world.'

The other Cruise hot-button issue that Kingsley controlled with an iron fist -- backed up by legal action from attorney Bert Fields -- was the media's insistence on questioning his heterosexuality. The rumors kept reasserting themselves despite Cruise's 10-year marriage to Kidman and a three-year relationship with his 'Vanilla Sky' co-star, Penelope Cruz.

After the Cruise/Cruz breakup, the star didn't date anyone seriously for a year. (This prompted scuttlebutt that he was asking women out and getting turned down.) Then he set up a meeting with 26-year-old actress Katie Holmes. 'One minute, they were having a professional meeting,' one observer says. 'The next they were lovers.'

It's still unclear why, in a ham-fisted maneuver, De Vette was compelled to orchestrate the April public outing of the Cruise and Holmes affair in Rome, where Cruise received a lifetime achievement award at the David di Donatello Awards. ('War of the Worlds' wasn't opening until June 29.) The press, accustomed to having to chase down every nugget of elusive star gossip, reacted by suggesting that the whole thing was fake. When Cruise went wild on 'The Oprah Winfrey Show,' fed by the intensity of his gaga female fans, he jumped on the sofa, knelt on the floor and virtually howled his love at the moon.

Even the reputable media, including Time, the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times, couldn't resist the story. It didn't help that Cruise's religious beliefs prompted him to criticize Brooke Shields during an "Access Hollywood" interview for relying on psychiatry and prescription drugs to treat postpartum depression. He was far better off when journalists complained that he was a lousy interview with nothing to say. While a tsunami of bad press has swept over him, there is no evidence to suggest that Cruise is aware of it."

For six months now I have been following the meltdown/exposure of said meltdown. Oh glorious train wreck.