Jenny McCarthy says Tom Cruise tried to recruit her and her then-boyfriend Jim Carrey into Scientology during his 2006 wedding to Katie Holmes.
McCarthy made the claim on Thursday’s episode of her podcast while speaking with Anne Gollert Hill, a former Scientologist. McCarthy, 53, said Cruise, 64, made the attempt at the rehearsal dinner, where she and Carrey sat directly across from the bride and groom.
Cruise and Holmes had recently had their daughter, Suri, who is now 20. McCarthy said a nanny brought the baby to the table and she asked to hold her, prompting the whole party to turn and stare.
“It looked like ‘Rosemary’s Baby’ … I got the Scientology stare.”
After Holmes handed over the baby, McCarthy said she gave a flat “Hi, baby” before passing Suri back, at which point “everyone went back to their conversations.”
“I just thought to myself, ‘OK, I am in the belly of the beast right now.'”
McCarthy also said Cruise introduced her to his best man that night, David Miscavige, who leads the Church of Scientology. She recalled telling Miscavige, “Ha ha, you got picked. Congratulations,” a remark she said “made it sound demeaning” and that Miscavige “did not like.” McCarthy said Cruise laughed to cover the awkward moment.
She said Cruise separately invited her and Carrey to his home in Aspen, but Carrey didn’t want to go, worried the couple would “try to lure [them] in.”
McCarthy also described changes she saw in Holmes as the marriage went on, saying Holmes “looked like a deer in headlights” at events and that McCarthy would pull her aside to check on her.
“This was well into the marriage. During the wedding part, she still seemed like Katie, but into the marriage, it seemed there was a shift in her.”
McCarthy said the contrast between Holmes and Cruise’s world was stark: “The juxtaposition between Katie at this time and Tom’s world were very polar opposite.”
McCarthy and Carrey dated from 2005 to 2010 and have stayed close since. McCarthy later married Donnie Wahlberg in 2014; Carrey married longtime girlfriend Min Ah earlier this month. Cruise and Holmes divorced in 2012. Holmes has recently been linked to artist Jason Bard Yarmosky.
