Tom Cruise’s First Manager Says He Was Appearance-Obsessed & Had ‘Terrible Temper’

Eileen Berlin, a retired manager and executive who managed Tom Cruise when he was a young, struggling actor and booking his first roles, revealed in an interview that the actor had a “terrible temper” and was “self-centered” while they worked together.

Berlin, who signed the actor after his 18th birthday, also made some claims of shocking behavior by Cruise while they both worked and lived together because he couldn’t afford his own place in New York when he got his start. Berlin alleged that Cruise had her draft a huge list of demands for his very first starring role in a film, and more alarmingly, said he once threw a photo album at her and struck her in the cheek in a moment of rage.

“Tommy had many faces,” Berlin told the Daily Mail. “There’s contempt, arrogance, frustration, charm, sadness. I saw him in all those moods. What I have never seen is a real display of happiness in Tommy”

Despite not being highly established in the industry yet, Berlin recalled a high degree of self-confidence bordering on arrogance with the actor. She shared anecdotes saying Cruise requested a whole day of shooting to get a headshot he approved of, agonized over his below-average height, and admired himself in his underwear in front of a mirrored wall in her apartment.

She also shared a rider of demands Cruise requested before agreeing to star in his breakthrough role in the 1983 comedy Risky Business. These included an up-front payment of $75,000 pay or play, guaranteed first billing unless the female lead was more prominent than him, no more than 10 weeks of filming including rehearsals, and first-class travel and accommodations during production.

Berlin also spoke more about Cruise’s temper. “He harbored a lot of anger at his natural father. He was moody and would get angry at the snap of his fingers.” She recounted one incident where Cruise became incensed after she showed him an album she made with teen magazine cutouts of him for a 19th birthday present. Berlin said, “He screamed ‘I don’t want to be in teen mags.’ … He threw the album hard at me and it hit me on the cheek.”

Cruise would professionally depart from Berlin after she managed him for his performance in the 1986 blockbuster Top Gun after he expected her to move cross-country with him despite her family and other clients being on the East Coast. She says they still have met up for the occasional meal, most of the correspondence she receives from him now are invitations to events for the Church of Scientology.

“I wish he had other things in his life.  But I don’t think he loves people. He loves what he does,” Berlin said plainly at the end of her interview, then choosing to leave it on a rather dark note. “I worry that he is lonely. As long as he can work and make his kind of films, he’ll be okay. What will happen if ever he can’t do that. I don’t know.”