Learning Chinese - Travolta echoes Cruise on psychiatry

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Travolta echoes Cruise on psychiatry

(AP)
Updated: 2007-06-20 07:09









This undated photo from W magazine shows John Travolta who was
interviewed in W's July issue. Like fellow Scientologist Tom Cruise,
Travolta told the magazine that he is against psychiatric medication.[AP]



NEW YORK - John Travolta says his thinking is in line with fellow
Scientologist Tom Cruise, who has publicly defended the religion's stance
against psychiatry and the pharmaceutical industry.

Cruise, during a famously heated debate on NBC's "Today" show in 2005,
criticized Brooke Shields for taking anti-depression drugs and berated
host Matt Lauer for suggesting that psychiatric treatment might help some
patients.

"I don't disagree with anything Tom says," Travolta says in the July
issue of W magazine, on newsstands Friday. "How would I have presented
it? Maybe differently than how he did, but it doesn't matter. I still
think that if you analyze most of the school shootings, it is not gun
control. It is (psychotropic) drugs at the bottom of it."

"I don't want to create controversy; I just have an opinion on things,
and there is nothing wrong with stating your opinion if you are asked,"
he continues. "Everyone wants that right, and because you are famous
doesn't mean you have less of a right."

Travolta, who also talks of his habit of going to 6 or 7 in the morning
and waking in the early afternoon, says being famous has little impact on
how he lives his life.

"I will tell you the things that would be the same, fame or no fame," he
says. "Being up all night would be the same. Liking empty restaurants,
liking empty movie theaters �� unless I am starring in it."

Travolta, 53, portrays Ms. Edna Turnblad in "Hairspray," the adaptation
of the stage musical that was spun from the 1988 John Waters film of the
same name. The new film opens July 20. The role, in which he dons a fat
suit and feminine garb, has added fuel to ongoing speculation about his
sexuality.

"I have never been compelled to share with you my bathroom habits or
share with you my bedroom habits," says the married father of two.
"Everyone has a right to privacy, so I have never felt �� even though I
am famous �� that I had to share that with anybody."

Do the rumors bother him? Does he think they've affected his career?

"No and no," he says. "What affects your career is the quality of the
product. I don't think anyone can hurt me."

"Hairspray," a New Line release, also stars Christopher Walken, Michelle
Pfeiffer and Queen Latifah.












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