Jenny McCarthy is looking back on her unexpected experience at Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes’ wedding, recalling how guests allegedly fell silent when she asked to hold the couple’s baby daughter.
© Getty ImagesDuring Thursday’s episode of The Jenny McCarthy Wahlberg Show, the television personality shared her own story while speaking with former Scientology Sea Organization member Ann Gallard Hill, who described spending two decades inside the organization before leaving in 2007.
© GettyMcCarthy revealed that she attended Cruise and Holmes’ wedding in Italy in 2006 while dating Jim Carrey. She said she was seated near the couple and other high-profile guests during the celebration, which she remembered as an unusual experience.
“I went to Tom and Katie’s wedding,” McCarthy told her guest, who appeared surprised by the revelation.
© James Devaney/WireImageThe actress explained that she eventually noticed someone bringing the couple’s daughter, Suri, over to Holmes. Being a self-described baby person, McCarthy said she approached the actress and asked if she could hold her.
“Can I hold the baby?” she recalled asking. According to McCarthy, the reaction from the room was immediate. “The entire party went like this,” she said, describing everyone falling silent.
© AFPMcCarthy said Holmes eventually handed her the baby, but the atmosphere left her feeling as though she had stepped into an unfamiliar world. “I literally went like this. I went around the room, and I was like, and she, Katie, slowly passed the baby, and I just went, ‘Hi, baby,’” McCarthy recalled.
She said the room returned to normal only after she gave the child back. “And then once I gave her back the baby, it’s like everyone went back to their conversations,” she said.
© WireImageLooking back, McCarthy described the moment as an introduction to the tightly controlled environment she associated with Scientology. “Okay, I am in the belly of the beast right now,” she remembered thinking.
The anecdote came as Gallard Hill discussed her experiences as a member of Scientology’s Sea Organization, an elite group within the church.
During the conversation, she described strict schedules, limited contact with family and a culture in which members could face consequences for questioning leadership.
© GettyGallard Hill alleged that the organization’s treatment of members differed from the privileged position enjoyed by certain celebrity followers. She also discussed what she described as the pressure placed on members to conform and report perceived wrongdoing by others.
© GettyMcCarthy, meanwhile, shared that she had encountered Scientology through Cruise and Holmes’ wedding and other interactions with people connected to the organization. She recalled attending the rehearsal dinner and sitting near the couple and their inner circle.
The wedding took place in Italy in November 2006, several months after the birth of Suri, who is Cruise and Holmes’ daughter. The couple divorced in 2012, and Holmes has largely kept their daughter out of the public eye. Suri has since dropped her "Cruise" surname.
