Cruise was just somone trying to do his best in a tough time

Many business people experiencing this pandemic are just as stressed as the film star, writes Jim Duffy

One cannot have failed to notice how a certain redtop newspaper took great delight in plastering Tom Cruise all over its front page for two days in a row.

Gosh, what has Tom done that he deser ves the “splash”? It must be groundbreaking, ear th-shattering, cataclysmic news of monumental dimensions.

Has Tom done something so big, so awesome or so wrong that he needs to be this week’s poster boy?

Well, no, I’m afraid. Tom Cruise this week simply had a Covid-19 work-related meltdown and used the F-word rather a lot. That’s it, nothing to see here really. Or is there?

My wife will tell you I’m a big fan of Tom Cruise. I love his movies and watch them several times a year on Netflix or Amazon Prime. I guess it all star ted for me with Risky Business and Top Gun when I was in my late teens.

He was the hot and talented actor of my time and it has been great to watch him and his acting mature. I think my favourite is A Few Good Men, but Edge of Tomorrow and Mission Impossible 2 are big contenders.

He can do serious movies like B orn on the Four th of July and light-hear ted stuff that essentially makes him look even cooler than he is. S o, acting-wise he’s in my top ten actors of all time. But, it takes more than that to make a man right?

His personal life is exactly that – his personal life. In other words as long as he isn’t a friend of Jeffrey Epstein, like Prince Andrew most definitely was, then his private life is his business.

He has gone through a few marriages and has adopted kids along the way. He has been prett y front and centre with the Church of S cientolog y, which has had some interesting press.

But perhaps that is his way of keeping and maintaining some sanit y in a Hollywood world where so many stars lose the plot. Just look at Johnny Depp, who made the “splash” in the papers for all the wrong reasons recently.

Hollywood has a way of consuming so many talented actors and then spewing them out its rearend looking all too human and frail. But, Tom Cruise has, so far, done OK. As I said, his private life is his business. Now to the matter in hand.

Completing any t ype of work against the background of Covid is not easy.

Whether one is a waitress looking after those doing lunch at a restaurant in Dundee, a cab driver in Edinburgh or a cabin crew member with British Air ways, having to deal with Covid working conditions is tough.

There is always that fear that one can do or say the wrong thing. Companies have put in place new guidelines for staff that each must adhere to.

Then there is the ever- changing picture of tiers and lockdowns and this and that. It must be hard to keep up at times. Add in the worr y of perhaps bringing home the virus to a loved one and a lot of this can impact our brains, psyche and overall wellbeing.

Hence the need to pay attention to mental wellbeing now and after this whole bloody pandemic. S o, those going to work must be worried, but also have a dut y and responsibilit y to do their best to negate any potential exposure to Covid.

After all, if employers put guide - lines and restrictive behaviour in