This post shall discuss a rather disgusting topic, and, despite Mr. Atoz’s fondness for all things David Hasselhoff, we do try to keep the gross-out factor to a minimum here. Just know that, if not for the relevance factor, I’d be blogging about some chick’s rack or something equally frivolous.

So, while Tom Cruise has been dodging Anonymous protesters at the L.A. premiere of Valkyrie, and poor Katie Holmes spends her birthday alone in Manhattan, the NY Post has been going batshit crazy over the Cruise that keeps on giving:

THE women in Tom Cruise’s life seem to have the gift that keeps on giving. In the past week, both Cruise’s ex-wife, Nicole Kidman, and his current one, Katie Holmes (above), have been photographed with cold sores on their lips. Cold sores, also known as oral herpes or herpes labialis, are transmitted very easily from one kisser to another. Reps for Cruise, Kidman and Holmes didn’t return e-mails.

Well, I can’t blame the publicists for not emailing back about their client’s cold sores (ha), but it’s pretty obvious that both Holmes and Kidman are afflicted by the virus that causes the sores. In particular, Katie’s case is pretty severe, not so much in the above picture taken a few weeks ago as in the 2005 picture at right. What’s telling is that Katie experienced this flare-up right at the start of her relationship with Tom Cruise. Some people wondered whether the Scientology purification rundown might be to blame, since Katie had sort of disappeared from the public eye for a few weeks. However, as a token celeb, Scientology probably wouldn’t want to subject Katie to visible harm, and Katie was probably actually hiding during the period when her sores looked much worse. If you’ll notice, this picture shows only the scabbed-over remnants of what came before. Yeah, it’s pretty gross.

The timing of Katie’s breakout may very well indicate that Tom Cruise is a carrier of the Herpes Simplex virus, especially since his last ex-wife, Nicole Kidman, also suffers from cold sores. Upon inspecting the above photo of Nicole (courtesy of Dlisted), it’s pretty obvious that her case isn’t that severe, but Nicole’s lips do show some discoloration consistent with the obvious cold sore breakout revealed in a better picture at TMZ.

So, why does this matter at all? Well, as a Scientologist who has long since passed the “clear” state and gone on to advanced OT levels, Tom Cruise shouldn’t suffer from or even act as a carrier for any sort of illness. Scientologists believe that colds, viruses, and any other afflictions are merely physical manifestations of something wrong within, which is usually associated with either opposing Scientology or proximity to a so-called “Suppressive Person.” We’ve talked about this many times before, including Jason Beghe’s account of Scientology keeping him from associating with his BFF, David Duchovny. Then, there’s the notorious celebrity Scientologist Jenna Elfman, who once famously screamed, “AIDS is a state of mind, not a disease. Get over it!” Scientology has also shown a brazen willingness to expose its members to asbestos on its own cruise ship. It’ll be interesting to see what develops out of that mess in a few decades.

Surprisingly, the notion that Scientologists don’t become ill, well, that’s pretty much bullshit. Ex-Scientology Kids have told their stories of becoming ill and enduring mandatory PTS handling and SP interrogations, which occurred even in the case of a simple cold. Serious illness, however, carries even more drastic punishment. If you haven’t already read my previous rant, What Happens When Scientologists Get Sick?, this would probably be a good time to do so.

Scientology is a harmful cult that must be stopped. Knowledge is free. For more information, go to Xenu.net, WhyWeProtest.org, YouFoundTheCard.org, & Ex-ScientologyKids.com.