Cruise: Free To Be Himself?

The usually low-key Tom Cruise can't seem to stay out of the limelight lately.

And while cynics say he's doing it on purpose, defenders have their own theories about the reasons.

From Cruise's very public engagement to actress Katie Holmes, to his openly professing his love for her on numerous TV shows (including Oprah Winfrey's and David Letterman's), to his out-of-character, shocked and angry reaction to a stunt by a phony reporter who squirted him with water, Cruise has been a fixture on the gossip pages and beyond.

So, what gives?

Is it all, as some critics suggest, a wide-ranging attempt to get publicity for his new movie, "War of the Worlds"?

US Weekly magazine Style Editor Katrina Szish

"I think Tom Cruise is so caught up in his life being taken very seriously right now," Szish says. "He's very earnest about everything he's doing. Earnest about Katie (Holmes), earnest about his movies. And I think, he, therefore, was very serious about this water incident. It wasn't a prank. It was the water incident. It was very serious. He should have laughed it off. I understand being angry. But again, he's in the public eye, he's on the red carpet, he needed to laugh it off."

"From the outside, it does look like it is about commerce, it is about his career, it is about selling movies. But for Tom, I think it's very much about, 'This is my life. I've never been able to express my extreme happiness before and now I can.' So I do think he's taking his life seriously."

Something else is at work here, Szish observes: "His sister (Lee Anne De Vette) is now his publicist. And she's very much encouraging him, 'Hey, Tom, be yourself. Talk about Scientology. Talk about your love life. Talk about all these personal things.' He's never been 'allowed' to do that before."

It includes Cruise being more open about his belonging to the Church of Scientology, Szish says.

And that now extends to Holmes.

"She announced," Szish points out, "that she's becoming a Scientologist and that she's embracing this religion. She's taking it very seriously. She's been passing out pamphlets at a hotel, an apartment building she was staying in, in L.A., and she's really adopted this full force. Hook, line and sinker."

Smith noted that a poll released last week revealed people believe Cruise is just trying to sell "War of the Worlds."

"They don't buy it," Szish concurred. "And I think it's very interesting because everyone, obviously, is so obsessed with it. That's why we're still talking about it. But a lot of people out there are saying, 'It's a publicity stunt, it's not true, we don't buy it.' That's what makes it interesting."