Tom Cruise has a line he doesn't want crossed

Tom Cruise displayed a darker persona during a recent interview with an Australian TV reporter when a journalist quizzed him about his relationship with ex-wife Nicole Kidman.

The Top Gun hunk, who famously grins and giggles through tough questions, wasn't smiling when Peter Overton's probing questions “crossed a line.”

After berating Overton for poking fun at his chosen religion, Scientology, Cruise got serious when the reporter asked one too many questions about his family. When Overton posed, “Do you have a relationship where you talk... a parenting relationship and talk professionally about each other's work?” Cruise glared at his interviewer and stopped him dead in his tracks.

The movie star said, “Listen, here's the thing, Peter, you're stepping over a line now... and you know you are.”

When Overton insisted he was only asking questions the public wanted to know, Cruise shot back, “Take responsibility for what you want to know... This is a conversation that I'm having with you right now. So I'm just telling you right now, OK, just put your manners back in.”

Overton was quick to apologize to his guest.

Dana Scully: Animal lover

John D Mchugh / AP Gillian Anderson

Gillian Anderson wants the truth out there. The former “X-Files” babe is back in the role of uncovering cover-ups: she posted a video exposing allege animal abuse on her web site because a lawsuit threatens to have it removed from an animal rights group’s Web site.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals recently went public with an exposé of alleged horrific treatment of monkeys by a company called Covance. The New Jersey-based lab slapped PETA with a lawsuit seeking to gag the group and stop it from showing its undercover video. So Anderson put the video on her Web site, too, noting: “After viewing footage of the horrors that these intelligent and social animals are being put through, I want to share the findings of the investigation with you, so that together, we can help put an end to the nightmare that these monkeys endure in this laboratory every day. ... Please take time to view PETA's video for yourself.  These monkeys cannot speak for themselves, so we must be their voices.” Anderson’s web site is: GillianAnderson.ws/news.

Notes from all over

Chris Pizzello / Reuters Ryan Seacrest

A catfight has broken out between Anna Nicole Smith and Ryan Seacrest. The merry widow took a pot shot at the “American Idol” host, joking in her National Enquirer column that she thought he was Deep Throat. Seacrest shot back on his KIIS-FM radio show, saying that sort of jibe was “so first season” when he wore sheer shirts. He said he doubted that she wrote the column — joking that there were too many sentences for her to have done it — and added that she should get a new ghost writer. ...  Over 1,000 large women converged

Slideshow   Michael Jackson: 1958 - 2009 Click to see pictures from the highs and lows of Michael Jackson's career.

in lower Manhattan to try out for Mo’Nique’s forthcoming Oxygen show, “Just My Size” — billed as a beauty contest for women “who are beautiful inside and out.” “It was quite a crazy scene,” says a source. Next stop is Atlanta on June 15 and Los Angeles on June 22. ... Michael Jackson followers are shaking their heads over the irony of his recent legal woes. “All this was set into motion by that Martin Bashir documentary,” says one. “Michael participated in that because he thought it would be good for his image. Bashir did an interview with Princess Diana that really helped her. Michael was saying, ‘Look what it did for Diana. Think what it could do for me.’”

Jeannette Walls Delivers the Scoop Mondays through Thursdays on MSNBC.com

MORE FROM GOSSIP

Gossip Section Front

Scoop: Will Meyer bite into another ‘Twilight’ book? Scoop: Levi strikes risque pose for Playgirl Tidbits: Lohan lashes out at dad: ‘I hate him so much’ Scoop: Is Hollywood turning on Jolie? Tidbits: Pattinson talks about dirty habits Scoop: Letterman extortion case heads to court Tidbits: Gibson’s girlfriend believes he’ll be faithful Scoop: Susan Boyle says fame ‘can flatten you’ Scoop: No immediate plans to move ‘Oprah’ Scoop: Rihanna says album helped recovery Gossip Section Front   Add Gossip headlines to your news reader: