That Time Seth Rogen And Judd Apatow Taught Tom Cruise About Internet Porn

Tom Cruise Mission: Impossible

Celebrities can be odd people. They are typically omnipresent, constantly-seen fixtures in our everyday lives -- especially in today's social media world -- yet that communication with the world around them isn't always a two-way street. Sure, there are certainly high-profile people who make an effort to interact with their fans and connect to the world around them. But, a lot of them can be sheltered and, frankly, sometimes unusual people, living the type of lives many of us will never truly understand. Whatever your thoughts about Tom Cruise, the mega-famous actor/producer is never shy about putting himself at the forefront of the latest action vehicle, notably his beloved Mission: Impossible series, but his personal life can be a bit of an enigma. Case in point: Seth Rogen and Judd Apatow were, apparently, the first people to tell Cruise that Internet porn exists, and his reaction to this revelation was, well, strange. Here's how Apatow explained it.

I said to Seth Rogen, 'I have a meeting with Tom Cruise. You have to come with me,' And no one knew who Seth was. He wasn't famous so he was just a dude with me and so I said, 'Someone needs to witness this.' So we're talking to him, and I don't know how it came up, but it usually comes up with Seth where he's talking about marijuana and pornography. And he starts talking about watching adult films on the Internet and Tom Cruise goes, 'What? Wait, you're saying there's adult films on the Internet?' And Seth's like, 'Yeah, there's all these movies on these websites.' And Tom Cruise's like, 'Wait a second. You're saying if I go on the computer, on the world wide web, there are people having sex?'

This revelation about Tom Cruise was made by Judd Apatow during the writer/director's recent visit to The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. Most of the conversation is centered around Apatow's recent HBO documentary The Zen Diaries of Gary Shandling, the acclaimed two-part, in-depth look at the late comedian which recently earned two Emmy nominations. But, as the conversation continued, Judd Apatow recounted the only time he had a meeting with Tom Cruise, and it turned out to be an eventful one for everyone involved.

As the comedy filmmaker admits in the clip, it took place around 2006, when Cruise was looking to get into comedy after his public image took a bruising. Apatow was in the midst of filming Knocked Up at the time, and Apatow insisted on his main star, Seth Rogen, appearing by his side. Well, it was during this meeting that Cruise learned more about the Internet, thanks to these two gentlemen.

Suffice to say, no movie was made. But Tom Cruise walked away learning a whole lot more about the world wide web, and Seth Rogen and Judd Apatow walked away with a story they'll never forget. It's unclear if Tom Cruise did any research to back up Rogen's claims, but we have to assume that his world was never quite the same. According to Judd Apatow's recounting, Cruise was against the notion of adult films being on the Internet back in the mid-'00s, but he was "polite." Meanwhile, Cruise is not the first celebrity to be left out of the loop when it comes to adult films on The Net. Eminem didn't know about Internet pornography until 2009 when a reporter filled him in on the wonders of the web. So, this is not an isolated incident.

Check out Judd Apatow's recounting of this humorous celebrity interaction in The Late Show clip below. The Tom Cruise talk begins at the 6:55 mark. It's worth a watch for Apatow's impressions of Tom Cruise and Seth Rogen alone.

You can hear more, potentially odd, tales about celebrities when The Late Show with Stephen Colbert airs every week night on CBS at 11:35 p.m. EST.

Will Ashton

Will is an entertainment writer based in Pittsburgh, PA. His writing can also be found in The Playlist, Cut Print Film, We Got This Covered, The Young Folks, Slate and other outlets. He also co-hosts the weekly film/TV podcast Cinemaholics with Jon Negroni and he likes to think he's a professional Garfield enthusiast.