• NYTimes, Wednesday, November 9, 2005 12 PM

Demonstrating that a star's reputation with his public--and thus his underlying commercial value--can only take so much of a hit before he recognizes the damage being done to his career, Tom Cruise has finally decided to ditch his sister as his personal publicist. According to The New York Times, Cruise this week fired Lee Anne DeVette and replaced her with Paul Bloch, one of the industry's most respected veteran personal publicists. Under DeVette's management, Cruise was brutalized in the press both for his relationship with actress Katie Holmes and his avid advocacy of Scientology, particularly its views concerning psychiatry and medically prescribed drugs. The Times said Bloch, Cruise's new publicist, was thinking ahead about how to resurrect his star's reputation in time for the opening of his next film, "Mission: Impossible 3," which is currently in production.

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