Juliette Lewis insists Tom Cruise is victim of anti-Scientology conspiracy

Actress Juliette Lewis arrives at the 20th annual Screen Actors Guild Awards in Los Angeles, California January 18, 2014. REUTERS

Tom Cruise still might be one of the world's most famous movie stars, but his public profile has never been the same since he became the unofficial face of Scientology. According to Juliette Lewis, this is all because of an anti-Scientology conspiracy run by big pharma.

"I'll get all conspiratorial on you," Lewis told The Daily Beast, "and I'm just going to throw this out: The mainstream media is funded by pharmaceutical companies, so when you have the biggest movie star in the world at the time — Tom Cruise — coming out against anti-depressants and Ritalin and just saying, 'Hey, why don't you put a warning label on there?' ... So, when Tom came out about that, I've never seen someone get torn down so hard, and they still brutalize him with Scientology pieces to this day."

Stars who quit Scientology

In June 2005, only one month after bouncing around on Oprah's couch, Cruise sat down with "Today" co-host Matt Lauer and the pair began butting heads over psychiatry. Specifically, Cruise criticized Brooke Shields for treating her postpartum depression with psychiatric drugs and infamously called Lauer "glib."

But Lewis insists Scientology's anti-drug philosophy is nothing but helpful, "in that you're seeking relationship or communication tools — simple basics on how to live better," she explained. "It's a religious philosophy and self-help movement. And you'll never see a truthful word written about it in mainstream media."