I’m not suggesting either one of these is the “true” Tom Cruise, but rather that the ongoing battle—and it is a battle, where Cruise regularly threatens or files lawsuits countering these stories—to define his stardom. But I view the couch-jumping moment as a watershed one that speaks to two key elements of the construction of, and battle over, the contemporary celebrity image. First, it reveals the key role of celebrity workers behind that image. Cruise split with long-time publicist Pat Kingsley, whom many credit with the tight crafting of his image, the previous year. Kingsley’s influence was felt in her absence, as the era of the more “crazy” Cruise began. More crucially, this couch-jumping moment coincided with the rise of the Internet as a source of constant celebrity gossip and surveillance in the mid-2000s. The couch-jumping video went viral, making it a centerpiece of Cruise’s current celebrity image. But it also marked the beginning of increased intervention of online gossip media (notably blogs) into Cruise’s image. Cruise was certainly subject to rumors and covered by gossip media before, but continuous and interactive flow of online gossip has played an important role in shifting that image. The Internet offers bloggers and their audiences the publicly visible space to dissect Cruise’s public image, intervening into what was once private and controlled and highlighting gossip as the central way celebrity images are made in contemporary celebrity culture.