The Tom Cruise-eating-baby-placenta quote was a jape that was misinterpeted by a clueless writer, Patrick Mulchrone, in a story for the Daily Mirror. Based on quotes from a brand-new GQ interview by Lucy Kaylin , it has Cruise saying he intends to eat his newborn baby’s placenta right after birth. Cruise was goofing around with Kaylin and Mulchrone took it straight, but still…more weirdness at this point doesn’t help M:I:3. Cruise knows he’s got negatives because of last summer’s hijinks, he knows he’s on the ropes, he’s most likely heard about that Roger Friedman item (true or not) about an audience clapping during an M:I:3 scene when he gets beaten up, and he knows some people are saying that Phillip Seymour Hoffman is the draw and not him….and so he goes out and jokes about placenta-eating. I haven’t bought the new GQ yet but here’s the exact quote as passed along by the Mirror story: “I’m gonna eat the placenta. I thought that would be good. Very nutritious. I’m gonna eat the cord and the placenta right there.” Reader Mark Smith says during a recent interview with Diane Sawyer Cruise “tried to make a joke about the nutty, exaggerated things people were saying about the Scientology-supervised birth ritual…and then he made some joke about eating the placenta. It wasn’t funny and from his mouth it sounded creepy, but I have the feeling that ‘eating the placenta’ is his new deflection-phrase.” So it’s a put-on…fine.