Brain Agenesis

Whether flying fighter jets or frolicking on the Oprah set, TC has always entertained us to the max.

While looking at disturbing pictures^W^W^W^W doing some follow-up research one of of my previous entries, I revisited a fun article about Tom Cruise on Foreign Dispatches. It’s called What’s Wrong With This Image? and puts forth an interesting theory as to why TC is what he is, whatever that may be.

To remind anyone who doesn’t like to click links from strangers, and rightly so! – holoprosencephaly (NIH link) results from failure of the forebrain to split and rotate in the early embryonic stage. There are genetic forms, however, it is often due psych meds such as lithium or to ethanol abuse. In the most severe cases, the baby has brain and facial deformities that are incompatible with life.

Some of the least severe cases are marked by a single front incisor and mild retardation.

Cruise’s dental oddity (along with his dyslexia, small stature and family history) is an indicator of holoprosencephaly, a genetic disorder which might explain why Nicole Kidman’s pregnancies during their marriage ended in stillbirths.

I suggest that the sensitive reader not google holoprosencephaly or click any links in this paragraph. Especially not this sweet kitten picture on Fox News (where else). I think it’s rather cute in a “there but for the grace of g*d go I” sort of way.

Hey, it’s science.

Update 2/5: In defense of TC, let me state that his odd dental configuration appears to be from having lost an incisor. When you aren’t googling holoprosencephaly, you won’t find pictures of what a single wide incisor looks like.

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