Tom Cruise's Oprah visit

Tom Cruise was on The Oprah Winfrey Show today, his first time back since the infamous couch-jumping debacle three years ago. During the hour-long interview taped at the actor's Telluride, Colo. home, Cruise seemed serious and thoughtful, a move Hollywood public representatives deemed smart.

"I think Tom learned his lesson. The lesson was that sometimes your personal beliefs can get in the way of the projects," said Howard Bragman, founder of Los Angeles PR firm Fifteen Minutes. "And you don't want people to be turned off to you so that they’re turned off to your projects."

When the talk show host asked Cruise if he felt like he came under attacks because of his beliefs in Scientology, he said he understood that people are interested in "a minority religion."

Michael Levine, a Hollywood media expert, said Cruise should "cool the Scientology stuff. That's grown very wearisome for a lot of Americans... There's certainly no problem with him stating his religious choice is different from the majority, but when he gets aggressive and starts pushing it, there is some blowback."

It seems like Cruise agreed, because he also told Oprah, "when I'm dealing with my humanitarian issues, I'll talk about my humanitarian issues, and when I'm promoting a film, I'm just going to promote the film. And that’s just the way it's going to be."

Cruise also said he regretted the remarks he made about antidepressants, when he criticized Brooke Shields for using the medication to treat postpartum depression, and that his views "came out wrong."

"I personally don't [believe in antidepressants]. ... But I think that people have the - it's their decision. When you look at something, it's an individual's right to make a decision on what they"re going to do with their life," he said.

Cruise also addressed his bizarre behavior during his last visit to the Oprah Winfrey Show, admitting that it set off a "confluence" of bad publicity for him. But he said he was not sure if he would take his antics back.

"That was a moment, and it was real, and I don't know if I would [do it differently]," Cruise said. "I really don't."

The interview was just the first in a two-part series commemorating the 25-year anniversary of Cruise's breakout film "Risky Business." The second part, a celebration of Cruise's movie career, was taped before an audience in Winfrey's Chicago studio and will air Monday.