Brooke Shields (top), Tom Cruise

New York, July 1 (Reuters): Actor Brooke Shields today fired back at Tom Cruise after he criticised her for having revealed she had taken an antidepressant to cope with post-natal depression.

Shields called Cruise’s comments “a disservice to mothers everywhere” in an opinion column for the New York Times. “To suggest that I was wrong to take drugs to deal with my depression, and that instead I should have taken vitamins and exercised shows an utter lack of understanding about postpartum depression and childbirth in general,” she wrote.

“If any good can come of Mr. Cruise’s ridiculous rant, let’s hope that it gives much-needed attention to a serious disease.”

During interviews to promote his new film, War of the Worlds, Cruise has discussed his scepticism of psychiatry to explain his belief in the teachings of the Church of Scientology, founded by science-fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard.

In one such interview on NBC’s Today show, he was asked about his recent criticism of Shields.

Disputing the effectiveness of antidepressants generally, Cruise said, “all it does is mask the problem.” He added, “There is no such thing as a chemical imbalance.”

Shields said her doctor prescribed Paxil for postpartum depression after she had suicidal thoughts following the birth of her daughter, Rowan Francis, in 2003.

“I wasn’t thrilled to be taking drugs. In fact, I prematurely stopped taking them and had a relapse that almost led me to drive my car into a wall with Rowan in the backseat. But the drugs, along with weekly therapy sessions, are what saved me ? and my family,” she said.

Shields is the author of Down Came the Rain: My Journey Through Postpartum Depression.