Tom Cruise has admitted he was 'arrogant' in an interview in which he dismissed psychiatry as pseudoscience.[China Daily/Agencies]

Tom Cruise called his behaviour "arrogant" and said he had learned a lesson from a 2005 television interview in which he dismissed psychiatry as pseudoscience.

The actor has been ridiculed for over-the-top behaviour in TV interviews and generated tabloid headlines over his love life and vocal support for the Church of Scientology, which is critical of the prescription of mind- and mood-altering drugs.

He was contrite in an interview with Today host Matt Lauer on Monday, his first appearance on the show since the 2005 incident.

"After looking at it I really thought it's not what I intended. I thought in looking at myself that I came across as arrogant," Cruise said.

"I absolutely could have handled that better," he said.

In the 2005 interview, Lauer brought up Cruise's public dismissal of psychiatry and asked Cruise whether it was possible that psychiatry had helped people.

"I've never agreed with psychiatry, ever. Before I was a Scientologist I never agreed with psychiatry," Cruise said back then.

He also scolded Lauer, saying, "You don't know the history of psychiatry. I do."

Cruise recently admitted to People magazine he could have "handled things better" in his TV appearances and joked about his antics on Oprah Winfrey's talk show, when he leapt onto a couch in front of millions of viewers and proclaimed his love for actress Katie Holmes, now his wife.

(China Daily/Agencies December 16, 2008)