New York, April 19, 2007 – Katie Holmes took time off from her Louisiana film set to join husband Tom Cruise in New York at a fundraiser for the controversial Rescue Workers Detoxification Project that Cruise supports. The gala was strictly off limits to the press, so the sidewalks outside of the Altman Building on West 18th Street turned into one big media circus. While Tom and Katie did pose for photos and smile and wave, they smoothly avoided talking to reporters and TV crews.

Tom and Katie arrived early, around 6:50 P.M., and stuck around all evening, finally leaving at almost 11:30 P.M.

Health experts and politicians, including Mayor Mike Bloomberg, have criticized Cruise’s detox program for 9/11 rescue workers as being medically suspect. However, firefighters and police officers that we spoke with at the fundraiser all said that the regimen, which includes vitamins, nutritional counseling and saunas, made them feel great. They added that while being treated at the clinic, there was no mention of Scientology, the cult-like religion of which Cruise is an enthusiast. (Of course, those critical of the program would be unlikely to attend the fundraiser.)

Partygoers said that the gala included dinner and an auction of items including a jersey signed by baseball player Derek Jeter of the New York Yankees.