Actor Hayley Atwell says a pep talk by Hollywood superstar Tom Cruise helped her a lot in overcoming social anxiety. Atwell, who featured with Cruise in 2023's "Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning", opened up about dealing with the issue during her appearance on the podcast "Reign With Josh Smith".

"Social anxiety... It manifests in different ways, but the pep talk (Tom) gave me helps that. If you walk into a room and you feel the anxieties coming, and it makes me want to retreat into myself, I start to overthink, and go: 'Do I look weird? Do I seem awkward?' We go into ourselves, and Tom said: 'Try doing the opposite'," she recalled. Atwell, who will reprise her role of Grace in the long-running franchise's eight part "The Final Reckoning", said once a person is able to identify the reason behind the anxiety, then overcoming it becomes easier.