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Tom Cruise Talks About His Father

April 3, 2006 / 2:09 PM EDT / CBS/AP

Tom Cruise is talking about what has long been known to be a sore subject.

In an interview with Parade magazine, the 43-year-old actor looks back on two difficult aspects of his early years: his father and bullies at school.

Cruise says his father, Thomas Cruise Mapother III, "was a bully and a coward... the kind of person where, if something goes wrong, they kick you. It was a great lesson in my life - how he'd lull you in, make you feel safe and then, bang!"

"For me," Cruise told Parade, it was like, "'There's something wrong with this guy. Don't trust him. Be careful around him.' There's that anxiety."

The 5'7" star of the upcoming film, "Mission: Impossible III," also says he was harassed by his classmates while he was growing up.

"So many times the big bully comes up, pushes me," he recalled. "Your heart's pounding, you sweat, and you feel like you're going to vomit ... I don't like bullies."

When Cruise was 12, his mother, Mary Lee, left his father and took Cruise and his sister, Lee Anne, with her, the magazine says. His parents divorced in 1974.

Cruise says he reunited with his father ten years later, when Mapother was "in the hospital dying of cancer, and he would only meet me on the basis that I didn't ask him anything about the past."

"When I saw him in pain, I thought, 'Wow, what a lonely life,"' Cruise says. "He was in his late 40s. It was sad."

Cruise has made a point of staying close to others in his immediate family, including his mother, and one of his three sisters, Lee Anne DeVette, is publicist for both Cruise and his 27-year-old fiancée, Katie Holmes.

Holmes is in the final stages of pregnancy with a baby whose gender has not been revealed – although she and Cruise very likely know the answer to that one. It was widely reported months ago that the excited expectant dad bought an ultrasound machine so he and Holmes could take as many photos as they wanted – at home.

The baby is the first for Holmes and a third child for Cruise, who has two other children from the over ten years that he was married to actress Nicole Kidman.

They split up nearly five years ago but that doesn't mean Cruise is out of the picture when it comes to the kids.

He's on call as dad and four years ago, caught the attention of the evening gown set when he ducked out early from the Academy Awards ceremony, headed home for his turn with the children.

Cruise is similarly focused on the impending arrival of the new baby and recently told interviewers in Germany that he had two pilots standing by, ready to fly him home, if Holmes happened to go into labor.

The two are engaged but haven't yet tied the knot.

They plan to marry this year, Cruise said, in an interview with the German tabloid Bild, after the opening and the promotions for his latest movie, "Mission Impossible III."

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How Tom Cruise Kept His Family Afloat When His Mother Finally Left His Abusive Father

A-List actor Tom Cruise, 61, is known for many things. He's A Scientologist! He's an adrenaline junkie with a taste for death-defying stunts! He's the guy with his shoes on Oprah's couch !

But where certain celebs are known for their traumatic childhoods and heroic origin stories, the controversial Cruise (born Thomas Cruise Mapother IV), keeps tight-lipped when it comes to his personal life and is lesser known for his humble beginnings.

It may seem that at 61 years old, with a staggering $600 million net worth, things came easy for the Top Gun frontman, but the truth is Tom's early life was anything but easy.

Growing Up in an Abusive Home

Before he was one of the highest grossing box office stars of all time, Tom Cruise grew up in poverty in Syracuse, New York.

Cruise is the third of mother Mary Lee Pfeiffer's four children. Growing up, Cruise along with his sisters Lee Ann Mapother DeVette, 64, Marian Mapother, 62, and Cass Mapother, 59, were tragically subjected to their father's abusive behavior.

As a child Cruise did not have a stable upbringing. His family was constantly uprooted with Cruise attending 15 schools in 14 years. Cruise's biological father, Thomas Cruise Mapother III, was an electrical engineer.

Mapother III, could never hold down a job and kept the family on the move in a restless search for work. At a young age, Cruise and his family relocated to Ottawa, Canada where Cruise lived until the 6th grade. Yet, everywhere Cruise went, his father's abuse continued, until one day, his mother Mary Lee decided she'd had enough.

“He was a bully and a coward,” Tom Cruise said of the father who beat him. “He was the kind of person where, if something goes wrong, they kick you. It was a great lesson in my life —how he’d lull you in, make you feel safe and then, bang! For me, it was like, ‘There’s something wrong with this guy. Don’t trust him. Be careful around him.’ There’s that anxiety.” Tom Cruise, PARADE

When mother Mary Lee realized her husband's abusive behavior would never stop, she took her four children and divorced him. Mary Lee returned to the United States with her children in tow, in search of a better life, and the young Cruise was determined to help.

Supporting His Mother and Three Sisters

When Tom Cruise's mother bravely divorced his father, she worked several jobs, day and night just to make ends meet and keep her family out of poverty.

Sadly, when you have five mouths to feed, it's nearly impossible to achieve financially, without help. Thankfully, as a young teenager, Tom Cruise was just the kid for the job...literally.

It should come as no surprise when his mother was struggling to tread water, Hollywood's resident stuntman jumped into action, to help his mother and three sisters stay afloat in anyway he could.

“I’ve always had a work ethic. I’ve had paying jobs since I was about eight years old — cutting grass, raking leaves, paper routes, selling Easter cards and Christmas cards.” Tom Cruise, PLAYBOY (2012)

Cruise helped with money from a paper route he picked up. In an interview with Rolling Stone , Cruise admitted he even massaged his mother’s sore feet for half an hour, after she came home from long days at work.

Though Cruise's mother tragically passed away in February 2017, the bond between them is everlasting. Cruise is quick to praise his mother for always believing in his dreams of becoming an actor, no matter how far fetched it seemed to everyone else.

All His Hard Work Paid off in Ways He Couldn’t Imagine

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Tom Cruise may have a rocky past when it comes to his romantic relationships , but when it comes to his nuclear family, Cruise has always done his best to honor his relationship with his mother and sisters.

After getting kicked off his high school football team, in his senior year, one teacher who saw potential in the young Tom Cruise, changed the course of his life with this one suggestion.

The Glee Club teacher encouraged Cruise to audition for his high school's musical production of Guys and Dolls , and scored the leading role!

"I can't describe the feeling that was there," Cruise's mother said when watching her son on opening night. "It was just an incredible experience to see what we felt was a lot of talent coming forth all of a sudden. It had been dormant for so many years — not thought of or talked about or discussed in any way," she said to Rolling Stone .

After discovering his passion for acting, Cruise asked his mother and stepfather the most crucial question of all. He wanted their blessing to pursue an acting career for the next decade, and mother Mary Lee's response couldn't have been more perfect.

"We both wholeheartedly agreed,” she told  Rolling Stone . “Because we both felt it was a God-given talent … So to make a long story short, we gave him our blessing — and the rest is history.”

A Mother’s Love Makes All the Difference

Throughout Tom Cruise's tumultuous journey, one constant source of strength and inspiration was the unwavering love and support of his mother, Mary Lee Pfeiffer.

Her enduring love and dedication to her children provided the anchor they needed to weather life's storms. It was her love that fueled Tom's determination to overcome adversity and create a brighter future. Tom Cruise's unparalleled work ethic, instilled by his mother's values of resilience and hard work, became a driving force in his life.

This work ethic not only propelled him to success in Hollywood but also served as a testament to the transformative power of maternal love and the unwavering belief in one's dreams, even in the face of the most challenging circumstances.

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• Teflon Tom: Why Tom Cruise Remains Hollywood’s Top Gun – Despite His Controversial Reputation
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Man Gives His Wife Dream Wedding 60 Years After They Eloped

When Gary and Linda Manna eloped in 1964, they knew they would be together forever. What they didn’t know was that one day they would actually be able to have the wedding of their dreams.

A Life-Long Love Story

Gary and Linda Manna met more than six decades ago and knew they were meant to be together. So they eloped in Reno, Nevada, had five kids, and have been together ever since. According to them, the secret to their long-lasting happiness is forgiveness, faith, and music, and spending as little time apart as possible.

However they did it, 60 years is a heck of a marriage milestone, and Gary knew he wanted to celebrate in a big way.

“I wanted her to have a wedding,” Gary told a local news outlet, WOWT .

So Gary worked with the Dreamweaver Foundation, a non-profit that helps older adults celebrate joyful experiences.

“Having a life-limiting illness is how we’re able to grant their wish and fulfill their bucket list dream. Sometimes it might be a birthday party. But sometimes it’s an anniversary celebration,” a foundation representative, Kelly Jacobs, told the outlet.

A Dream Wedding

Not only did Gary and Linda get the wedding of their dreams, but the big event also doubled as a family reunion. In fact, the wedding marked the first time in years that all of the kids, grandkids, and great-grandkids had been together at the same time.

The couple’s children were a part of the wedding, too. Their daughters walked down the aisle with Linda, while Gary and Linda’s eldest son, Mike Manna, officiated the ceremony.

“The main thing was to honor them. Sixty years. There are not that many couples that have stayed together for 60 years. They were a great example to us, my brothers and sisters," Mike said.

As for Gary and Linda, they danced, kissed, and enjoyed their special day in full. They also reiterated that even though they’re getting older now, they know they’ll be together in the next chapter, too.

“We also know and believe we’ll be with family,” added Linda.

An Inspiring Love Story

It’s always nice to hear stories about couples who have managed to stay together through thick and thin because marriage is definitely not always easy. But what’s really sweet about Gary and Linda’s story is that they still had the best marriage despite not having that big wedding initially.

It’s a nice reminder for those who are tying the knot to not get swept up in unimportant details like napkins, flowers, or dresses. Sure, those things are beautiful and can add gorgeous details to your special day, but what really matters is the marriage itself.

By putting time and energy into the person you’re choosing to spend the rest of your life with instead, you can hopefully lay the groundwork for a long and happy marriage like Gary and Linda's. Not all marriages make it, and that’s okay, too. But remembering what matters and putting things into perspective is always key.

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Childhood Sweethearts Shave Each Other's Heads At Wedding

Weddings are full of surprises, but Jony Macapagal, 20, and her husband, Alistair Lee, 20, pulled off one that no one saw coming.

It wasn’t a quirky dance or a dazzling fireworks display. Instead, they shocked their guests by shaving their heads at their own wedding. And the reason behind it is heartwarming.

After Saying "I Do," The Couple Shocked Everyone

When Jony and Alistair tied the knot at the Allely Estate in Kumeu, New Zealand, their guests were ready for a traditional Filipino dance, as is common at weddings. But this couple had something far more meaningful planned.

After their first dance, the DJ announced that they’d be shaving their heads — in solidarity with Jony's mom, Luna, who had been bravely fighting stage 4 ovarian cancer for three years. What might have been an ordinary wedding transformed into a deeply moving moment of unity, love, and support.

As Alistair sat down for Jony to shave his head, the room was a mix of laughter and tears. The surprise didn't end there — Alistair then took the clippers and shaved his bride’s head too. It was a powerful statement about their support for Luna and anyone battling cancer.

From Childhood Friends to Lifelong Partners: They Met When They Were Just 5 Years Old

Jony and Alistair's journey together began way before their wedding day. They met as children and went to the same school, sharing years of memories. After dating for three years, Alistair proposed to Jony in the beautiful Auckland Botanical Gardens. Of course, he made sure to ask Luna's permission first, showing the deep respect and love he had for Jony’s family.

Their unique proposal set the tone for a wedding filled with love and compassion. The couple's decision to shave their heads wasn’t just a touching tribute — it was a continuation of the bond and solidarity that had grown over their lifetime together.

Watch Jony Macapagal and Alistair Lee's Video:

The Bride Never Wanted To Go Viral

When Jony and Alistair shaved their heads at their wedding, it was meant as a private gesture to comfort Luna, who felt insecure about losing her hair during chemotherapy. Tragically, Luna passed away two months after the wedding, leaving the couple and their family devastated. However, what they didn’t expect was the attention their heartfelt act would receive.

Their goal wasn't to go viral but to show Luna she wasn't alone. Despite their intentions, the story spread like wildfire, catching the world's attention. Some detractors claimed it was just for show, but Jony and Alistair explained that they hadn’t shared any footage — their wedding photographer had posted it, leading to its viral spread.

Their Family Never Expected So Much Love and Support

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Jony Lee (@jonymlee)

Jony and Alistair's story resonated with people worldwide, triggering an outpouring of love and support. Jony shared on Instagram how grateful her family was for the positive response. What began as a personal tribute to her mother grew into a global expression of empathy and compassion. The couple never anticipated the momentum their story would gain, but they were grateful for the connections it created.

"My family and I have been overwhelmed with the response we've gotten from our wedding tribute to mummy. I know for a fact my mummy would have loved to give you all a big hug. She would love to let you know you are not alone and to stay strong." Jony Macapagal

Jony explained that although their donations page has since closed, the funds raised were donated to Cancer Society New Zealand. For those interested in donating, she encourages supporting any organization that has positively impacted your family.

If this story touched your heart, you can donate here .

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Tom Cruise Parents: What Does The Star Remember About Them?

The richest and most famous people on the planet can buy a lot of things, which are not affordable for others – chic clothes, classy cars and luxury mansions. But there is something, which they cannot buy – this is the eternal life of their parents. In February 2017, Tom Cruise's mother died peacefully, while sleeping. This was a huge loss for the famous actor, because he considered his mother as the person, who had contributed to his success in the cinema industry.

To commemorate the woman, who gave the world an actor, which played in "Rain Man", "Eyes Wide Shut", "The Last  Samurai" and many other films, let's remember what we know about her, as well as about the father and the stepfather of Tom Cruise.

Tom Cruise Mother Was A Warm Woman

The actor Tom Cruise doesn’t like to tell about his early years. He considers his childhood as “abusive”. Nevertheless Tom has never told the single bad thing about his mother. On the contrary, he has always stressed the fact, that his mother used to be a warm pleasant woman, who encouraged him to start acting and supported his beginnings.

Mary Lee Pfeiffer was born on the 22 nd of September, 1936 in Louisville, Kentucky. She earned her living as a special education teacher. She married Thomas Cruise Mapother III, being quite young, and the couple started their family life in Syracuse, New York.

They gave a birth to four children – one son and three daughters. The name of their son is Thomas Cruise Mapother IV, mostly known as the award-winning actor Tom Cruise.

Tom Cruise suffered from dyslexia, that’s why he was a troubled student for most of his teachers. In addition, his upper teeth looked unattractive. But Mary Lee has always supported her son and believed that one day her too short depressed child would become successful.

As Tom later told, it was his mother, who advised him to try acting. Cruise starred in a school play “Guys and Dolls” and Mary Lee noticed how talented her son was. She took the boy to acting classes and encouraged to cooperate with local theater groups.

Soon Tom Cruise opened up to his mother that he planned to make career of an actor. “He wanted to give show business a try!” Mary Lee said. She wholeheartedly agreed to send her son to New York, as she felt, he had a chance to become a star.

During the whole Tom Cruise life, his mother has always stood behind his back. That’s why her death has become a shock for a popular actor. Nevertheless, Mary Lee Pfeiffer departure can hardly be called “unexpected”. She had health issues during the last 8 years, that’s why she had been rarely seen in public during the long time.

In 2016 Mary Lee was photographed in Clearwater, Florida, sitting in a wheelchair and being supported by two nurses. In winter, 2017 she passed away at night before she woke up.

Mary Lee Pfeiffer South used to be the last Tom Cruise living parent. His father and stepfather died much earlier.

Tom Cruise Father Was A Coward

Thomas Cruise Mapother III has played an important part in Tom Cruise fate – he gave him life. Probably, that was the only thing he did for his son.

Tom Cruise has never made a secret from the fact, that his early years were awful – and it was mostly due to his father.

Mapother III was born on the 15th of October, 1934. He made the ends meet, working as an electrical engineer. Thomas drank too much, and his strong addiction to alcohol made a bad worker from him. He lost his job quite often – and then found another one in the neighboring city. He moved his wife and children from one place to another, and each such removal was a challenge for Tom. The boy was very shy, and he was dyslexic too. It was hard for him to adjust to his classmates. When finally he did it – his father changed the job again.

Thomas Sr. was quite abusive too. He could become angry and kick his son without any reason. That’s why Tom has always felt anxiety, staying near his dad. He was afraid of him. Once Tom Cruise told in his interview, that “his father was a coward”.

When Tom Cruise turned 12, his parents separated. The actor hadn’t seen his father for years. But Cruise Jr forgot about his old grudge, when he had known about his father’s illness.

In 1984 Thomas Cruise Mapother III passed away from cancer. He taught his son, how important it was to be a good parent. Tom Cruise felt sorry for his dad, who had spent a lot of time alone and was so miserable during the last days of his life.

Tom Cruise Stepfather Was a Smart Man

Having divorced, Mary Lee Pfeiffer took her son Tom Cruise and her daughter Lee Anne to Louisville, Kentucky. The family lived in a small house and was very poor, nevertheless Tom felt quite happy. He described his mother as a strong and prideful person, who had never complained about her life. She took three jobs to earn her living and provide her children for food and clothes.

As Tom Cruise neighbor said, the future star was ready to take any job too to support his mother. There was no bad job for him – he waited tables, cleaned premises and tried other kinds of odd jobs.

Around that time Tom Cruise fell in love with acting. He finally settled at one place and enjoyed his life. But one day everything had changed again.

Mary Lee took home a pleasant middle-aged man. It was Joseph South, World War II veteran. It was noticeable, that he was desperately in love with Mary Lee. Soon he proposed her and moved to her house. Tom Cruise told that he considered his stepfather as a smart and kind man. He respected him. Joseph loved Mary Lee desperately and it made him to love her children too. He cared about Tom Cruise before he had turned into a celebrity.

Joseph as well as Mary Lee, supported Tom’s idea to move to New York and start career of an actor. Together with his wife, he gave him $850 to begin life at a new place.

South separated from Mary Lee and her son Tom Cruise in 2003, because he refused to share their passion to Scientology. Seven years later Mary and Joseph divorced officially. In 2015 Tom Cruise stepfather passed away from pulmonary disease. Several weeks before his death he gave an interview, where told, that neither Mary nor Tom came to see him and support during the last days of his life.

Currently Tom Cruise has no living parents. But he remembers all their lessons and tries to be a good father for his three children. 

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These 60 Facts About Tom Cruise Will Tell You Everything You Need to Know

Otherwise ageless movie star tom cruise is celebrating his 60th birthday and here's a guide to the man behind the myth..

Tom Cruise , he of the ageless face, body and energy level, is celebrating a birthday July 3.

Contrary to what's visible to the naked eye, the actor is turning 60. 

He has the appropriate amount of work under what must be a utility belt to back that up, including his first-ever billion-dollar box office haul with Top Gun: Maverick . But it's Cruise's sheer zest for entertaining audiences that continues to awe and delight.

And his viral lecture  in December 2020, when COVID-19 pandemic protocol wasn't taken as seriously as he demanded on the set of Mission: Impossible 7 ,   proved that the world's biggest movie star isn't afraid to throw his hard-earned Hollywood weight around, either.

"I said what I said," he told Empire  in an interview published in May 2021. "There was a lot at stake at that point."

Alas, production was suspended anyway  in June 2021 after a positive COVID test, but after all sorts of pandemic-induced delays,  Mission: Impossible—Dead Reckoning Part One is  finally  slated for July 14, 2023, with Part Two  to follow on June 28, 2024.

"I have an aggressive side, absolutely," Cruise told Cameron Crowe 36 years ago  for  Interview  magazine . "I need a creative outlet. Now I work out every day. I get up and work out 45 to 60 minutes. And that's how I start my day. Discipline is very important to me."

When Brad Pitt , who's only 58, told GQ Australia  a few years ago that he thinks making movies (or at least being in them) is "a younger man's game," you could practically hear Cruise's inimitable laugh.

So, with our need for speed recently fulfilled, in honor of his milestone birthday here are 60 things to know about Tom Cruise:

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1. Thomas Cruise Mapother IV  was born on July 3, 1962, in Syracuse, N.Y., to  Thomas Cruise Mapother III , an electrical engineer, and Mary Lee Pfeiffer , both of Louisville, Ky. (His grandfather and great-grandfather were both Thomas Cruise Mapother, as well.)

2. He has two older sisters, Lee Anne and Marian , and one younger sister, Catherine , nicknamed Cass. 

3. Cruise wanted to act from around the time he was 4 and started doing impressions of everyone from Donald Duck to Humphrey Bogart and Elvis Presley .

4. In 1974, when the family was living in Ottawa, Mary Lee packed up and took the kids back to Louisville. She officially divorced Tom III in August 1975 and, six weeks later, he remarried, briefly. Joan Lebendiger , recently widowed, had four kids, one of whom later told biographer Andrew Morton that they never saw their stepbrother Tom again after the wedding.

"As a kid, I had a lot of hidden anger about that. I'd get hit, and I didn't understand it," Cruise  recalled to  Vanity Fair  in 1994.

"He was the kind of guy who really got picked on a lot at school himself when he was growing up," he said of his father. "He had also been small, though he ended up being six foot two. People had been quite brutal to him. Inside, I believe he was a really sensitive individual." Tom III could also "actually be quite loving." 

But in 2006 he told Parade  that his dad was "a bully and a coward—the person where, if something goes wrong, they kick you. It was a great lesson in my life, how he'd lull you in, make you feel safe and then, bang!"

Cruise visited his father in the hospital before he died of cancer in 1984 and Tom III said he'd get better and they would "'talk about the whole thing,'" the actor told  VF , but that never came to pass.

5. Tom was very close to his mother, whom he described to James Lipton on Inside the Actors Studio   as "a very warm, charismatic woman, very kind, very generous." She worked four jobs at any given time to take care of them, and Tom had a paper route to pitch in. "Every night I'd come home, bathe my feet and sit in the family room, and Tom would massage my feet for a half-hour," Mary Lee recalled to Rolling Stone . (She died at 80 in 2017.)

6. He was also protective of his sisters and, as the man of the house, took on the role of scrutinizing their boyfriends when they'd come by to meet the family.

7. Cruise was raised Catholic and he spent his freshman year of high school at St. Francis Seminary in Cincinnati, after a priest named Father Ric Schneider gave a talk at his (also Catholic) school in Louisville. "He was a typical teenager, trying to find his way in life," Schneider told the New York Daily News in 2013. "We would give them an IQ test, and he just about made the cut. The cutoff is 110, and he scored exactly 110."

It's been rumored that Cruise considered entering the priesthood, but he doesn't it remember it that way. "We didn't have the money back then, and I went for the education for a year, and it was free," Cruise has explained.

8. Mary Lee got remarried to Jack South in 1978 and the whole family moved to New Jersey when Tom was 16.

"In the beginning, I felt threatened by my stepfather," Cruise told Rolling Stone . "There's a part of you that's in love with your mother. But he is such a wise, smart man. He loved my mother so much that he took us all in, four young people. We'd bet on football games, and he was a terrible bettor, so I'd make lots of money."

As for his dad, Tom III, who had recently passed away, "I think that he felt remorse for a lot that had happened. He was a person who did not have a huge influence on me in my teens; the values and motivation really came from my stepfather. But he was important. Really important. It's all sort of complex. There wasn't one thing I felt."

9. He was always a daredevil, jumping off things, riding his bike too fast, sometimes into walls and, here and there, breaking bones. In high school he joined the glee club and did plays. He was also an athlete, over the years dabbling in soccer, baseball, basketball, football and ice hockey, and he wrestled. Sports and acting were where he really stood out and, shocker, the ladies have loved him since grammar school.

"I was a wild kid," Cruise admitted. "I'd cut school. Everything had to do with my wanting always to push the envelope to see: where do I stand with myself? How far can I go?"

10. Cruise has been open about his battle with dyslexia, calling himself "a functional illiterate" in school, though he "loved learning. I wanted to learn, but I knew I had failed in the system."

"My energy was always all over the place. Reading was not at the top of my list, because it took me so long," he told Cameron Crowe for Interview in 1986. "When I wrote a paper, my mother would help me with it. I would take a test and get very nervous. I would skip questions and skip lines. I've gotten better. I've learned to control my eyes. I used to have to use my finger all the time. I just wasn't relaxed about it."

11. Senior year of high school he got kicked off the football team after he was caught drinking, according to Morton, but that left him time to audition for the school musical, Guys and Dolls . He played Nathan Detroit, and a commercial director who happened to catch a performance told him he should pursue acting professionally. So, he started going to New York on weekends to audition for musicals—and he missed his graduation ceremony while performing in an amateur production of Godspell .

12. Cruise made his movie debut in the 1981 drama Taps , in a role that was bigger than the one he was originally cast in "because you could see right away that he had a giant talent," former Paramount head Sherry Lansing said in Stephen Galloway 's 2017 biography Leading Lady . "He was always extremely focused and exceptionally polite."

13. On the set of Francis Ford Coppola 's The Outsiders , featuring a veritable who's-who of '80s-era heartthrobs , prankster Cruise scrawled "Helter Skelter" on co-star Diane Lane 's mirror and put honey on her toilet seat.

14. The only direction Cruise received for his iconic Risky Business dance to "Old Time Rock and Roll" was one line in the script: "Joel dances in underwear through the house." He ad-libbed the rest, grabbing the candlestick, "using it as a guitar, jumping on the table. I waxed half the floor and kept the other half dirty, so I could slide in on my socks. As we went along, I threw more stuff in," he shared with Crowe in 1986.

15. Cruise dated his Risky Business co-star Rebecca De Mornay , who called him a "pure person." She told Rolling Stone in 1986, "There's something earnest and virtuous about him that's quite rare." According to Taps co-star Sean Penn , they were out at a club in New York one night and after realizing that a girl he was talking to was trying to pick him up, Cruise "screamed at her, 'I have a girlfriend I'm in love with!'" (Perhaps at the time readers thought Penn might be exaggerating.) He and De Mornay started dating in the summer of 1983 and maintained a long-distance relationship while he shot Ridley Scott 's Legend in London, but broke up when he returned to the U.S. to start making Top Gun .

16. Top Gun producers Jerry Bruckheimer and Don Simpson envisioned no one other than Cruise playing Maverick after they saw a magazine story about the elite flying school at San Diego's Miramar Naval Air Station and went down to see the hot shots in person. "From the first time we went down to Miramar—even before the script was written—we said, 'These guys are Tom Cruises,'" Bruckheimer told Rolling Stone .

17. Although Cruise also told Rolling Stone in 1986 that he wasn't sure he would be able to get married in his "present state of mind," he tied the knot with  Mimi Rogers on May 9, 1987, two years after meeting her at a dinner party. Emilio Estevez  was Cruise's best man.

18. Paul Newman , his co-star in 1987's The Color of Money , turned him on to race car driving and Cruise has been feeling the need for speed on land and in the air (and sometimes on the water) ever since. Years later the student became the teacher when, in 2010, Cruise taught Zac Efron  about motorcycles. "I don't know," Efron told Details when asked why Cruise offered to do that. "I don't even want to know. It's just so cool that he gave a s--t, the fact that he cared at all."

19. Mimi and her first husband, Jim Rogers , were both members of the Church of Scientology (Jim was a high-level auditor) and she's said to have introduced Cruise to the organization, giving him L. Ron Hubbard 's Dianetics and other literature. His immersion in Scientology coincided with the release of Top Gun and the actor becoming one of the biggest stars in the world, and to this day Cruise remains the most famous member of the church.

20. Despite being critically panned, 1988's Cocktail , starring Cruise as a playboy bartender, gave Disney its biggest opening weekend ever at the time: $11.8 million.

21. According to Morton's 2008 biography  Tom Cruise , director Oliver Stone wanted Tom to be injected with a chemical that would have rendered him temporarily paralyzed so he could better identify with the role of real-life Vietnam War veteran and activist Ron Kovic in 1989's  Born on the Fourth of July . The insurance company understandably shut that idea down. The film still won two Oscars, best editing and best director for Stone, so it worked out.

22. People named Cruise its "Sexiest Man Alive" in 1990. Soon after, he and Rogers divorced. When Vanity Fair  asked about his first marriage in 1994, Cruise replied tersely , "It was a long time ago. I really don't think about it."

23. Cruise met Nicole Kidman  during casting for the racing drama Days of Thunder and they tied the knot on Dec. 24, 1990. They adopted two children, Isabella and Connor , and starred in two more movies together, Far and Away and Eyes Wide Shut .

After Isabella arrived, Cruise told Vanity Fair in 1994 , "We talked about children from time to time, but there was always the work. But then we went, When is it ever going to be the right time? That's how the conversation started. You're lying in bed at night and you're trying to sleep, so you roll over and you go, What would happen if we had this in our life?

"One of the things that Nic and I talk about is that now suddenly we're a family. We're at that point where we're trying to define where we are. Can we still party? Are we really boring? Oh, my God . . . we're old!"

24. Disney had Cruise in mind when they created the look of the title character in 1992's Aladdin . "There's a confidence with all of his attitudes and his poses," lead animator Glen Keane said in a DVD extras feature.

25. An old tabloid go-to back in the 1980s and '90s was to claim that this or that star was gay, and Cruise was aware that the rumor was out there.

"First of all, I don't think it's an indictment," Cruise told Vanity Fair in 1994. "But I hadn't heard those rumors till about three months ago myself… I don't know why they say it. I've heard everything from I've cheated on my wife to my wife was there on the set of  The Firm  because she was pissed off about my love scene on the beach. It's not true, but people are going to say what they want to say."

26. Cruise wanted Brian De Palma to direct Mission: Impossible , which would mark his debut as a producer with his agent turned partner Paula Wagner , even though De Palma was in movie jail following several flops. Cruise even deferred his $20 million salary (not including his back-end deal) so they could raise the movie's budget. Mission accomplished: M:I made almost $500 million worldwide and spawned a franchise . De Palma, however, didn't attend the film's premiere in May 1996, reportedly because he and Cruise didn't always see eye to eye during production.

27. Shooting M:I , Cruise insisted they use a fan big enough to create the 120 mile-per-hour wind he'd be facing if he was really clinging to a bullet train while a helicopter exploded behind him. A crew member told Galloway, "He said, 'I want the wind blowing in my face and I want my jaws to be blowing.' That's Tom. He's a guy's guy."

28. The intense Eyes Wide Shut shoot was scheduled to last four months but ended up keeping Tom and Nicole in London for 18 months. Also during their time in England, as fate would have it, they attended Princess Diana 's funeral in September 1997, as did with Tom Hanks  and Steven Spielberg , who were in town making Saving Private Ryan .

29. "All I can say is that I hope we are together when we are 80," Nicole Kidman told  Talk  in 2000. "I can't say we will be, but I will be so devastated if we are not." Alas, they announced their separation on Feb. 5, 2001. "She knows why, and I know why," Cruise cryptically told Vanity Fair later that year. "She's the mother of my children, and I wish her well. And I think that you just move on. And I don't say that lightly. I don't say that with anything."

30. Penélope Cruz  successfully sued an Australian tabloid in June 2003, winning damages and a retraction over a story claiming she and then-boyfriend Cruise had postponed their impending marriage because she had cheated on him. They broke up in January 2004 after more than two years of dating, a source telling People the relationship "just ran its course."

31. The Church of Scientology denied a 2012 Vanity Fair report that Homeland actress Nazanin Boniadi , then a church member, had basically been recruited to date Cruise for a few months, starting in October 2004 with a group outing that included renting the skating rink at Rockefeller Center and dinner at Nobu. "I'd rather not talk about that," Boniadi told the New York Post in 2013.

32. Cruise specifically held out for J.J. Abrams to direct Mission: Impossible III —Abrams' feature film debut—after watching some episodes of Alias . Paramount was freaking out, wanting M:I3 for a summer 2005 tentpole release, which wasn't going to happen if Cruise and Abrams—busy at the moment with a show called Lost —got their way, but it turned out Cruise had an ace up his sleeve. Spielberg was ready to roll with War of the Worlds in time to give Paramount the summer blockbuster it needed while they waited for Abrams to become available.

33. On May 23, 2005, a giddy Cruise raised his arms in victory, got down on one knee and did a couple of fist pumps, and then jumped up on Oprah Winfrey 's couch (also twice), fueled by love for his new girlfriend, Katie Holmes . "You're gone," the talk show host observed.

"I've got so much energy, I can't help it," Cruise said.

They were both laughing hysterically and the studio audience was cheering, but… maybe you had to be there?

Lest anyone forget, Holmes was at the taping and Winfrey led a chant for her to come out. "She's gonna run!" Cruise exclaimed. "She is freaking out ." Then he took off for backstage to go get her, the camera trailing him, and once they had emerged Cruise enveloped the Dawson's Creek star in a hug.

That moment unwittingly set the tone for Cruise and Holmes' entire relationship, romantic to many but to everyone… just a lot .

34. A month later, Cruise accused Matt Lauer  of being "glib" when the Today host questioned his take on mental health care—specifically, his dismissal of psychiatry and his criticism of Brooke Shields ' "irresponsible" use of medication to treat postpartum depression.

35. Cruise and Holmes' daughter, Suri Cruise , was born on April 18, 2006.

36. Mission: Impossible III came out on May 5, 2006, and did… fine. It was (and remains) the lowest-grossing installment of the franchise, making $134 million domestically, but more memorably it marked the moment where folks started wondering if Cruise had lost his movie-star mojo, if his unadulterated zeal had turned off audiences for good. Not making it better: Paramount severed its 14-year relationship with Cruise's production company that August, and then-Viacom Chairman Sumner Redstone actually told the Wall Street Journal , "We don't think that someone who effectuates creative suicide and costs the company revenue should be on the lot. His recent conduct has not been acceptable to Paramount."

37. Suri was introduced to the world on the September 2006 cover of Vanity Fair , zipped up in her father's leather jacket akin to how Paul McCartney   snuggled daughter Mary on the cover of his 1970 solo album McCartney . The first glimpse at the cover was a huge get for Katie Couric 's first night as lead anchor of the CBS Evening News .

38. Cruise and Holmes' wedding at the 15th-century Castello Orsini-Odescalchi in Rome on Nov. 18, 2016, reportedly cost upward of $3 million . Guest Giorgio Armani designed the bride's ceremony and reception dresses and attendees included Will Smith  and Jada Pinkett Smith , John Travolta  and Kelly Preston , David  and Victoria Beckham , Jim Carrey  and Jenny McCarthy , Leah Remini  and Angelo Pagan , and Jennifer Lopez  and Marc Anthony . Andrea Bocelli performed.

39. Church of Scientology leader David Miscavige was Cruise's best man. According to Remini, who left the church in 2013, a traditional Scientology wedding ceremony includes the vow "to never close their eyes in sleep on a disagreement or an upset."

40. Shields and husband Chris Henchy were also in attendance, Cruise having apologized for publicly disparaging his Endless Love co-star's use of medication to treat postpartum depression. "If you get invited to that wedding, you go," Shields recalled on The Jenny McCarthy Show in 2016. The actress even provided the bride's "something old": an antique enamel compact.

41. 2010's Knight and Day with Cameron Diaz  was widely treated as some sort of "comeback" movie for Cruise, a test to see if he could still have a monster action movie hit after Mission: Impossible III underwhelmed.

"I don't understand why people think that," he marveled to the U.K.'s Telegraph . "I've been working the whole time."

42. His roles in the interim had included his unrecognizable—and hilarious—surprise turn as crass, bullying, bald and fat studio exec Les Grossman in Ben Stiller 's Tropic Thunder , for which he earned a Golden Globe nomination.

"I had about a dozen people making the silicone prosthetics for his head, neck, chest, and hands," makeup designer Barney Burman recalled to Grantland . "We made him special gloves. I did the sculpting, someone else did the molds, someone else was casting them. I had six different people punching hairs into the scalp piece, so his entire head was one-at-a-time, hand-punched hairs; his arms were hand-punched one at a time; his chest was hand-punched."

Added Aida Caefer , "I made the fat suits for Tom Cruise. He was all for  the more ridiculous, the better . The suit went from his neck all the way down to his ankles…The character moved around a lot and he was so soaked in sweat that we had rotating suits for him—one in the morning and one after lunch."

"Tom choreographed all his own moves," Stiller said. "I remember watching him do this stuff and thinking this is so frigging funny."

43. The rumor that Cruise turned down the role of Iron Man, which would have changed the whole vibe of the Marvel Universe, is not true, he says. "Not close," he told ComicBook.com in 2018 when asked if he was really almost Tony Stark. "Not close, and I love Robert Downey Jr. I can't imagine anyone else in that role, and I think it's perfect for him."

44. For 2011's Mission: Impossible—Ghost Protocol , Cruise hung off the edge of the Burj Khalifa in Dubai—the world's tallest building—without a double (though with the appropriate wires). And while he'd been doing as much of his own physical laboring as possible for decades, this reinvigorated Cruise's reputation as the guy who does all the death-defying stunts the insurance companies will allow. The film's $695 million worldwide box office also signaled that Cruise's reputation had preceded him—in a good way.

45. Holmes filed for divorce in June 2012. Her father, attorney Martin Holmes , had helped draft their prenuptial agreement and all was remarkably settled within weeks. And neither of them have ever talked about what happened . They've acknowledged that they were once married to each other, but why it ended has remained anyone's guess. And, oh, how the people have guessed.

46. Eyebrows were raised when the 5-foot-7 Cruise was tapped to play 6-foot-5 vigilante Jack Reacher from Lee Childs ' best-selling novel series.

"Size in my books is a metaphor for an unstoppable force," Childs explained. "Cruise portrays that in his own way."

47. Not as initially OK with the creative license was Interview With the Vampire   author Ann Rice , who according to Vanity Fair was livid in the early '90s when Cruise was cast to play Lestat, having written the character with Rutger Hauer in mind.

"It always helps if one is controversial in casting a movie," director Neil Jordan said. "I just thought that if Tom was willing to go the distance this character demands—and he was—then we could end up with something quite extraordinary, and we did."

48. Mission: Impossible—Rogue Nation was legendary before it hit theaters in 2015 for Cruise's viral airplane stunt, in which he hung onto the door of an Airbus A400M as it took off. For real. He also did his own motorcycle chase and learned how to hold his breath for six and a half minutes for the underwater document swap.

49. He was back on the bike for Mission: Impossible—Fallout and "when the [safety] rigs didn't work, we just went for it," director Christopher McQuarrie told the New York Times . "Everything that you're seeing Tom doing, he's doing free riding on cold cobblestones. Sometimes there was rain; sometimes there was morning dew. There was always a danger of skidding and wiping out."

Cruise also did his own skydiving along with Henry Cavill 's stunt double, dangled from a rope attached to a flying helicopter, and piloted a helicopter for a mid-air chase scene, getting his certification in six weeks. It normally takes three months, McQuarrie said, but Cruise trained for 16 hours a day to cut the time in half.

"Tom was having the time of his life," the director said.

50. Cruise has social media accounts but they are strictly for un-risky business, and he prefers to not know everything that's happening online. "Sometimes I have to for work, but I keep it very limited," he told E! News in 2016. "I don't spend time doing that kind of stuff."

51. Cruise isn't one to let himself go in between physically taxing roles. "Sea-kayaking, caving, fencing, treadmill, weights, rock-climbing, hiking… I jog… I do so many different activities," he has said.

In fact, he refers to his personal workout space—a version of which he takes with him everywhere—as the "Pain Cave."

"Only the motivated can enter," he explained to the AP at the 2017 premiere of The Mummy . "All you got to do is just be motivated. Anyone can come in, we have the crew come in, and we just make it available to everyone."

As co-star Jake Johnson   revealed: "You start every morning with the daily challenge. So before work starts, you're in there. His hair and makeup team is in there, his crew is in there, so there's about 15, 20 people every day doing their squats and jumping jacks. And then I kinda got into it with him…I wanted to be in a Tom Cruise movie and do it the Tom Cruise way."

That includes, alas, avoiding sugar.

"I love sugar," Cruise assured James Corden  on The Late Late Show in 2018, "but I can't eat it because when I'm training, I'm doing all these movies—so I send it to everyone." And then, "I wait for the calls. Like, 'tell me about it.'"

52. Don't tell anyone, but Cruise is human: Aside from what he did to himself running around in childhood, he threw out his back making Legend ; developed an ulcer while shooting Eyes Wide Shut ; tore his labrum scaling a cliff at Dead Horse Point, Utah, for Mission: Impossible 2 ; and broke an ankle on Mission: Impossible—Fallout .

"It was the easy one where I'm running and I jump from one building to the next," Cruise later described the fateful stunt on  The Tonight Show .

53. But this guy commits . In addition to doing three months of helicopter pilot training in six weeks and learning how to hold his breath like he's David Blaine , he played pool for 12 hours a day to play Fast Eddie Felson's protegee in The Color of Money. He lost 18 pounds and read classic books out loud to work on his diction to play centuries-old Lestat in Interview With the Vampire. He learned German to better embody a World War II-era officer in Valkyrie . He actually spent a year and a half learning how to fly a helicopter for  Mission: Impossible—Fallout  (before his whirlwind certification).

54. "I haven't seen him in awhile, but he has sent me a birthday gift every year since I was 11 years old," Dakota Fanning  said on Watch What Happens Live in 2016 about her dad in 2005's War of the Worlds . "Beautiful gifts, it's really kind. I always think, 'Oh, when I'm 18, he'll probably stop. Oh, 21, he'll stop. But every year."

What does Team Cruise pick out? "It's usually shoes," the actress, then 22, shared.

55. In 1986, he told Cameron Crowe , "Let's face it, I'm not saving lives here. I feel fortunate, but this is just one aspect of my life. I love my work, but my family is very important to me, too. You pick up the paper and see that there are many things happening outside my little world."

Since then, the real-life heroics include, all within a few years in the '90s: He lifted two boys over a barricade to prevent them being crushed at the Mission: Impossible premiere in London; he sent his own yacht's skiff to rescue a family whose sailboat was on fire in the Mediterranean in 1996; he rushed to the aid of a woman who had been mugged in London; and he paid the $7,000 emergency room bill for an uninsured cashier who was injured in a hit and run—an accident Cruise witnessed.

"It's just an impulse," Cruise told People in 2000 about his spate of good deeds. "I was never a Boy Scout, so maybe I'm making up for it now."

Or, as he said in the video of an interview for his church that went viral in 2008, "You can't drive past an accident, because as a Scientologist you are the only one who can help"

56. Though he's the most famous face of Scientology, Cruise is incredibly protective of his beliefs and doesn't say too much about it publicly. But in October 2016, he told ITV at the London premiere of Jack Reacher: Never Go Back , "It's something that has helped me incredibly in my life. I've been a Scientologist for over 30 years. It's something that is, you know...without it, I wouldn't be where I am. So, it's a beautiful religion. I'm incredibly proud."

57. Cruise has been nominated for three Oscars: Best Supporting Actor for Magnolia and Best Actor for Jerry Maguire and Born on the Fourth of July . He has seven Golden Globe nominations and three wins, for those three films.

58. He  returned all three Globes  in 2021 as the Hollywood Foreign Press Association came under fire for its lack of diversity in its ranks.

59. Cruise's movies have collectively grossed more than $11 billion at the box office worldwide, though Top Gun: Maverick  is his first  film to cross the billion-dollar threshold on its own.

Prior to the release of the 36-years-in-the-making, pandemic-delayed sequel, his highest-grossing movie worldwide was Mission: Impossible—Fallout , with $791 million. Domestically, his biggest film was War of the Worlds with $234 million—though adjusted for inflation, it was the original  Top Gun  ($180 million in 1986 vs. $444 million in 2022). Top Gun: Maverick has made $534 million in the U.S.

60. Of course those are real F-18s and the actors are really flying in  Top Gun: Maverick .  "It is aggressive. You can't act that, the distortion in the face," Cruise explained in a making-of featurette . "They're pulling 7 1/2, 8 G's. That's 1,600 pounds of force."

As he recalled to  Empire , he told the studio before they got started, "'You don't know how hard this movie's going to be. No-one's ever done this before.'" But he was firm about not wanting to do any "CGI stuff."

And in the end, Cruise said, "There's never been an aerial sequence shot this way. I don't know if there ever will be again, to be honest."

61. When Tom Cruise wants to tell you he appreciates you, he sends dessert. The White Chocolate Coconut Bundt Cake from Doan's Bakery  in Woodland Hills, Calif., has become the stuff of holiday-gift-giving legend, sent to the likes of Tom Hanks , Rosie O'Donnell  and, more recently,  Top Gun: Maverick co-stars Miles Teller  and Jon Hamm .

When December comes around, the staff at Hanks' production company Playtone "start eyeing what mail has come in," Hanks shared on the Mythical Kitchen YouTube series  Last Meals . "Is the big box coming in? Are we getting what has essentially been called 'the Tom Cruise cake?'"

Asked about the criticism that he hadn't really played any grown-ups yet, Cruise told Cameron Crowe for Interview  in 1986, "God forbid if I do everything I want to do before I'm 26. When I get to [ Paul ] Newman 's age, I'm looking to still be playing the great characters he plays.

"I hope the public and everyone realize that I'm still growing. I'm still feeling my oats here. I'm working toward the long range of what I can be as an artist. And I work my ass off trying. Because I know what I want to be."

Mission: accomplished.

( Originally published July 3, 2019, at 3 a.m. PT )

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Tom Cruise says his father was 'a bully'

Tom Cruise says his father was abusive and that school, where he faced other bullies, was difficult, in an upcoming issue of Parade magazine.

"He was a bully and a coward," the 43-year-old actor says of his father, Thomas Cruise Mapother III. "He was the kind of person where, if something goes wrong, they kick you. It was a great lesson in my life — how he'd lull you in, make you feel safe and then, bang!

"For me, it was like, `There's something wrong with this guy. Don't trust him. Be careful around him.' There's that anxiety."

Cruise has two children from his marriage to Nicole Kidman, and his 27-year-old fiancee, Katie Holmes, is in the final stages of her pregnancy with the couple's first child.

The star of the upcoming film, "Mission: Impossible III," also says he was harassed by his classmates while he was growing up.

"So many times the big bully comes up, pushes me. Your heart's pounding, you sweat, and you feel like you're going to vomit ... I don't like bullies."

When Cruise was 12, his mother, Mary Lee, left his father and took Cruise and his sister, Lee Anne, with her, the magazine says. His parents divorced in 1974.

Ten years later, Cruise says he reunited with his father, who was "in the hospital dying of cancer, and he would only meet me on the basis that I didn't ask him anything about the past."

"When I saw him in pain, I thought, `Wow, what a lonely life,'" Cruise says. "He was in his late 40s. It was sad."

The Untold Truth Of Tom Cruise

When Thomas Cruise Mapother IV , as his folks called him, appeared alongside fellow young guns Matt Dillon, Patrick Swayze, Rob Lowe, Emilio Estevez, and Ralph Macchio in Francis Ford Coppola's "The Outsiders" in 1983, few would have earmarked the 21-year-old for world-beating success. His bit part as greaser Steve Randle was pedestrian at best. Yet in his next film, "Risky Business," Cruise pulled out all the stops in his first lead role. This laid the foundation stone for a career that would see him take off into the stratosphere like an F14 Tomcat. Three years later, Cruise became a household name thanks to his career-defining role as the troubled but lovable rouge Maverick in "Top Gun." A star was born and it's been lighting up the hills of Hollywood like a champagne supernova ever since.

Fast forward to three Golden Globes, three Academy Award nominations, and a portfolio of record-breaking blockbuster films later, and one of the world's highest-paid actors is pretty much in cruise control. Yet behind that dazzling smile of porcelain perfection, the trademark shades, and the happy-go-lucky demeanor, there's always been a lot more to Cruise than meets the eye. His relationship with Scientology and his more bizarre public outbursts may have ruined a lesser celeb, but with Cruise, they just serve to make him more star-like. If you're going to go Mach 2 with your hair on fire, you might as well do it in style. It's time to throw caution to the wind, buzz the tower, and fly right into the calm at the center of the storm that is the untold truth of Tom Cruise.

Cruise attended a lot of different schools and was bullied regularly

Starting a new school is a big deal for any young and impressionable kid. Learning to cope in a new environment, making new friends, fitting in, sussing out the bullies, and assessing the lay of the land is pretty exhausting stuff. Yet imagine having to attend 13 different schools when growing up? Tom Cruise did and all that adapting to being the new kid on the block must have left its mark on his character! In an interview with Roger Ebert , Cruise confessed that his early life lacked stability. He was born in Syracuse and lived in various cities in America and Canada. During third, fourth, and fifth grade, he attended Robert Hopkins Public School in Ottawa. His time in sixth grade was spent at Henry Munro Middle school where his resilience, determination, and competitive character manifested themselves in his talent for floor hockey and athletics.

He later became a football linebacker in high school but, after he was caught downing beer before a game, the coach called time on his burgeoning career. Cruise has revealed that his family's financial status and habit of continually relocating led to him being bullied when young. He said that he was mocked by the other kids because of his accent, his shoes, and pretty much everything else. After a stint at seminary school in Cincinnati, Ohio, Cruise finally graduated from Glen Ridge High School in New Jersey, with a strong interest in acting that had been blossoming like a promising bloom since the fourth grade.

He was diagnosed as a dyslexic aged 7

When Cruise finally closed the door on his academic life in 1980, according to People , he described himself as a "functional illiterate." Cruise explained, "When I was about 7 years old, I had been labeled dyslexic. I'd try to concentrate on what I was reading, then I'd get to the end of the page and have very little memory of anything I'd read. I would go blank, feel anxious, nervous, bored, frustrated, and dumb. I would get angry." Throughout school and well into his career, Cruise said he felt like he was harboring a secret. He explained how his head ached and his legs hurt when he attempted to study and was desperate to keep his dyslexia hidden with every new school he attended.

As an aspiring actor, Cruise's frustration with his condition reached boiling point. Reading scripts and memorizing lines was the bread and butter of his craft, but it was something his dyslexia prevented him from mastering. Cruise compensated for his inability to read scripts cold at auditions by getting the director to talk about the character and winging it. "I got pretty good at ad-libbing," he revealed. Yet he could only carry on flying by the seat of his pants for so long because in his own words, "the trapdoor was going to open up and that would be it." Cruise credits his introduction to Scientology during the release of "Top Gun" in 1986 as the remedy to his dyslexia. He states he finally learned to read through Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard's Study Technology learning method.

Cruise described his dad as an abusive bully

Tom Cruise told Parade (via the Irish Examiner ) that his father, Thomas Cruise Mapother III was a "bully and coward" and "a merchant of chaos." Cruise added that his father, who was an electrical engineer, caused him a great deal of anxiety during his formative years. He explained, "He was the kind of person where if something goes wrong they kick you. It was a great lesson in my life — how he'd lull you in, make you feel safe, and then, bang."

Cruise states he grew up not trusting his father and treading extremely carefully around a guy he thought had something wrong with him. In 1974, when Cruise was 12, his mother Mary Lee divorced his dad. Cruise's mother and her children left Canada and returned to the United States, where she married Cruise's stepfather Jack South. Cruise didn't see his father again until 10 years later, when the man was dying of cancer in the hospital. The elder Cruise would only meet his son on the provision that the younger Cruise didn't ask him anything about the past. The actor agreed and recalled, "When I saw him in pain, I thought, 'Wow, what a lonely life.' He was in his late 40s. It was sad."

If you or someone you know may be the victim of child abuse, please contact the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child (1-800-422-4453) or contact their live chat services .

Tom's world-famous teeth have their own story to tell

If there's one thing Tom Cruise is famous for, apart from his acting chops, it's his teeth. Cruise's pearly whites aren't that of the average Joe — they have a life of their own in their dazzling, world-conquering brilliance. However, according to Closer , if you study photos of Cruise's teeth closely, you'll notice they are not perfectly aligned with the center of his face. His right front tooth juts out of position somewhat and is often branded his "middle tooth."

Not that this imperfection will bother Cruise any. The actor messed up his front tooth in high school when it chipped during a hockey match from a wayward puck. He later removed the cap for his part in "The Outsiders" to portray a character with a less than a wholesome smile. Yet according to co-star Patrick Swayze (per Stuff ), Cruise was extremely self-conscious about his teeth at the time, to the point he turned down magazine photoshoots. Whatever concerns Cruise may have had about his teeth were laid to rest for good in 2001. In the wake of his split from Nicole Kidman, Closer reports that Cruise decided to fix his overbite and misalignment issues with some braces.

He once wanted to be a priest

Father Tom has something of a ring to it, and perhaps some amongst us would be confessing our sins to Priest Mapother IV if Cruise has followed his first calling and become a man of the cloth. Yet God's loss is Hollywood's gain. According to  The Daily News , Cruise applied to attend Cincinnati's St Francis Seminary School on the advice of Father Ric Schneider, who explained, "With his parents going through a divorce, it was tough on him, that's maybe one of the reasons why he came here." The teenage Tom scored 110 on the IQ entry test and just gained admission by the skin of his teeth. Cruise showed particular promise in the school's drama club, but according to his friend Shane Dempler, the pair of them both heard the spirit calling and were preparing for a life in the priesthood.

Dempler told The Daily News, "We thought the priests had a great lifestyle and we were really interested in the priesthood." Yet the hand of the unseen works in mysterious ways and although he possessed a strong Catholic faith, Cruise was a teenage boy and prone to all the antics that attract teenagers like honey to bees. Drinking alcohol and cutting loose wasn't exactly condoned by the school. Subsequently, when Cruise and his mate stole some booze from the monks and made merry, it didn't sit well with the powers that be. Dempler alleges that the seminary asked their parents to withdraw them both and the dream of becoming priests turned to dust.

His acting career was born from a wrestling injury

After deciding that saying "Hail Mary" a lot, continually crossing himself, and rocking a predominantly black wardrobe wasn't for him, Tom Cruise appeared to decide that rolling about on the floor and grunting a lot was where it was at. In other words, he became a wrestler. The Daily Mail reports that during his tenure at New Jersey's Glen Ridge High School, Cruise earned a solid rep as a teenage wrestler who could grapple, pin, and showboat with the best of them. Cruise is renowned as an action man who likes to get stuck in and it all began on the wrestling mat. His former wrestling captain, Tom Jarret aka TJ, explained that Cruise had a tough time arriving at the school from Kentucky as a fresh-faced 15-year-old, and so he channeled his aggression into wrestling.

TJ told The Daily Mail, "He had times when he was struggling to be accepted. With wrestling, you made your own mark. He deserves all his success. He was always a real go-getter, but a good guy. I've not got a bad word to say about Tom." Interestingly, TJ's father didn't have a good word to say about Cruise and once told his son, "Stop hanging out with that guy. He's not doing anything with his life." It was whilst recovering from a wrestling injury that Cruise decided to take a punt on an audition for "Guys and Dolls." Cruise landed a key role in the high-school musical and it convinced him that religion and sport were all well and good, but it was on the stage where his true destiny lay.

He performs his own stunts

When it comes to playing men of action, such as special agent Ethan Hunt from the "Mission: Impossible" franchise, Cruise likes to walk it like he talks it and go all in. Leaping through plate glass windows and riding motorcycles off cliffs is all in a day's work for Cruise, who loves performing his own stunts. The thought of not going out on a limb is more terrifying than breaking one for Cruise, who busted up his ankle performing an action sequence on the set of "Mission: Impossible — Fallout." As a huge box-office draw who also does his own stunts, Cruise is the last of a dying breed. Cruise's stunt coordinator Wade Eastwood told Men's Journal  that the actor relishes the role because, "He loves making these films, and he wants the audience to love them as well."

Eastwood explains that, although many actors will brag about how capable they are behind the wheel of a supercar, they fall to pieces once they're in the hot seat and struggle to even shift gears. Yet he believes Cruise was born to live in the fast lane and said, "His skills levels are through the roof. He is incredibly capable. He can do it all. When we are doing these stunts with Tom, we are not just talking about a fast pull away. This is a level that requires a lot of talent, more than I would say any other actor has. He is almost to the point where he is dangerously good."

He strictly forbids Tom Cruise figurines or video games

When you possess the sort of face that is instantly recognizable the world, one capable of selling everything from souvenir china to novelty t-shirts, it's only natural that people will want to exploit your likeness for a quick buck. Yet, don't expect that to happen on Tom Cruise's watch. The actor with the face that has launched multi-million dollar box office successes in succession is allegedly strictly adamant that his likeness will not appear in any video games. Nor will he allow it to appear on the tiny and somewhat unsettling faces of figurines that come in plastic packaging.

MTV News reports that the NES "Top Gun" game released in 1987, and the "Mission: Impossible" game were created without Cruise's likeness in pixels or on the cover art. In the "Minority Report" game released in 2002, Cruise's character is blond and looks a million miles removed from the actor. The reason why Cruise has not capitalized on his world-famous looks has never been properly explained. His agent has always declined to comment on his client's decision and Cruise has learned long ago that the motto of "never apologize, never explain" carries its own weight in free publicity. So if you're holding out for a Tom Cruise doll this holiday season, forget about it!

In Japan, they have a Tom Cruise Day

You know you've finally arrived on the world stage when a country names a day in your honor. It's the sort of accolade that money just can't buy, but being a Hollywood actor definitely can, just ask Tom Cruise! Hollywood.com reports that "The Last Samurai" star was awarded his special day in Japan because of his close ties and long-term affection for the country. Cruise has visited the Land of the Rising Sun more than any other actor and always ensures he has time to share with his legion of adoring fans. Digital Spy reports that The Japanese Memorial Day Association chose to allocate October 10 as "Tom Cruise Day" in 2006 because of the actor's "love for and close association with Japan."

According to the Filipino Japanese Journal , Cruise made his 23rd visit to Japan in 2018 to promote "Mission: Impossible — Fallout." At a press conference, he revealed the love Japan has for him is no one-way street. He enthused, "It's so great to be back in Japan. It's just amazing to me. I feel very at home here. It's always fast (my trips) but thank you for the warm smile this evening, for the lovely gifts, and always for the wonderful conversations. I'm very honored. Thank you."

Cruise allegedly uses a strange concoction for his youthful good looks

He once played immortal bloodsucker Lestat de Lioncourt in "Interview With The Vampire." However, Tom Cruise's secret behind his permanently youthful good looks isn't the drinking of blood. He has extremely focused nutrition and training plan — with, allegedly, a little help from a good old-fashioned bird droppings.  Men's Health reports that Cruise credits weightlifting, sea-kayaking, treadmill, rock-climbing, caving, and a whole host of other activities to stay in shape and keep the ravages of father time from his door. Sports scientist Anne Elliott explained, "Regularly switching up cardio and strength work with something like fencing or climbing – like Cruise – maintains flexibility and balance: the first two things that give your age away."

An anonymous source supposedly near Cruise told NOW Magazine (via  The Daily Mail ) that the secret to Cruise's glowing complexion and radiant skin is an expensive spa treatment that has its origins in nightingale droppings. The source claims that Cruise shuns botox and surgery, but he does have a soft spot for natural treatments, like the kind that can be found in the excrement of our feathered friends. Adherents of the unusual treatment claim that it works as an exfoliant to extract the dirt and leave one's face feeling shiny and bright.

Cruise is a real-life Maverick

Looking effortlessly cool on a Kawasaki Ninja ZX900, and giving the 'bird' to a MiG whilst flying inverted are just some of the reasons why audiences fell in love with Tom Cruise's character in "Top Gun." His manifold issues with authority, terrible karaoke performances, and flair in a cockpit won a watching world over. "Maverick" is a larger-than-life character who knows his way around a joystick-like nobody's business. Yet there is more than just a dash and splash of Cruise in this fictional hero of the skies.

The actor has been in love with the idea of flying jets since he was young, but it wasn't until he appeared in "Top Gun" in 1986 that he gave serious thought to getting his pilot license. In 1994 he received his wings and in a subsequent interview with Wired revealed he was a multi-engine instrument-rated commercial pilot. In plain speak that means Cruise could legally fly you anywhere in the world in a plane or helicopter. In "Top Gun: Maverick," Cruise lives the dream and flies some of the jets in the movie. Yet it's not the first time Cruise has been airborne on the big screen. In "American Made," and "Mission: Impossible — Fallout" he does some crazy things in a helicopter. According to World War Wings , Cruise also owns a World War II fighter, P-51 Mustang a $20M Gulfstream with its own jacuzzi and movie room. Beat that, Mav!

Cruise once saved a woman from being mugged in London

It must be hard for actors to live up to some of the heroic characters they play on the big screen. Yet Tom Cruise came close to being a real-life Ethan Hunt when he chased down a gang of muggers who were in the act of trying to part a lady with $153,000 of her jewelry. The Scottish Daily Record reports that when Cruise's neighbor, Rita Simmonds, arrived outside of her $8 million London home she was approached by two unsavory characters. They pulled the door of her Porsche open and attempted to drag her to the curb in front of her two-year-old daughter Sophie, who was sitting in the back. One of the assailants screamed, "Give us your jewelry, or we will kill you." The man then proceeded to beat her, whilst the other attempted to rip the jewelry from her person.

Rita Simmonds cried for help, and her pleas caught the ears of none other than Cruise who dashed out of his Regent's Park apartment. Flanked by his bodyguards, Cruise charged down the road, chasing off the muggers and saving the day. Rita Simmonds explained, "Tom was brilliant. He rushed down the road with his bodyguards and chased the attackers away." When asked about the mugging, a spokesperson for Cruise explained, "He does not want to talk about this. He does like to help people but he likes to keep it quiet."

Cruise almost played Iron Man

Visualizing anyone else in the role of Tony Stark whose name isn't Robert Downey Jr seems like blasphemy. It's not easy to be cool and witty whilst flying around in a constricting tin suit but Robert Downey Jr does it with aplomb and a flair that's tough to beat. Nevertheless, it would have been interesting to see what dynamic Tom Cruise would have brought to the role of the billionaire arms dealer with questionable facial hair. The Indian Express reports that Marvel Studios had earmarked Cruise as the first choice to play Iron Man. They believed he was a lot more of a box-office draw than Downey Jr. Yet Cruise turned down the opportunity to ignite the Marvel cinematic universe because he didn't think the role would work.

Cruise explained, "If I commit to something, it has to be done in a way that I know it's gonna be something special. And as it was lining up it just didn't feel to me like it was gonna work." Cruise later added that no one but Downey Jr could have done the character justice. "Iron Man" director Jon Favreau battled studio executives hard for Downey to play the role, claiming the actor would effortlessly connect with a character who shared a similar redemption story.

Disney used Cruise's image as the prototype for Aladdin

Tom Cruise's portrayal of Maverick in "Top Gun" made such a powerful impression on many in the audience that it led to an upsurge in recruitment for the U.S. Navy. It also triggered a massive 40 percent sales increase for Aviator sunglasses . Yet perhaps its strangest legacy was how the character of Maverick was the inspiration for Walt Disney's animated version of "Aladdin." People report that Disney president Jeffrey Katzenberg was so taken with Cruise's portrayal of the charismatic pilot with attitude that he urged his animators to capture the essence of what made him tick and bring it to life in Disney's forthcoming cartoon.

Photos of Cruise were draped everywhere in the studio for illustrators to take inspiration from. Animator Glen Keane explained to The Los Angles Times , "In all Cruise's poses, I noticed there was a confidence, a look in the eyebrows, that gives him intensity and at the same time a smile that has a kind of impish look like he's got something up his sleeve." In tribute to Cruise, Aladdin was blessed with a "straight-off-the-forehead nose."

He gives chosen celebs a Cruise Cake every Xmas

Being a good pal of Tom Cruise might get you a white chocolate coconut bundt cake delivered by private jet every Christmas. Yahoo! reports that close friends of the big-hearted actor can expect a little something extra in their stocking and it's full of creamy goodness and very nice to eat. Chosen celebs who receive the signature item from Doan's Bakery in Woodland Hills, California, are unanimous in singing its praises. Jimmy Fallon brands it "unbelievable." Henry Cavill positively gushes when he calls it, "the most decadent, the most amazing cake." And Kirsten Dunst wastes no time in calling it "one of the best cakes I've ever had." Such is the power of the "Cruise Cake," celebs fall over one another to stay on Tom's nice list.

Cruise rarely consumes sugar himself and so, "I send cakes to everyone and I wait for the calls." When the recipients call to express their delight, Cruise said, "I'm like: Tell me about it!" According to The Guardian , Cruise was introduced to the cake by Diane Keaton. He was instantly converted. Having once spent three days straight eating chocolate cake as a young actor until he was violently sick, Cruise is partial to a nice sponge, but the white chocolate coconut bundt was like nothing he had ever experienced before. It was kind of an eureka moment, and for years he has made it his business to spread the word and send them to famous faces all over the world.

When each one of Tom Cruise's three wives turned 33, he left them

The innocence of chance and the fickle hand of fate land lead to some strange symmetries in everyone's life. Take Tom Cruise and the number 33 for example (via MammaMia ). When Katie Holmes, Nicole Kidman, and Mimi Rogers's marriage with Cruise came to an end, why were they all 33-years-of-age? Is it a bizarre coincidence or intriguing conspiracy? That's the question that has plagued Cruise fans for many a moon. Showbiz CheatSheet notes that Cruise's first wife, Mimi Rogers was responsible for introducing him to Scientology, and rumors abound that the Church of Scientology has been an unseen and silent bedfellow in the break-ups.

There's a theory noted by The Daily News that Cruise's divorces all have their basis on Scientology, which is not a rabbit hole we any sane person would wish to disappear into. Nevertheless, conspiracy theorists insist that because the number 33 has such a deep significance in Scientology, the age of each of Cruise's three wives at the time of their divorce cannot be ignored.  They also point out that Phoenix, Arizona, where the first Church of Scientology was founded, lies on a circle of latitude that lies 33 degrees from the Earth's equator and has been called the 33rd parallel. At best it's a loose connection, but it remains one of intrigue for those who delight in playing "connect the dots."

Cruise once lost it big time on the set of Mission: Impossible

Tom Cruise's no-holds-barred COVID-19 safety rant on the set of the seventh "Mission: Impossible" movie was a welcome slice of behind-the-scenes Hollywood honesty. As anger-fueled rants that could turn the air blue with their sheer savagery and cuss words, it was right up there with Christian Bale's torrid dressing-down of the director of photography on the set of "Terminator Salvation." Only the hardest heart would not find a sliver of joy in listening to an A-Lister having a huge meltdown on the job. It demonstrates quite poignantly that behind the most polished PR job and promotional campaign lies a human heart that beats with the same frustrations and foibles as the rest of us.

The Los Angeles Times reports that Cruise barked, "I am beyond your apologies" to a few members of the crew he thought were violating COVID-19 protocols. He snarled, "We are not shutting this f****** movie down. Is it understood? If I see it again, you're f****** gone. And so are you." Some criticized Cruise for what they perceived as an exploitation of his power and for coming across as a control freak. Cruise later clarified that he was "very emotional" at the thought of the film's production being shut down again. He told Empire Magazine, "I said what I said. There was a lot at stake at that point. All these emotions were going through my mind. I was thinking about the people I work with and my industry."

Cruise has been accused of attempting to convert other celebs to Scientology

The New Zealand Herald reports that Cruise credits his success in Hollywood to Scientology . He told ITV in 2016, "It's something that has helped me incredibly in my life; I've been a Scientologist for over 30 years. It's something, you know, without it, I wouldn't be where I am. So it's a beautiful religion. I'm incredibly proud." The church was founded in the 1950s by sci-fi author L. Ron Hubbard. It believes that individuals are not just the product of their environment or genes, but immortal spiritual beings with unlimited capabilities and experiences above and beyond a single lifetime.

Tom Cruise has long been a vocal advocate of Scientology. By at least one telling, Cruise attempted to convert Judd Apatow and Seth Rogen to the cause. Rogen recalled in an interview with Howard Stern (per Far Out Magazine ) that during a meeting with Cruise, Cruise said, "If you let me just tell what it was really about, if you let me, just give me like 20 minutes to really just tell you what it was about, you would say 'No f****** ing way." Feeling uncomfortable, Apatow managed to steer the conversation toward movies, and their conversion was forgotten.

Cruise isn't a big fan of antidepressants

As a Scientologist, Tom Cruise subscribes to a philosophy that frowns upon prescription pills and chemical substances that alter the brain's chemistry. People report that in 2005 this belief saw him lock horns with Brooke Shields over her use of antidepressants. In the aftermath of giving birth to her daughter Rowan in 2003, Shields battled with postpartum depression. She documented the struggle in her book "Down Came the Rain."

Although a fan of Shields, describing her as "an incredibly talented woman," Cruise criticized the actress for her assertion that antidepressants cured her. He branded it as "irresponsible," and said, "When someone says medication has helped them, it is to cope, it didn't cure anything. There is nothing that can cure them whatsoever." Shields begged to differ and hit back at Cruis by stating, "Tom should stick to saving the world from aliens and let women who are experiencing postpartum depression decide what treatment options are best for them."

His nice-guy image isn't just a solid PR campaign

Tom Cruise often comes across as the nice guy's nice guy. His everyman and easy-going demeanor almost appear too good to be true. Is it a bulletproof PR job or is Cruise actually one hell of a great guy? It's actions and not words that make a man, and judging by the long list of "Cruise to the rescue" stories in circulation, the guy is indeed, one rocksteady dude you'd want in your corner when things go south. Vulture reports that Crusie's good deeds are legion.

For example, Cruise one invited Zac Efron to his house just to teach him how to ride a motorcycle. Efron said, "It's just so cool he gave a s***, the fact that he cared at all. No one else did." Cruise also invited "Mummy" co-star Jake Johnson to his gym, the "pain cave," and got him in shape. 

Yet that's just the tip of the iceberg. Everyone who works with Cruise on set sings his praises. Stanley Kubrick once said, "You've never seen an actor more completely subservient and prostrate themselves at the feet of a director." It's not just other celebs he helps out. He once came to the rescue of a family whose sailboat went up in flames, and he paid the medical bills of an aspiring actress who was involved in a hit-and-run. 

Last but not least, no matter how busy he is on set, Cruise will always take his kids' calls, even if it means breaking from character.

Actor Tom Cruise is the star of several box-office hits, including Risky Business , A Few Good Men , The Firm , Jerry Maguire , and the Mission: Impossible franchise.

Who Is Tom Cruise?

Thomas Cruise Mapother IV, better known as Tom Cruise, was born on July 3, 1962, in Syracuse, New York, to Mary and Thomas Mapother. Cruise's mother was an amateur actress and schoolteacher, and his father was an electrical engineer. His family moved around a great deal when Cruise was a child to accommodate his father's career.

Cruise's parents divorced when he was 11, and the children moved with their mother to Louisville, Kentucky, and then to Glen Ridge, New Jersey, after she remarried. Like his mother and three sisters, Cruise suffered from dyslexia, which made academic success difficult for him. He excelled in athletics, however, and considered pursuing a career in professional wrestling until a knee injury sidelined him during high school.

At age 14, Cruise enrolled in a Franciscan seminary with thoughts of becoming a priest, but he left after a year. When he was 16, a teacher encouraged him to participate in the school's production of the musical Guys and Dolls . After Cruise won the lead of Nathan Detroit, he found himself surprisingly at home on the stage, and a career was born.

'Taps,' 'The Outsiders'

Cruise set a 10-year deadline for himself in which to build an acting career. He left school and moved to New York City, struggling through audition after audition before landing an appearance in 1981's Endless Love , starring Brooke Shields. Around this same time, he snagged a small role in the military school drama Taps (1981), co-starring Sean Penn .

His role in Taps was upgraded after director Harold Becker saw Cruise's potential, and his performance caught the attention of a number of critics and filmmakers. In 1983, Cruise appeared in Francis Ford Coppola 's The Outsiders , which also starred Emilio Estevez , Matt Dillon and Rob Lowe —all prominent members of a group of young actors the entertainment press dubbed the "Brat Pack." The film was not well received, but it allowed Cruise to work with an acclaimed director on a high-profile project.

'Risky Business'

His next film, Risky Business (1983), grossed $65 million. It also made Cruise a highly recognizable actor — thanks in no small part to a memorable scene of the young star dancing in his underwear.

In 1986, after a two-year hiatus, the budding actor released the big-budget fantasy film Legend , which did poorly at the box office. That same year, however, Cruise's A-list status was confirmed with the release of Top Gun , which co-starred Kelly McGillis, Anthony Edwards and Meg Ryan . The testosterone-fueled action-romance, set against the backdrop of an elite naval flight school, became the highest-grossing film of 1986.

'The Color of Money,' 'Rain Man' and 'Born on the Fourth of July'

Cruise followed the tremendous success of Top Gun with a string of both critically acclaimed and commercially successful films. He first starred in The Color of Money (1986) with co-star Paul Newman , and then went on to work with Dustin Hoffman on Rain Man (1988). Cruise's next role, as Vietnam veteran Ron Kovic in the biopic Born on the Fourth of July (1989), earned him an Academy Award nomination and a Golden Globe for Best Actor.

'A Few Good Men,' 'The Firm' and 'Interview with a Vampire'

In 1992, Cruise proved once more that he could hold his own opposite a screen legend when he co-starred with Jack Nicholson in the military courtroom drama A Few Good Men . The film grossed more than $15 million its first weekend and earned Cruise a Golden Globe nomination. He continued to demonstrate his success as a leading man with The Firm (1993) and Interview with a Vampire (1994), which co-starred Brad Pitt.

'Mission: Impossible,' 'Jerry McGuire'

Next, Cruise hit the big screen with two huge hits—the $64 million blockbuster Mission: Impossible (1996), which the star also produced, and the highly acclaimed Jerry McGuire (1996), directed by Cameron Crowe. For the latter, Cruise earned a second Academy Award nomination and Golden Globe for Best Actor.

'Eyes Wide Shut,' 'Magnolia'

Cruise and then-wife Kidman spent much of 1997 and 1998 in England shooting Eyes Wide Shut , an erotic thriller that would be director Stanley Kubrick 's final film. The movie came out in the summer of 1999 to mixed reviews, but that year Cruise enjoyed greater success with the release of Magnolia . His performance as a self-confident sex guru in the ensemble film earned him another Golden Globe Award and an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor.

'Vanilla Sky,' 'The Last Samurai'

Cruise then starred in the long-awaited smash hit Mission: Impossible 2 in 2000, alongside Anthony Hopkins , Thandie Newton and Ving Rhames. In 2002, he starred in Vanilla Sky , his second collaboration with Crowe, as well as Steven Spielberg 's Minority Report . The following year, Cruise traveled to Australia to shoot the $100 million war epic The Last Samurai, which earned him another Golden Globe nomination.

'War of the Worlds'

Cruise proved he remained a top draw by starring in the Spielberg-directed remake of the science-fiction classic War of the Worlds (2005), which grossed more than $230 million at the box office.

His next effort, Mission: Impossible 3 (2006), also scored well with audiences. However, Cruise was faced with a professional setback in August when Paramount Pictures ended its 14-year relationship with the actor. The company's chairman cited Cruise's erratic behavior and controversial views as the reason for the split, though industry experts noted that Paramount more likely ended the partnership over Cruise's high earnings from the Mission: Impossible franchise.

Cruise quickly rebounded and on November 2, 2006, he announced his new partnership with film executive Paula Wagner and the United Artists film studio. Their first production as a team, the political drama Lions for Lambs (2007), proved a commercial disappointment despite a strong cast that included Meryl Streep and Robert Redford .

'Tropic Thunder'

Taking a break from weighty material, Cruise delighted audiences with his performance in the comedy Tropic Thunder (2008). Despite his relatively small role in a movie that featured Robert Downey Jr. and Ben Stiller , Cruise stood out by obscuring his trademark good looks to play a balding, obese movie studio executive.

'Valkyrie,' 'Rock of Ages'

In December 2008, Cruise released his second project through United Artists. The film, Valkyrie , was a World War II drama about a plot to assassinate German leader Adolf Hitler . Cruise starred as a German army officer who became involved in the conspiracy.

Cruise returned to one of his most popular franchises in 2011 with Mission: Impossible—Ghost Protocol . Breaking into new territory, he then starred in the 2012 musical Rock of Ages . Although Cruise received some positive reviews for his performance as a rock star, the movie failed to attract much of an audience.

'Jack Reacher,' 'Edge of Tomorrow'

Returning to his mainstream action roots, Cruise starred in the 2012 crime drama Jack Reacher , based on a book by Lee Child. He then headlined a pair of science-fiction adventures, Oblivion (2013) and Edge of Tomorrow (2014). Showing no signs of slowing down, the veteran actor in 2015 delivered his usual high-energy performance for the fifth installment of his blockbuster franchise, Mission: Impossible—Rogue Nation .

Latest Movies and Familiar Franchises

In 2016, Cruise reprised the role of Jack Reacher for Never Go Back . He then headlined a reboot of The Mummy (2017), which performed respectably at the box office but was savaged by critics, before earning better reviews later that year for the crime thriller American Made .

2018 brought a return to familiar territory for Cruise, who starred in Mission Impossible —Fallout that summer. Prior to its release, he tweeted a photo to mark day 1 of production on the long-awaited sequel Top Gun: Maverick , scheduled for a June 2020 release.

Scientology and Personal Life

Cruise married actress Mimi Rogers in 1987. It was through Rogers that the actor became a student of Scientology, the religion founded by writer L. Ron Hubbard. Cruise credited the church with curing his dyslexia, and he soon became one of its leading proponents. However, while his spiritual life flourished, his marriage to Rogers ended in 1990. That same year, Cruise made the racecar drama Days of Thunder alongside Kidman. Though the movie was unpopular among critics and fans alike, the two lead actors had real chemistry. On Christmas Eve 1990, after a brief courtship, Cruise and Kidman married in Telluride, Colorado.

Divorce from Kidman

For much of the 1990s, Cruise and Kidman found themselves fiercely defending the happiness and legitimacy of their marriage. They filed two different lawsuits against tabloid publications for stories they considered libelous. In each case, the couple received a published retraction and apology, along with a large monetary settlement which they donated to charity. The couple has two children, Isabella and Connor.

On February 5, 2001, Cruise and Kidman announced their separation after 11 years of marriage. The couple cited the difficulties involved with two acting careers and the amount of time spent apart while working. Following the divorce, Cruise briefly dated his Vanilla Sky co-star Penelope Cruz , followed by a much-publicized relationship with actress Katie Holmes. A month after his ties to Holmes became public, Cruise professed his love for the actress in a now-famous appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show, during which he jumped on Winfrey's sofa, shouting "Yes!"

Marriage to Katie Holmes

In June 2005, after a two-month courtship, Cruise proposed to Holmes in a restaurant at the top of the Eiffel tower. In October, they announced that they were expecting their first child together. The hasty proposal and surprise pregnancy quickly became tabloid gossip. But Cruise made even bigger headlines that year as an outspoken advocate for Scientology. He openly criticized former co-star Brooke Shields for using anti-depressants during her recovery from postpartum depression. He also denounced psychiatry and modern medicine, claiming Scientology held the key to true healing. Cruise's statements led to a heated argument with news anchor Matt Lauer on The Today Show in June 2005, for which Cruise later apologized.

In 2006, Cruise and Holmes welcomed daughter Suri into the world. That year, they were married in an Italian castle, with celebrities Will Smith , Jada Pinkett Smith , Jennifer Lopez and Victoria and David Beckham among those in attendance. However, the storybook romance wouldn't last, and in June 2012, the couple announced their separation.

QUICK FACTS

• Birth Year: 1962
• Birth date: July 3, 1962
• Birth State: New York
• Birth City: Syracuse
• Birth Country: United States
• Gender: Male
• Best Known For: Actor Tom Cruise is the star of several box-office hits, including 'Risky Business,' 'A Few Good Men,' 'The Firm,' 'Jerry Maguire' and the 'Mission: Impossible' franchise.
• Astrological Sign: Cancer

We strive for accuracy and fairness.If you see something that doesn't look right, contact us !

CITATION INFORMATION

• Article Title: Tom Cruise Biography
• Author: Biography.com Editors
• Website Name: The Biography.com website
• Url: https://www.biography.com/actors/tom-cruise
• Access Date:
• Publisher: A&E; Television Networks
• Last Updated: March 26, 2021
• Original Published Date: April 3, 2014

The Biography.com staff is a team of people-obsessed and news-hungry editors with decades of collective experience. We have worked as daily newspaper reporters, major national magazine editors, and as editors-in-chief of regional media publications. Among our ranks are book authors and award-winning journalists. Our staff also works with freelance writers, researchers, and other contributors to produce the smart, compelling profiles and articles you see on our site. To meet the team, visit our About Us page: https://www.biography.com/about/a43602329/about-us

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Meet the birth family of Tom Cruise; one of Hollywood’s most celebrated

Tom Cruise remains one of the best things to have happened to Hollywood till date; he was even ranked as the world’s most powerful celebrity in 2006. The actor and filmmaker started out in 1981 with Endless Love and since then continued to star in a good number of critically and commercially successful films.

Date of Birth: July 3, 1962

Zodiac Sign: Cancer

No one would have thought that the deeply religious Cruise will end up as the award-winning Jerry Maguire (1996) cast. He struggled with dyslexia as a kid and this made academic success really difficult. He was an athletic champion and even considered a career in professional wrestling before a knee injury made him changed his mind.

Tom Cruise went as far as enrolling in a Franciscan seminary because he had always dreamt of becoming a priest. He quit after a year then gradually started discovering his love for the stage and a career was born. Read on as we bring juicy details concerning the birth family of the Magnolia (1999) actor.

You may also like:   Tom Cruise’s wives and children

Mary Lee Pfeiffer (mother)

Date of Birth: September 22, 1936

Date of Death: February 2017 (aged 80)

Zodiac Sign: Virgo

Mary was not lucky with her first marriage as her husband was a “bully” and this made her work extra hard to hold her home together. In 1974, Tom’s mother left his dad and went on to remarry a man called John ‘Jack’ South in 1978. They raised her children together until 2012 when they got divorced. John later passed away in 2015 after a battle with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

It was evident that the former special education teacher was close to her legendary son as she was seen at the premieres of most of his movies; the proud mother has on several occasions been referred to as the rock in her son’s life. She died in her sleep February 2017 after battling a long illness.

John ‘Jack’ McLeod  South (step-father)

Date of Birth:  1926

Date of Death: July 25, 2015 (aged 89)

He was World War II veteran and Tom remember him as “wise and smart man”.

Thomas Mapother III (father)

Date of Birth: October 15, 1934

Date of Death: January 9, 1984 (aged 49)

Zodiac Sign: Libra

Thomas was an electrical engineer but mostly known as the abusive father who is referred to as a “merchant of chaos” by the famous Ethan Hunt from the Mission: Impossible (1996 – present) movie series. What he had with his children can’t really be called a relationship and things remained that way till he died in 1984 from cancer.

Lee Ann DeVette (nee Mapother) (elder sister from same parents)

Date of Birth: July 24, 1959

Zodiac Sign: Leo

Lee Ann is the oldest Mapother child and like their mother, she is also a devout Scientologist. In 2004, she worked as her brother’s publicist and has been involved in his production company ever since. Mapother was married to Stephen Burnett.

Cass Mapother (elder sister from same parents)

Year of Birth: 1961

Cass is another sister to the Mapother siblings and she bears, like the rest of her sisters a striking resemblance to the Hollywood star. She is an owner of a restaurant Cass’ Cafe in New Jersey.

Marian Henry (nee Mapother) (younger sister from same parents)

Year of Birth: 1964

Marian is the youngest sister to the most celebrated scientologist. She works in real estate and has a son Cal.

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Katie Holmes's Toughest Defender: Her Father

Martin Holmes, an Ohio attorney, has long been a guiding force in his daughter's life

There is no shortage of lawyers involved in Katie Holmes ‘s divorce from Tom Cruise . But the attorney who may have played the most important role is not even handling the case.

Martin Holmes, 67, helped orchestrate his daughter’s sudden split from her husband of five years, as PEOPLE reports in this week’s cover story, on newsstands now.

A University of Toledo law school grad and member of the Ohio Bar since 1971, he practices in areas including personal injury, business litigation, probate and matrimonial law.

“Marty is very rigid – it’s his way or the highway,” says a Toledo attorney who has worked with both Martin Holmes and his son, attorney Martin Jr., on cases. “Marty believes there are only two sets of rules: the rules of the court and his rules, and he carries himself that way.”

PHOTOS: The Holmes-Cruises Family Photo Album

Along with his homemaker wife Kathy, 65, Martin raised five children: Tamera, 44, Holly, 43, Martin Jr., 42, Nancy, 38, and the baby of the family, 33-year-old Katie.

As parents, Martin and Kathy “laid down the law but always with a lot of love,” a relative told PEOPLE in 2006.

After their youngest daughter began dating Cruise, 50, in 2005, rumors quickly emerged that the actress’s parents were wary of the relationship. But publicly, Martin was always supportive of Cruise, calling him a “humanitarian” in a statement to Access Hollywood, and both Tom and Katie denied any tensions with her family.

“Some of the crap that’s out there – the stuff that’s said about my parents and my siblings [not hitting it off with Tom], it’s really frustrating,” Holmes told Vanity Fair in 2006 after welcoming daughter Suri.

• PHOTOS: Tom Cruise & Katie Holmes’s Whirlwind Courtship

And indeed, at the rehearsal dinner for the couple’s wedding in November 2006, Martin offered an emotional and welcoming toast to his famous new son-in-law.

“There is a line in the movie Father of the Bride where Steve Martin talks about how a time comes when you have a daughter that you stop worrying about her meeting the wrong guy … and you worry about her meeting the right guy,” Martin said. “It didn’t take much time before I realized this Tom guy was a special guy – that he loved Katie, that he cared for her and supported her. Tom expressed his love many different ways – I like that. I respect men who are not afraid to show their feelings. I respect Tom for the commitment he has made to provide happiness and love to Katie.”

• With reporting by MYNDI MILLIKEN

For much more on the split, including Holmes’s dramatic exit from the marriage and the legal battle ahead, pick up this week’s issue of PEOPLE, on newsstands now

Tom & Katie’s 1st Year of Marriage

Related Articles

• Born July 3 , 1962 · Syracuse, New York, USA
• Birth name Thomas Cruise Mapother IV
• Height 5′ 7″ (1.70 m)
• In 1976, if you had told fourteen-year-old Franciscan seminary student Thomas Cruise Mapother IV that one day in the not too distant future he would be Tom Cruise, one of the top 100 movie stars of all time, he would have probably grinned and told you that his ambition was to join the priesthood. Nonetheless, this sensitive, deeply religious youngster who was born in 1962 in Syracuse, New York, was destined to become one of the highest paid and most sought after actors in screen history. Tom is the only son (among four children) of nomadic parents, Mary Lee (Pfeiffer), a special education teacher, and Thomas Cruise Mapother III, an electrical engineer. His parents were both from Louisville, Kentucky, and he has German, Irish, and English ancestry. Young Tom spent his boyhood always on the move, and by the time he was 14 he had attended 15 different schools in the U.S. and Canada. He finally settled in Glen Ridge, New Jersey with his mother and her new husband. While in high school, Tom wanted to become a priest but pretty soon he developed an interest in acting and abandoned his plans of becoming a priest, dropped out of school, and at age 18 headed for New York and a possible acting career. The next 15 years of his life are the stuff of legends. He made his film debut with a small part in Endless Love (1981) and from the outset exhibited an undeniable box office appeal to both male and female audiences. With handsome movie star looks and a charismatic smile, within 5 years Tom Cruise was starring in some of the top-grossing films of the 1980s including Top Gun (1986) ; The Color of Money (1986) , Rain Man (1988) and Born on the Fourth of July (1989) . By the 1990s he was one of the highest-paid actors in the world earning an average 15 million dollars a picture in such blockbuster hits as Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles (1994) , Mission: Impossible (1996) and Jerry Maguire (1996) , for which he received an Academy Award Nomination for best actor. Tom Cruise's biggest franchise, Mission Impossible, has also earned a total of 3 billion dollars worldwide. Tom Cruise has also shown lots of interest in producing, with his biggest producer credits being the Mission Impossible franchise. In 1990 he renounced his devout Catholic beliefs and embraced The Church of Scientology claiming that Scientology teachings had cured him of the dyslexia that had plagued him all of his life. A kind and thoughtful man well known for his compassion and generosity, Tom Cruise is one of the best liked members of the movie community. He was married to actress Nicole Kidman until 2001. Thomas Cruise Mapother IV has indeed come a long way from the lonely wanderings of his youth to become one of the biggest movie stars ever. - IMDb Mini Biography By: Tom McDonough, Grant failor
• Spouses Katie Holmes (November 18, 2006 - August 20, 2012) (divorced, 1 child) Nicole Kidman (December 24, 1990 - August 8, 2001) (divorced, 2 children) Mimi Rogers (May 9, 1987 - February 4, 1990) (divorced)
• Children Isabella Jane Cruise Suri Cruise Connor Cruise
• Parents Thomas Mapother III Mary Lee Pfeiffer
• Relatives William Mapother (Cousin) Amy Mapother (Cousin) Katherine Mapother (Cousin) Lee Anne De Vette (Sibling)
• Often plays romantic leading men with an edge
• Often plays characters caught up in extraordinary circumstances
• Frequently plays intelligent yet laidback and likeable characters
• Beaming smile and intense eye contact
• Boundless off-stage energy
• His acting idol is Paul Newman . Much to the delight of Cruise, they became good friends during work on The Color of Money (1986) . Newman got him into racing, and Cruise ultimately raced on his team.
• Stopped to help a hit and run victim and paid her hospital bills. The victim was aspiring Brazilian actress Heloisa Vinhas (1996).
• Insists on performing many of his own stunts in his films, including climbing the exterior of the Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world, during the filming of Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol (2011) , and driving during the car chases in Jack Reacher (2012) .
• Cruise earned roughly $75 million for Mission: Impossible II (2000) . He did this by turning down any upfront salary, for instead taking a back-end deal that landed him 30% of the film's gross for both his producing and acting duties.
• He did not stay for the remainder of the 2002 Academy Awards after opening them because it was his turn to look after his and ex-wife Nicole Kidman 's children. He reportedly left the Kodak Theatre by a back door after opening proceedings and dashed home to watch the rest of the event on television with his kids Connor and Isabella.
• The thing about filmmaking is I give it everything, that's why I work so hard. I always tell young actors to take charge. It's not that hard. Sign your own checks, be responsible.
• [to Jay Leno regarding his topless Vanity Fair cover shoot] I don't drink but I had a beer that night and they only did one setup like that. I'm a cheap date. What can I say?
• [on Eyes Wide Shut (1999) ] We knew from the beginning the level of commitment needed. We felt honored to work with Stanley Kubrick . We were going to do what it took to do this picture, whatever time, because I felt - and Nic [ Nicole Kidman ] did, too - that this was going to be a really special time for us. We knew it would be difficult. But I would have absolutely kicked myself if I hadn't done this.
• I have cooked turkeys in my day but when Mom's around I let her do it.
• I was 18 when I saw Akira Kurosawa 's Seven Samurai (1954) . After about 30 seconds, I realized that this was not just a cultural thing, it was universal. Years later, I read Bushido. It talked about many things that I strive for in my own life: loyalty, compassion, responsibility, the idea of looking back on your life and taking responsibility for everything you've ever done. I'm fascinated by the samurai and the samurai code - it's one of the main reasons I wanted to make The Last Samurai (2003) .
• Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part Two (2025) - $13,000,000 + % of back end
• Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One (2023) - $13,000,000 + % of back end
• Top Gun: Maverick (2022) - $13,000,000 + % of back end
• The Mummy (2017) - $13,000,000 + % of gross
• Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol (2011) - $12,500,000 + % of back end

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clock This article was published more than  7 years ago

‘Warm, charismatic woman’: Tom Cruise’s mother, who inspired him to act, dead at 80

Like many teenagers, Thomas Cruise Mapother IV was lost.

Throughout a tumultuous childhood, which included moving cities several times and an estranged father, sports provided a natural outlet for his pent-up anger, confusion and fear. Then a knee injury in the winter of his senior year of high school ended his burgeoning wrestling career.

That’s when, as People noted , his mom, Mary Lee South, suggested he try out for his Glen Ridge, N.J., high school’s production of “Guys and Dolls.” Heeding his mother’s wisdom, he auditioned and was cast as Nathan Detroit, one of the musical’s major characters.

Weeks later, he had just finished bowing after his first, exhilarating performance. Still warm from bathing in the spotlight, the teenager rushed to his mom and stepfather.

Ex-Scientologists tell disturbing stories about David Miscavige, the ‘pope of Scientology,’ on A&E series

“After the show,” South told Rolling Stone in 1986, “Tom came home and said he wanted to have a talk with my husband and me. He asked for ten years to give show business a try. …  And we both wholeheartedly agreed, because we both felt it was a God-given talent, and he should explore it because he was so enthused about it. So to make a long story short, we gave him our blessing — and the rest is history.”

That history, of course, consisted of Mapother’s move to Hollywood, where he shortened his name to Tom Cruise and became one of the silver screen’s most famous stars. Through all that, he remained close to his mother. He often brought her to movie premieres, and in 2001 The Washington Post’s Reliable Source noted that the two were seen dining at Old Ebbit Grill.

“My mother is a very warm, charismatic woman. Very kind, very generous,” Cruise once told interviewer James Lipton.

South died in her sleep last week, People reported Monday. She was 80 years old.

The weird thing Tom Cruise does during interviews, and other revelations from a celebrity reporter

While that first production was important in Cruise’s development as an actor, perhaps the most important thing he gained from his mother was his tireless work ethic and the virtue of patience. He was 11 years old when his parents divorced, and he wouldn’t see his father again for 10 years, as he told Lipton. Cruise, not yet a teenager, began working to support his mom and three sisters.

“No job was too dirty or difficult for Tommy, as long as it paid money to help his mom out,” neighbor Bill Lewis told Andrew Morton, the author of Cruise’s unauthorized biography .

Meanwhile, his mother took on three part-time jobs, eventually slipping a disk in her back from the stress. “My mom could have sat there every morning and cried and cried,” Cruise said, according to Lewis. “She didn’t. My mom was very proud. She had dignity. She’s going to work hard.”

The family still required federal food stamps to ensure everyone remained fed, certainly a far cry from the dreams of a younger South.

“I was always interested in theater, but I never did anything with it,” South told Rolling Stone. “When I was growing up, if you went to Hollywood, that was really risque. I would have lost my religion, my morals, all those things that young girls thought of back then.”

Cruise seemed to reflect his mother’s interests. “He used to create skits and imitate Donald Duck and Woody Woodpecker and W.C. Fields when he was just a tiny tot. I guess I was his greatest audience,” she said. But he mostly lacked the time to pursue them. He spent the time not dedicated to work and sports with his mother.

“Every night I’d come home, bathe my feet and sit in the family room, and Tom would massage my feet for a half-hour,” South told Rolling Stone. “This went on for six weeks, then Easter came and went, and the Monday after Easter I came home from work expecting the same treatment. And he said, ‘Hey Mom — Lent’s over.'”

Since skyrocketing to fame, Cruise paid his mother back in spades for her sacrifices. As inTouch reported in 2008, he often housed South, his sister Cass and her two children. “He’s very close with his sisters and his mother and he always welcomes his family into his house,” an unnamed source told the magazine.

As for South, she clearly loved seeing her son shine. Thinking back to that first performance, she told Rolling Stone, “I can’t describe the feeling that was there. It was just an incredible experience to see what we felt was a lot of talent coming forth all of a sudden. It had been dormant for so many years — not thought of or talked about or discussed in any way.”

A service, attended by Cruise and his three sisters, was held for South this weekend at her local Church of Scientology.

The Tragic Real-Life Story Of Tom Cruise

Fame and fortune bring with them many perks: freedom from want, tickets to anywhere in the world, the adoration of millions, and immense power in one's chosen field. Tom Cruise has enjoyed his fair share of them all. Described by France24 as the last survivor of the age of the movie star, Cruise has retained his status as an internationally beloved actor for decades, and per the Hollywood Reporter , that has translated into a great deal of authority over the movies he stars in. Couple that kind of success with genuine acting talent and endearing good looks even as he enters his 60s, and it's easy to think that Cruise hasn't a care in the world.

But fame and fortune aren't a cure-all. They can't blot out humble beginnings or past tragedies. They aren't a safeguard against heartbreak and loss. In the publicity-mad world of Hollywood, particularly in the age of the internet, fame and fortune can buy some privacy and security, but not enough to blot out controversy. For all that a four-decade career as an actor has brought him, a closer look reveals that Cruise hasn't always lived such a charmed existence.

He grew up poor, nomadic, and abused

During perhaps the most controversial period of his career, in the early 2000s, Tom Cruise gave a lengthy interview to Parade about his upbringing. He was born on July 3, 1962, in Syracuse, New York, with the birth name of Thomas Cruise Mapother IV. His father held the same name, one generation back, and his mother was Mary Lee. With three sisters to care for along with their son, the Mapothers struggled to make ends meet. Mapother III had no luck keeping down a job as an electrical engineer, and the family was often on the move as he sought work. Mary Lee became the primary breadwinner, working up to three jobs at a time to keep the family going.

But if Mapother III didn't provide, he exercised control over his family in other ways. In " Tom Cruise: An Unauthorized Biography ," Andrew Morton suggests that the father's handling of his son crossed the line from tough love into physical abuse more than once. And apart from any life lessons, the actor recalled that when life didn't go his father's way, he took it out on those around him. "[My father] was the kind of person where, if something goes wrong, they kick you," he told Parade. "He was a bully and a coward."

If you or someone you know may be the victim of child abuse, please contact the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child (1-800-422-4453) or contact their live chat services .

He was bullied for his dyslexia

Bullies can latch onto anything to use as an attack, and the young Tom Cruise gave them plenty of ammunition, according to his 2006 Parade interview. He was often the new kid; being part of a family that was always moving, Cruise claimed he went to 15 schools in 12 years (Andrew Morton gives the number as five in " Tom Cruise: An Unauthorized Biography "). Coming from a poor family, he wore the "wrong" clothes. He was on the short side even then – a fact that didn't deter Cruise from fighting back against the bullies who came for him. "I never liked hitting someone, but I know if I don't hit that guy hard he's going to pick on me all year," he recalled.

One of the biggest targets on Cruise's back was his struggles in the classroom. From an early age, he found it impossible to read and ended up in remedial classes, attracting more attention from bullies. He was 7 years old by the time a school-referred psychiatrist diagnosed him with dyslexia. Having a name for the problem didn't immediately solve it, however. Cruise found the experience of being "labeled" upsetting, and he later traced his rejection of psychiatry as a science to this early diagnosis.

He's had to work since he was 8

Lots of kids pick up odd jobs around the neighborhood. Maybe they take them on for a lark, or maybe they aim to pick up a little spending money for candy, games, or outings. For a young Tom Cruise, odd jobs were how he paid for movie tickets, which were a passion of his from age 4 on, according to People (via CNBC ). In the days before home video, YouTube, and streaming, the only way to take in the movies was at the theater, so a portion of Cruise's income from mowing lawns, delivering papers, and other bits of work went to the box office.

Circumstances wouldn't allow him to sink all his earnings into movie tickets, however. Money was so tight for Cruise's household that, on one occasion, they forwent Christmas presents and gave each other poems instead. Cruise's mother attempted to keep up with multiple jobs, but any contribution her children could make was welcome and often needed. So a portion of Cruise's income from his neighborhood tasks went toward the necessities of life.

His dreams of priesthood were undone by vice

These days, Tom Cruise can hardly be mentioned without some reference to the Church of Scientology, of which he is so prominently – and so controversially – a part. But Cruise grew up in a traditional Catholic household, and well into his college years, Catholicism is where he sought spirituality. For a time, according to Andrew Morton's " Tom Cruise: An Unauthorized Biography ," Cruise entertained the idea of becoming a Franciscan priest. To that end, he enrolled in the St. Francis Seminary of Cincinnati, though the appeal wasn't entirely a matter of faith. "We didn't have the money back then, and I went for the education for a year, and it was free," Cruise later explained.

The experience of seminary was apparently a happy one for Cruise. Sports, hobby shops, and even the discipline of boarding school life appealed to him. Maintaining that discipline proved a challenge, however, when there was no shortage of local girls. Cruise, even then, possessed the gift of charm. He would later say that women were too appealing to sacrifice even to the Franciscan order, and he and the seminary have claimed that he left voluntarily. 

But a friend from St. Francis, Shane Dempler, insisted to the Cincinnati Seminal that Cruise's priestly ambitions were genuine. The real end to that dream, said Dempler, came when he and Cruise were caught robbing the Franciscans of their booze.

His father's unhappy end

The abuse that Thomas Cruise Mapother III inflicted on his family came to a head in 1974. This, writes Andrew Morton in " Tom Cruise: An Unauthorized Biography ," is when Mapother's verbal attacks, secret drinking, and instability became too much for his wife Mary Lee. In a momentous decision for a devout Catholic woman of her generation, she took the children, left Mapother, and filed for divorce. It was a significant financial gamble as well as a personal upheaval; Mapother was not prepared to provide child support.

Tom Cruise, 12 at the time, did not mourn his father's absence from home. When Mapother followed his family to Kentucky and attempted to reach out to his son, Cruise firmly rejected him. Morton writes that, when Mapother remarried, Cruise put in a dutiful appearance at the ceremony. Once it was over, he abstained from all contact with his father, his new stepmother, and his stepsiblings.

Some effort at reconciliation was made in the 1980s, after Cruise's acting career had begun. By then, Mapother was gravely ill, wasting away from cancer in his late 40s. He imposed a condition on the reunion: no questions about the past. Cruise accepted his father's terms and met with him in the hospital. Later, he could only describe the final encounter as "sad."

His first marriage was brief but consequential

Tom Cruise hasn't hesitated to defend Scientology , as in an infamous " 60 Minutes Australia " interview. He credits it with helping him overcome his learning disabilities. But as more details of the organization's unsavory practices have emerged over the years, Cruise's membership in Scientology and the role it plays in his life have been fodder for rumor, tabloid gossip, and investigative books and documentaries.

According to The Hollywood Reporter , Cruise joined Scientology during his first marriage, to Mimi Rogers. While he maintains that he didn't join because of Rogers, she did bring him into a family with longstanding ties. Rogers' parents had connections to L. Ron Hubbard himself. As a means to grow his following (per Andrew Morton in " Tom Cruise ") Hubbard developed "Project Celebrity," a targeted recruitment of the famous, once-famous, or soon-to-be-famous. Cruise's star was on the rise when he and Rogers got together in the 1980s, and church head David Miscavige saw the acquisition of such a hot up-and-comer as a coup at a precarious time in Scientology's history (per Morton ).

According to Lawrence Wright's " Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, and the Prison of Belief ," Rogers became a hindrance to Scientology's ambitions for Cruise. While she helped to bring him in, her family was no longer in good standing with the church – not the sort of people to help its profile. The marriage was already troubled, but church "mediators" helped to push Cruise and Rogers apart in 1990.

He almost left the Church Of Scientology

From its very beginning, Scientology has attracted chilling accusations. Ex-member Leah Remini's A&E series "Scientology and the Aftermath" was an often damning insight into many of the charges, including fraud, extortion, obstruction of justice, intimidation of critics, and brainwashing. Remini described Tom Cruise as brainwashed when promoting her series through Variety , though she also stated to The Daily Beast that Cruise is well aware of the truth of the organization.

Cruise has never claimed to be brainwashed and never acknowledged any uncouth practices by his religion. He hasn't spoken of any issues he has with the church either. But according to The Daily Beast , after his first marriage to Mimi Rogers ended and he became romantically involved with Nicole Kidman in the 1990s, Cruise's attachment to Scientology wavered. In part, this was due to his infatuation with Kidman; the attraction had already led him away from his first marriage. Kidman became a Scientologist for Cruise, but when she reached her limit with the church and its leader, David Miscavige, Cruise appeared to follow her lead.

Another factor keeping Cruise away from Scientology was Stanley Kubrick – or rather, the filming of Kubrick's "Eyes Wide Shut" in England. The record-breaking 46-week shoot meant that Cruise and Kidman were out of easy reach of Miscavige, and away from the household staff who spied on them on his behalf. But Miscavige, who coveted Cruise as a tempting lure for recruits, was unwilling to let him go.

Scientology brought down his second marriage

Tom Cruise was deeply in love with Nicole Kidman when they first met and worked together (per The Daily Beast ) and the Church of Scientology was there to fan the flames. Journalist Tony Ortega is quoted by the Beast as saying that the organization's leaders felt their romance would be a passing fancy, a way to separate Cruise from his then-wife Mimi Rogers and her family of disreputable church members. Cruise becoming so committed to Kidman that he eventually married her was unexpected – and unwelcome.

Like Cruise, Kidman came from a Catholic background and once entertained a lifetime of service within a Catholic order. But Kidman's father was also a prominent psychologist, a profession that is among the great evils inflicting humanity according to Scientology's teachings. Even worse was her stepping into Scientology, leaving, and taking Cruise with her. Sources have claimed that church head David Miscavige personally ordered an operation to sink Cruise and Kidman's marriage and get the star back in the church.

The lengths Scientology went to break up the couple included sending private investigators after Kidman, tapping her phones (allegedly on Cruise's wish), and subjecting Cruise himself to relentless "auditing." This practice, a thorough drilling of a subject on intimate details about their lives, is among Scientology's most powerful tools for retaining control over its members according to HuffPost . The church's efforts came together just as they had in Cruise's relationship with Rogers; he filed for divorce in 2001.

He and Nicole Kidman lost a child

After filing for divorce from Nicole Kidman, Tom Cruise insisted to Vanity Fair (via E! News ), "She knows why, and I know why." But according to Andrew Morton's " Tom Cruise: An Unauthorized Biography ," Cruise's request – delivered by a third party – was a shocking turn for his wife. She tried to enter marriage counseling, as offered by the Church of Scientology according to Lawrence Wright's " Going Clear, " but Cruise was not receptive. Complicating matters for Kidman was her learning that she was pregnant with the child of the man so coldly leaving her.

Early on in their marriage, according to Kidman in a Marie Claire interview, she and Cruise were expecting. But it was an ectopic pregnancy, a condition where the fertilized egg attaches outside the uterus. It was a devastating experience for Kidman, and per Morton , doctors suggested that the couple should avoid trying for another baby. Years later, at the end of her relationship with Cruise, Kidman miscarried. Cruise, writes Morton , "sent flowers but did not visit her at the hospital."

Anger and trauma have disrupted his relationships

Divorce and childhood trauma can breed deep unhappiness in people, affecting their ability to emote and connect. Eileen Berlin, Tom Cruise's first personal manager from 1980 to 1983, suspects that to be true of her former client. In an interview with the Daily Mail in 2012, she remembered the Cruise she first met as an explosive young man. Though he could be, in her words, "sweet, respectful, and mannerly to a fault," Cruise was also prone to flying off the handle. As innocuous a gift as a photo album with clippings from fan magazines could set him off.

Cruise's anger didn't always come out fast and hot. Sometimes he made constructive use of it, as in his early role in "Taps." At other times, it manifested as a wall of resistance. "He was so private," said Berlin. "He couldn't show his true feelings. You would get so far and he would close down." For Berlin, who put Cruise up in her apartment for several months in 1980, the most obvious source of this reserve and her client's mood swings was lingering resentment toward his father. It was the same issue, says Berlin, that opened Cruise up to the overtures of Scientology.

His estrangement from his youngest daughter

During their 10-year marriage, Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman adopted two children, according to The Daily Beast : Isabella and Connor. After Cruise's divorce from her, Kidman was marked by the Church of Scientology as a "Suppressive Person," those the church regards as antisocial personalities standing in the way of members' spiritual development. Such persons are to be avoided, or "disconnected" from. Not only did Cruise disconnect from his former wife, but his children (who have since been raised as Scientologists) were subjected to "reeducation" to see their mother in that light. For her part, Kidman told the Sun in 2019 that she and her children with Cruise were re-connecting.

Years later, after Cruise's brief and well-publicized marriage to Katie Holmes ended in a filing for divorce by Holmes that caught her husband off-guard, the shoe was on the other foot. In another article for The Daily Beast , Amy Zimmerman reports it was fear of Scientology's potential influence over their daughter, Suri , that helped motivate Holmes to leave Cruise. It was a fact he was reluctant to say aloud during legal proceedings, but he eventually had to concede the point. And despite his claims to the contrary, entertainment reporters suggest that Cruise has often been absent from Suri's life since the divorce.

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Home » Family Tree » Tom Cruise Family Tree Father, Mother Name Pictures

Tom Cruise Family Tree Father, Mother Name Pictures

The American actor and filmmaker, Tom Cruise was born on July 3, 1962 to Mary Lee and Thomas Cruise Mapother III. He began his acting career with film Endless Love in 1981 and gained his first lead role in 1983 film Risky Business. Tom gained wider international fame in 1986 with film Top Gun and has went on to become one of the biggest movie stars in Hollywood. Throughout his career, Tom Cruise has starred in numerous critically and commercially successful films such as The Color of Money, Rain Man, Magnolia, Minority Report, War of the Worlds, Jack Reacher, Knight and Day, A Few Good Man, Vanilla Sky, Oblivion, Edge of Tomorrow and Mission Impossible film series. In his personal life, Tom Cruise has been married three times so far, first with Mimi Rogers, second with Nicole Kidman and third with Katie Holmes, all of which ended with a divorce. He also has three children, two of which are adopted and one biological.

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Given here are complete details about Tom Cruise family tree including his father, mother, siblings, wife and children names and pictures.

Complete Name: Thomas Cruise

Date of Birth: July 3, 1962

Birth Place: Syracuse, New York, United States

Occupation: Actor, Filmmaker

Father Name: Thomas Mapother III

Mother Name: Mary Lee Pfeiffer

Siblings: Lee Ann Mapother, Cass Mapother, Marian Mapother

Spouse: Katie Holmes (m. 2006–2012), Nicole Kidman (m. 1990–2001), Mimi Rogers (m. 1987–1990)

Children: Suri Cruise, Isabella Jane Cruise, Connor Cruise

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Facts of Jack South

Jack South was famous as a stepdad of Hollywood top actor Tom Cruise . South was a World War II veteran . 

He was married to his ex-wife (Tom’s mom) for 32 years

South married Mary Lee Pfeiffer in 1978 , following her divorce from her first husband in 1974 . They first met at an electronics convention where South worked in plastics. 

South accepted not only her but also her four children, whom she shared with her ex-husband Thomas Mapother III and helped in raising them. 

Tom was sixteen at the time of their marriage. When Tom Cruise sought their approval for pursuing his acting career, both South and Marry Lee supported his decision wholeheartedly and gave their blessing because they knew that it was God-gifted talent. 

South provided Cruise with a loan of $850 , which Cruise later paid back.

Marriage began to fall apart after his wife converted to Scientology 

Everything was going well in the lives of South and Mary Lee until she converted to Scientology. 

The marriage began to fall apart after Cruise’s then-wife, Katie Holmes , gave birth to their daughter Suri in April 2006 . 

The couple flew to Los Angeles to meet their granddaughter. Marry Le served as Suri Cruise’s nanny until his divorce from Katie Holmes and was later immersed in Scientology. 

But Jack , who was a devout catholic , denied converting into Scientology. According to the sources, South flew back to his home Marco Island, Florida , alone, and Mary never returned. 

Later in 2010 , South filed for divorce, citing irreconcilable differences , and according to the divorce documents, the address of Mary Lee was a Scientology-owned building in Clearwater, Fla . Their divorce was finalized in 2012 .

Cause of death

South was diagnosed with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, which causes airflow blockage and breathing-related problems, and was hospitalized two weeks before his last breath. 

He passed away on the 25th of July, 2015 , at 89 . His ex-spouse and stepson neither attended him on his death bed nor his funeral

South's health was getting worse two weeks before his death, but not even a day Cruise paid a visit to him.

A few weeks before his death, he gave an emotional interview where he admitted to not being visited by his stepson, whom he claimed of knowing before he was Tom . 

He said it had been a while he had not seen him and would rather not go into that because he was taking care of himself the best he could. 

Even when he was counting his last breath, they did not show up. It was not the case of Tom’s busy schedule, but at the time, Tom was partying in Nashville, Tennessee , when he was being treated at Frances Georgeson Hospice House in Naples, Florida . 

The surprising thing is that they even did not make it to his funeral. Whatever may be the reason, he was the one who loved his ex-spouse Mary Lee and accepted her children wholeheartedly, and supported Cruise in his career. 

Only his step-daughter Marian Henry and grandson Cal attended his funeral.

What did Tom say about him?

Tom once said feeling threatened by his stepdad in the beginning, but, he also said he was such a wise, smart man who loved his mother to the depth that he took all four young people with him. 

He also added he and his stepdad would bet on football games and described him as a terrible bettor. 

After Tom visited his father, Thomas , who died of cancer in 1984 , he said that his later father felt remorse for a lot that had happened. 

According to him, his late father, Thomas , whom he considered a Bully, was a person who did not have a huge influence in his teen days and admitted to receiving the values and motivation from his stepdad.

Net Worth 

Since Jack is no more in this world, we have the net worth of his stepson Tom Cruise who has amassed a jaw-dropping fortune from his glittering career which is:

• He passed away at the age of 89 .

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Why Tom Cruise's Relationship With His Father Completely Fell Apart When He Was Young

Tom Cruise's toxic relationship with his dad has ended with the movie star branding him a "coward" and a "bully".

When thinking about Tom Cruise , most people envision all of the highly successful films he has starred in or the stories about the insane stunts he has performed over the years. While there is no doubt that all of those thoughts are valid considering everything Cruise has accomplished, there is another aspect of the actor that sometimes doesn’t get enough attention.

Related: 10 Stunts Tom Cruise Hurt Himself Pulling Off

After several years of coming across as the perfect movie star, Tom Cruise wound up being embroiled in a long list of controversies. Once the shadier side of Cruise came to light, some people realized the movie star is a complicated human being just like everyone else. With that in mind, it is fascinating to look at Cruise’s background more and try to figure out how he became the person he is today. Sadly, when looking at Cruise’s childhood, it quickly becomes clear that he was brought up in a tragic situation.

How Tom Cruise Was Mistreated By His Father

Throughout this major movie star’s career, he has always gone by the name Tom Cruise. In reality, however, he was given the name Thomas Cruise Mapother IV at birth. Born to an electrical engineer named Thomas III and a special education teacher named Mary, Cruise should have been able to enjoy a perfectly fine childhood.

Related: What Was Tom Cruise's Life Like Before He Became Famous?

Sadly, when Tom Cruise spoke to Parade in 2006, he revealed exactly why he had a tragic childhood and that reason is very simple, his father. After all, based on how Cruise described his father during that interview, he was the kind of dad that nobody should ever have to cope with.

As he revealed during the aforementioned interview, Tom Cruise's father "was a bully and a coward ... the kind of person where, if something goes wrong, they kick you. It was a great lesson in my life - how he'd lull you in, make you feel safe and then, bang!" On top of describing his father in that way, Cruise also explained how he concluded that he needed to act around his dad. "'There's something wrong with this guy. Don't trust him. Be careful around him.' There's that anxiety."

Related: Jennette McCurdy Says She Was Brainwashed By Her Mom Growing Up

After being estranged from his father for many years, Tom Cruise reunited with his dad as the elder was in the final stages of his life. According to Cruise, his dad only agreed to see him under strict rules. "In the hospital dying of cancer, and he would only meet me on the basis that I didn't ask him anything about the past." After agreeing to that rule, Cruise met with his father and to his credit, the movie star still had empathy for his dad despite their history. "When I saw him in pain, I thought, 'Wow, what a lonely life. He was in his late 40s. It was sad."

In an ideal world, any kid that is dealing with an abusive parent would quickly escape that situation. In reality, however, that isn’t the case far too often. In Tom Cruise’s case, for example, he dealt with his dad throughout his childhood and also had to cope with being targeted by bullies at school. `"So many times the big bully comes up, pushes me," he recalled. "Your heart's pounding, you sweat, and you feel like you're going to vomit ... I don't like bullies."

Tom Cruise’s Relationship With His Own Kids

Considering the clearly negative relationship that Tom Cruise had with his father, it certainly is possible that echoes of that dynamic could play out in the way he interacts with his own kids. Conversely, it is equally possible that Cruise could have learned from the negative experiences he had as a child and done everything he could to be the kind of dad he wanted when he was young.

On the bright side, there are absolutely no indications that Tom Cruise treats his kids anything like the way his dad treated him when he was young. On top of that, Cruise has a good relationship with his eldest children , Connor and Isabella, from his marriage to Nicole Kidman. In fact, when there were rumors that Tom and Isabella were estranged in 2016, his daughter spoke to The Daily Mail and bluntly refuted the conjecture. “Of course [we talk], they’re my parents. Anyone who says otherwise is full of s **t.”

Sadly, when it comes to Tom Cruise’s relationship with his youngest daughter Suri, there have been rumors that the duo has been estranged for many years at this point. At times, it has seemed like Tom has confirmed the rocky relationship he has with Suri as he once admitted that ex-wife Katie Holmes keeps their daughter away from Scientology. On top of that, Tom once admitted to not seeing Suri in person once in 100 days. That said, since Tom rarely talks about his personal life, it is also is entirely possible that he and Suri have grown close in recent years without the tabloids knowing it.

Next: Little-Known Facts About Tom Cruise’s Relationship With Daughter, Suri

Inside Tom Cruise's close bond with loyal son Connor who is estranged from mother Nicole Kidman

 the young cruise has frequently been spotted by tom's side.

As Tom Cruise continues to dominate the silver screen, securing his place as one of the most iconic actors of our era, he finds unwavering support from a very special family member—his son, Connor Cruise .

Connor, who Tom adopted with his then-wife Nicole Kidman during the 1990s, is now 29 and renowned for his steadfast loyalty to his father. 

The young Cruise has frequently been spotted by Tom's side, especially prominent during last year's promotion of the latest Mission Impossible installment in New York City. Alongside Connor was his sister, Lee Ann, marking a familial show of support for Tom’s cinematic ventures.

Currently residing in Florida, Connor has chosen to stay close to Tom following the high-profile divorce from Nicole in 2001. 

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He and his sister, Isabella, aged 31, were both raised within the Church of Scientology—a faith from which Nicole distanced herself post-divorce. 

This upbringing appears to have influenced the siblings' current relationship with their mother; they haven’t been publicly seen with Nicole since 2007, suggesting a complex family dynamic.

Despite the potential rift, Connor leads a relatively discreet life, away from the high-wattage glare of Hollywood. 

Residing within a Scientology community in Clearwater, Florida, he immerses himself in hobbies like deep-sea fishing—a passion frequently showcased on his Instagram with proud displays of his catches. 

Connor’s upbringing was peppered with travel and outdoor activities, as he reminisced in a 2016 interview with PEOPLE about the frequent fishing trips with his parents.

"My family means everything," Connor said, reflecting his deep-seated values. This close-knit bond is visible as he accompanies his father across the globe for various film promotions, maintaining a solid father-son relationship despite his low-key lifestyle.

Connor's interests aren’t confined to the sea; he is also an avid golfer and a culinary enthusiast. 

In 2021, he launched an Instagram account, Connor's Meat Shack, where he shares his barbeque exploits, specializing in everything from wagyu to brisket. Although the account had a hiatus, Connor reassured his followers recently that he is still passionate about cooking, posting an appetizing photo of BBQ ribs.

Despite his understated existence, Connor’s presence alongside Tom at public events, like the Mission Impossible film promotions, underscores the strong bond between them. 

At one such event in July 2023, Connor, dressed in casual attire, was seen with his aunt, Lee Ann Mapother. Their appearance highlighted the supportive family backdrop that defines Tom’s life.

Meanwhile, Connor remains connected with his sister, Bella, who lives in London with her husband. He affectionately shares throwback photos of them on Instagram, describing them as "Day One homies."

Nicole Kidman's relationship with Connor Cruise

The narrative of Connor and Bella's relationship with their mother, Nicole, is tinged with complexity. 

While Nicole was not present at Connor's 2019 wedding to Silvia Zanchi—a Scientology ceremony—rumors swirled about the alleged restrictions due to Nicole's supposed status as a "suppressive person" within Scientology. 

These rumors were fueled by insights from former Scientology insiders, who suggested that the church’s policies might have strained familial ties.

Despite these challenges, Nicole has spoken about her unconditional love for both Connor and Bella, respecting their life choices and their commitment to Scientology. This maternal affection shines through, even if publicly, the family seems fragmented.

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Katie Holmes’ Father Plotted Escape From Tom Cruise Marriage Like Covert Operation

It was a real-life ‘Mission Impossible.’ As details leak out about Katie Holmes’ shocking divorce plan, it’s revealed that her lawyer father Martin Holmes arranged for new cell phones, bodyguards, assistants and an apartment in months of secret planning. Here’s the details!

Katie Holmes filed for divorce from Tom Cruise on June 28, and according to a new report, Martin Holmes “helped orchestrate his daughter’s sudden split” from Tom!

Tom, 50, was allegedly blindsided by Katie’s decision to file for divorce. “She was talking to Tom on the phone up until last week, saying ‘I love you,’” a source tells People.

But Katie allegedly wanted to leave Tom for quite a while! “Her inner circle has been planning this and switching out cell phones since she was in China [in mid-June],” adds the source. “When new cell phones arrived, then nobody could reach her. Her old best friends from last week don’t have her new number, no email. She’s unreachable.”

Katie, 33, also reportedly rented her brand-new apartment in New York City in early June! “[Tom] knew that she moved there, but [he thought it was] for different reasons,” says the source.

“She said she moved there to drive into the underground garage. There are fewer paparazzi and it’s less intrusive for her,” adds the source. “It was the first phase of getting everything out of the house, and that’s why she was able to say she’s moving without giving an indication that she was going to divorce him.”

Then, last week, Katie’s father, Martin Holmes, 67, arrived in New York and helped his daughter clean house, firing her staff and taking control shortly before Katie filed for divorce in New York City!

Martin is said to be the one who put the “wheels in motion” when Katie decided to divorce Tom after five years of marriage!

It’s long been reported that Martin was never happy with Katie’s decision to marry Tom! But Katie told Vanity Fair in 2006 that “some of the crap that’s out there – the stuff that’s said about my parents and my siblings not hitting it off with Tom, it’s really frustrating.”

True or not, Katie’s parents, Martin and Kathleen Holmes , are both allegedly happy with Katie’s decision to leave Tom. In fact, they are reportedly very happy to have “the old Katie back.”

What do YOU think, HollywoodLifers ? Did Katie’s dad orchestrate her split from Tom?

– Chris Rogers

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More Katie:

Tom Cruise Headed To US: First Time Seeing Katie Holmes Since Divorce Filing

Controlling Tom Cruise Forbade Katie Holmes From ‘Dawson’s Creek’ Reunion

Katie Holmes Wears Heels Again — Free From 5′ 7″ Tom Cruise

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Connor Cruise: Tom Cruise's 'incredibly loyal' and 'very well-liked' son lives a low key life

L OS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Tom Cruise , the Hollywood superstar, is said to have an unwavering pillar of support in his son, Connor Cruise.

Corner was the second child adopted during Cruise's marriage to Nicole Kidman on January 17, 1995, shortly after his birth after Bella Kidman Cruise, now 31, who was adopted on December  22, 1992.

Connor, now 29, leads a quiet life in Florida. Despite his low-profile lifestyle, he often accompanies his father on promotional tours worldwide, reflecting his "incredible loyalty" to his father, reports Daily Mail.

Connor Cruise's  life away from the limelight

Connor reportedly chose to live with Tom following his parents' divorce in 2001. Raised in the Church of Scientology, Connor and his sister, Bella, maintain a close relationship with their father.

However, their relationship with their mother, Nicole Kidman, appears strained as they have not been seen in public with her since 2007.

Connor lives in Clearwater, Florida, within a Scientology community, dedicating much of his time to fishing.

"Connor has a pretty simple life in Clearwater," a source told People in 2018, adding "He lives in his own home in a Scientology community. His life is deep-sea fishing. He has a lot of friends and seems very well-liked."

Tom Cruise's son Corner Cruise has a passion for fishing and love for music

Connor's Instagram account gives a glimpse into his life where he occasionally posts pictures of his impressive catches.

He also runs a separate account dedicated to his barbecuing business, Connor's Meatshack.

An avid deep-sea fisherman, Connor attributes this passion to his travels with his parents during childhood.

"We used to go fishing a lot when I was a little kid," he told People in 2016. "I was blessed to travel the world as a young kid and now I'm traveling the world working," he added.

Connor Cruise's close bond with Tom Cruise and sister Bella Cruise 

Despite his modest lifestyle in Florida, Connor remains incredibly close to his father, Tom, and has been spotted in public with the Hollywood titan as recently as last summer.

In July 2023, Connor was seen alongside his aunt, Tom Cruise's sister Lee Ann, supporting him in New York during the promotional tour for the latest 'Mission Impossible' film.

He also maintains a close relationship with his sister Bella who lives in London with her IT manager husband.

As for his relationship with his mother, Nicole Kidman, Connor appears not to interact with her in public and does not follow her on Instagram.

It has previously been reported that, although Kidman and Cruise were awarded joint custody of the children in their divorce settlement, Connor and Bella chose to live with their father and remain members of Scientology.

Nicole Kidman's Life Time achievement award and absence of adopted children 

Nicole Kidman received a Lifetime Achievement Award on April 27, from the American Film Institute.

Kidman was accomplished by her husband, Keith Urban, and their daughters -- Sunday Rose, 15, and Faith Margaret, 13 -- in a rare red carpet appearance at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood.

Expressing her excitement she told ET, that she was happy to be joined by her girls, who "are old enough now to be able to come and know what this is" and also called them "loves of her life."  However, Bella and Corner did not attend it.

Connor tied the knot with his Italian partner, Silvia Zanchi, in a Scientology ceremony in 2019, with his mother conspicuously missing from the event.

While Bella expressed appreciation for her mother's Instagram post about the gong by liking it, Connor did not publicly recognize his mother's achievement.

Despite reported rifts, Nicole has expressed her unconditional love for Connor and Bella, even though they've chosen to be Scientologists. "I know 150 percent that I would give up my life for my children because it's what my purpose is," she told The Hollywood Reporter in 2018.

"They have made choices to be Scientologists and as a mother, it's my job to love them," she said. 

Is the Church of Scientology the reason for Nicole Kidman being distant from her elder children?

The church of Scientology may be the reason for the distance between Nicole and her older children as Daily Mail noted. 

It cited ex-Scientology member Leah Remini's book 'Troublemaker: Surviving Hollywood and Scientology' which claims that Nicole was labeled a "suppressive person" by the church after leaving.

Also noting, Ron Miscavige, father of Scientology leader David, has spoken about the "toxic" policy of "disconnection" within the church.

When Connor got married in a Scientology ceremony, Nicole was notably absent due to her status as a "suppressive person."

Connor himself has denied any rift with his mother, noting their strong bond. In Connor's words, "I don't care what people say. I know that me and mum are solid. I love her a lot. My family means everything," he said in 2014.

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Tom Cruise’s kids: Meet his 3 children including 16-year-old daughter Suri

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Tom Cruise may keep quiet about his kids, but the “Top Gun: Maverick” actor is a father of three.

The Golden Globe winner became a parent while married to Nicole Kidman from 1990 to 2001.

After struggling to conceive, the former couple adopted daughter Isabella and son Connor in 1992 and 1995, respectively.

Amid their divorce, the “Big Little Lies” alum suffered an ectopic pregnancy . After splitting from Cruise and moving on with Keith Urban , Kidman later welcomed daughters Sunday and Faith via surrogate.

As for Cruise, he moved on with Katie Holmes in 2005. The duo welcomed their daughter, Suri, in April 2006, seven months before tying the knot in Italy.

Holmes filed for divorce from the Oscar nominee in June 2012, and their divorce was settled the following month. Keep scrolling to meet Cruise’s kids.

Isabella Jane Cruise

Kidman and Cruise adopted Isabella shortly after she was born in 1992, and their daughter has followed in the “Mission: Impossible” star’s Scientologist footsteps.

In a March 2019 newsletter for the organization, Isabella thanked her dad “for everything.”

Although Kidman keeps quiet about her relationship with Isabella, she did speak about her adult children in a November 2018 Who interview .

“They are adults,” the Emmy winner said of Isabella and Connor at the time. “They are able to make their own decisions.

“ They have made choices to be Scientologists and as a mother, it’s my job to love them,” she continued.

“I know 150 percent that I would give up my life for my children because it’s what my purpose is.”

Connor Anthony Kidman Cruise

Connor was also raised in the Church of Scientology after being adopted in 1995.

Cruise and Kidman’s adult son is active on social media and has documented his fishing trips, his new buzzcut hairstyle and more.

Over the years, Connor and his dad have been photographed on rare outings.

The duo watched basketball games together in Connor’s younger years, and have more recently been spotted boarding a helicopter and hanging out on the “Jack Reacher” set.

Suri Cruise

Holmes gave birth to Suri in 2006 and has maintained a close bond with her daughter.

The “Dawson’s Creek” alum told Town & Country in 2017 that she provides the little one with a “stable and innocent” childhood .

Cruise, however, still has “no part” of his youngest child’s life , a source exclusively told Page Six in March 2022.

In a 2012 defamation lawsuit against Bauer Media, the “Jerry Maguire” star said he didn’t see Suri for three months after his and Holmes’ breakup.

“Listen, when there is a divorce … things change,” Cruise said. “It’s not an ideal situation.”

Ex-Scientologist Leah Remini has asserted that Cruise “can’t be connected” to Suri because Holmes is considered a “suppressive person” or “enemy” in the religion.

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