Tom Cruise might love his adoring fans and isn’t shy about spending time with them,
but he also values his privacy, and usually keeps his romantic life on the down-low. Let's
take a look inside his super secretive love life.
Before Tom Cruise, the movie star, there was Tom Mapother, the high school senior. It would
be another four years before the 18-year-old stripped down to tighty-whities and slid his
way into superstardom. However, the crooked grin and easy charm were already evident.
Diane Cox noticed both when she first met Cruise at their 1979 high school prom.
Cox told The Washington Post,
"I came out of the bathroom and with a bottle of booze and a huge grin, he was waiting there."
As Cruise started auditioning for roles, they began spending more and more time apart. However,
absence didn't make the heart grow fonder, and before long, the green-eyed monster reared
its head.
"There's something missing here, don't you think?"
Cox told The Post,
"He got very jealous, very overprotective. The intensity of the whole personality of
Tom really put me off."
They eventually split after Cruise discovered Cox was seeing somebody else.
Tom Mapother kept his love life secretive even before he became the world-famous film
star Tom Cruise. Despite dumping his high school sweetheart for seeing somebody behind
his back, it appears Cruise was also sowing his wild oats during their relationship. While
living in Los Angeles as a struggling actor, Cruise regularly enjoyed a Hollywood hook-up,
courtesy of Melissa Gilbert. The Little House on the Prairie star spilled the Tom Cruise
tea during an appearance on Bravo's Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen, confirming
the two dated.
She said,
“It was when he first moved to Los Angeles, and I think I was 16."
If Gilbert was 16 at the time, then it would have been 1980, and Cruise would have been
one year into his two-year-long relationship with Diane Cox.
When Cohen pushed Gilbert for more details, Gilbert insisted,
"I did not have sex with him. We made out, but, honestly, there was no sex."
Back in 1983, Tom Cruise may have had the moves like Jagger on screen, but he failed
to make the cut when it came to busting-a-move off-camera. Heather Locklear gave the lowdown
on her cringe-worthy night out with Tom Cruise — and his dirty dancing debacle — during
a 2013 Chelsea Lately interview.
After insisting it wasn't really a date, Locklear spilled on the evening she spent with Cruise.
She said that after they'd finished a joint audition, they ended up hitting the town together
because the actor didn't really know anybody in Los Angeles.
Locklear claimed that it all started to go rapidly downhill after Cruise decided to re-enact
his infamous Risky Business semi-naked dance scene.
Locklear said,
"You know in Risky Business where he does that dance in his underwear and does the splits?
We were dancing in a club, and he went into that. [...] You just kinda stand there and
don't know what to do.”
When Handler asked if her night out with Cruise was just a one-date wonder, Locklear replied
hesitantly,
"I think so."
The release of Risky Business in 1983 propelled Tom Cruise to fame. It wasn't just his movie
career that was started, though. The film also sparked a two-year-plus passionate relationship
with Cruise's co-star, Rebecca De Mornay.
De Mornay, 23, played a call girl who honed 19-year-old Cruise's bedroom skills—then
helped turn his parents' house into a brothel while they were away on vacay. Their onscreen
chemistry was electric, but they didn't start dating until after filming wrapped.
De Mornay told Celebrity Page,
"I thought he was very annoying when we first started. He was extremely annoying. But he
came to grow on me because we wound up together for two-and-a-half years."
As far as unexpected Hollywood couplings go, you can file Tom Cruise and Cher under B for
bizarre. The Daily Mail reports that the unlikely lovers met at Sean Penn and Madonna's wedding
in 1985. At the time, 23-year-old Cruise was just a few years into his career, but 38-year-old
Cher was already a hugely successful superstar. According to The Washington Post, things took
a romantic turn after seeing each other a second time, at a White House function two
months later.
Cher told the Daily Mail there was an immediate spark, but they, quote, "didn't go out till
way later." However, once they started dating, things turned pretty serious, pretty quickly.
She dished more during a "Truth or Cher" game on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen
in 2013. After being asked where Tom Cruise ranks on her all-time best lover list, Cher
replied,
"Well, he was in the top five."
Mimi Rogers drastically changed Tom Cruise's life course after introducing him to Scientology.
Cruise told Rolling Stone in June 1986 that he'd met Rogers at a dinner party a year previously.
He admitted,
"She was dating a friend, and, uh, I thought she was extremely bright."
In May 1987, the two married in a super-secret ceremony. People reported that "the wedding
was very small, intimate and beautiful" and that Emilio Estevez acted as best man.
Cruise admitted that Mimi introduced him to the controversial religion but insisted that
he joined on his own accord. Tom Cruise went on to develop an intense, long-term relationship
with Scientology. But his marriage didn't fare as well — the couple split in January
1990.
When Days of Thunder started filming in 1989, Tom Cruise instantly sparked with Nicole Kidman,
despite being married to his first wife, Mimi Rogers. Kidman was equally dazzled by her
handsome leading man.
She told Vanity Fair,
"He basically swept me off my feet. I fell madly, passionately in love."
In December 1990, Kidman became the second Mrs. Cruise. For a while, Cruise and Kidman
were Hollywood's golden couple. They adopted a couple of kids and starred in two more movies
together, Far and Away and Eyes Wide Shut. But by February 2001, it was over. Cruise
filed for divorce after 10 years of marriage, citing "irreconcilable differences," per Entertainment
Weekly.
Neither has publicly spoken about the reason for their split, but the finger's been pointed
at Scientology.
Proving that the best way to get over somebody is to get under somebody else, Tom Cruise
wasted no time moving on from his second failed attempt at marital bliss. Cruise was still
with Nicole Kidman when he met Penélope Cruz on the Vanilla Sky set. But, they insist they
didn't become involved until after his divorce in 2001.
The ink on his divorce papers was barely dry when Cruise and Cruz made their couple's debut
at the Captain Corelli's Mandolin premiere. Their combined star power dazzled the red
carpet, and Cruz loved that her new boo was basking in the spotlight with her.
Cruz told Good Morning America,
"He came and shared it with me. It was special for me that he wanted to share it with me
that way."
They dated for three years before splitting in January 2004.
Once again, speculation was rife that Scientology was behind the break-up.
Tom Cruise's love life had hit a low in 2004, with two divorces and several failed relationships
under his belt.
"It is an up at dawn, pride-swallowing siege."
So, Scientology reportedly stepped in to play cupid and land him the perfect partner. According
to Vanity Fair, Shelly Miscavige, wife of Scientology leader David Miscavige, was tasked
with finding Cruise, quote, "a drop-dead-beautiful true believer to share his life."
Marc Headley, a former Scientology film studio exec, alleges an "audition process" was created.
He claims he watched three-to-four-minute audition tapes of young female Scientologists
until they struck gold with Nazanin Boniadi, a 25-year-old second-generation church member.
Boniadi reportedly had no clue she was being groomed to be Cruise's next squeeze. According
to Vanity Fair, after a month of procedures, Boniadi dumped her boyfriend and signed a
confidentiality agreement. She was then allegedly flown to New York where she'd finally learn
her fate. Cruise immediately launched an intense wooing offensive that resulted in Boniadi
falling head over heels in love. She reportedly even moved into his house before being unceremoniously
dumped in January 2005 for no apparent reason. Boniadi was then allegedly dispatched to Scientology's
Mecca for counseling to help her understand why she just wasn't good enough to make the
Cruise cut.
Fresh off his Scientology matchmaking experiment gone wrong, Tom Cruise decided to reclaim
his romantic destiny. It wasn't long before a stunning 33-year-old actor caught his eye.
Sofía Vergara was still waiting for her break in Hollywood when she received a call from
Will Smith, inviting her to a pre-Oscars party. When she arrived, Cruise was waiting and quickly
made his move.
As per Andrew Morton's book, Tom Cruise: An Unauthorized Biography, Cruise immediately
went on the charm offensive. He bombarded Vergara with "phone calls, flowers, and chocolates,"
and she was suitably impressed. However, things took a downward turn after Cruise suggested
a trip to the Scientology Center. According to Morton, Vergara was being vetted to see
if she was a suitable Mrs. Cruise III. However, a friend of Vergara's said that there
was no way the devout Catholic would turn her back on her faith.
"Well, I thought he was a gold digger, so I chased him out."
Growing up in Ohio, Katie Holmes littered her wall with Tom Cruise posters. In 2004,
Holmes admitted to Seventeen magazine that she'd dreamed about marrying her celeb crush
one day. Oh, girl! Be careful what you wish for.
Holmes' dream started becoming a reality in 2005. She met with Cruise under the guise
of auditioning for Mission: Impossible 3, but that was just a ruse. The starstruck Holmes
was easy pickings for Cruise, who turned on the charm and swept her off her feet. It seemed
like a fairytale romance. Cruise and Holmes jetted worldwide — living a life of luxury,
wining and dining in all the fanciest restaurants, and hobnobbing with the elite. Holmes even
took Cruise's infamous Oprah Winfrey cray-cray couch-jumping cringe-fest in stride.
She converted to Scientology, and after just eight weeks of dating, they were engaged.
Cruise announced, per People,
"Today is a magnificent day for me. I'm engaged to a magnificent woman."
Four months later, the newly dubbed TomKat were expecting a baby. Holmes gave birth in
April 2006. By November, they were married. However, in 2012, it quickly went from a Disney
dream to a Grimm's fairytale after Holmes shocked the world — and her husband — by
filing for divorce.
After being blindsided by his third divorce, Tom Cruise must have been feeling down. But,
when it came to looking for love, the actor definitely wasn't out. To help in his eternal
quest to find “the one,” Cruise turned to Scientology again. And, the church seemingly
came up trumps with Yolanda Pecoraro.
According to The National Enquirer, the 27-year-old Latinx aspiring actor was a devout, second-generation
Scientologist who'd been studying the religion since she was 13.
A source claimed that Cruise had been splashing out some serious cash for Pecoraro to, quote,
"attend expensive Scientology courses at the Celebrity Centre in Hollywood." They pointed
out there was one hindrance to Cruise finally achieving true love though—Pecoraro's live-in
boyfriend.
In his tell-all, Tom Cruise: An Unauthorized Biography, Andrew Morton claims Cruise and
Pecoraro first met back in 2004 in Spain. Morton alleges the couple dated briefly. Sadly,
as history would appear to show, it wasn't meant to be, and Cruise was again back on
the market.
A lesser man might have thrown in the towel by now if they had a relationship batting
average as low as Tom Cruise. However, this hopeless romantic's lust for love hasn't dampened
one bit. Cruise was back in the dating saddle yet again in the summer of 2021 — cozying
up to Mission: Impossible 7 co-star Hayley Atwell.
As per Page Six, Cruise and Atwell had been working on the latest installment of the action
franchise since shooting began in September 2020.
It appeared that when it came to his leading lady, Tom Cruise was, true to form, all smiles
and charm. A source told The Sun that the couple immediately bonded and just grew stronger
after working together during COVID-19. The source said,
"Lockdown, and all the difficulties that came with it, brought them even closer, and they've
become fairly inseparable."
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