Charismatic. Successful. A full head of hair and an estimated fortune of £475 million. When it comes to eligible bachelors, Tom Cruise is a real looker at first sight – albeit one who, as the Mail revealed yesterday, has his sights set on a new love interest.
Cruise, 61, was pictured with socialite Elsina Khayrova, 36, the daughter of a Russian MP and ex-wife of an oligarch, at a party in London's Mayfair, with one guest describing the star as “obsessed”.
So far, so enviable, not least because Cruise is a self-proclaimed die-hard romantic and claimed in 2004 that he would “never be done with love.” Always. I'm the type of person who loves relationships. I love women.' Which, upon closer inspection, may be why dating Cruise can turn out to be a kind of “mission impossible.”
For one thing, the three-time-divorced Scientologist reportedly has a long and bizarre history of falling in love with women with whom relationships never materialized.
With an estimated fortune of £475 million, 61-year-old Hollywood star Tom Cruise is considered a real catch
Cruise was pictured with socialite Elsina Khayrova (pictured), 36, the daughter of a Russian MP and ex-wife of an oligarch, at a party in London's Mayfair. One guest described the star as “obsessed.”
These include Vanessa Kirby, his co-star in Mission: Impossible 6, Mummy co-star Annabelle Wallis while she was with Coldplay's Chris Martin, Modern Family actress Sofia Vergara and Kingsman star Sofia Boutella. Exhausted? Get ready to see what happens when a relationship is confirmed, because Cruise's love-o-meter is in overdrive…
So lanky…but an expert at cuddling
The lanky Cruise, unknown and still using his birth name, was 18 when he started dating actress Melissa Gilbert in 1981.
Tom Cruise and his former love Rebecca De Mornay
“Actually, when I went out with him, he was still Tom Mapother. It was when he first moved to Los Angeles and I think I was…. . . 16 maybe or 17?'
Gilbert, a child star in the 1970s who received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for her popular role as Laura in the television series Little House On The Prairie, recently told podcast host Andy Cohen: “I didn't have sex with him.” We made out, but honestly there was no sex.
“He was a good kisser, but you know, he was like a struggling, starving actor and I had to work,” said Gilbert, now 59. Cruise's legendary romance had not yet begun and his financial situation was such that she added: ” I actually bought him his first set of dishes!” After rising to fame in 1983's “Risky Business,” he and his co-star Rebecca De Mornay (above) had an “intense affair,” according to fellow star Curtis Armstrong in his 2017 memoir described.
Neither De Mornay nor Cruise have confirmed this.
“Hot and heavy” courtship with superstar Cher
Long before Cruise started dating women decades younger than him, he was a toyboy, thanks to a bizarre romance with singer Cher, 16 years his senior. They met at Madonna's wedding to Sean Penn in 1985 and then crossed paths at a White House fundraiser. “We didn't start dating until much later, but there was definitely a connection,” Cher said in 2018.
Tom Cruise and Cher pictured in the late 1980s
At 39 and divorced from Sonny Bono and Greg Allman, Cher was an established celebrity; Cruise was 23 and his star was on the rise. Cher recalled: “He was shy. He said he felt like an idiot at school and no one talked to him. We once had dinner at a New York restaurant and the waitress was from his old school.
“He told me that she had never spoken to him at school, but now he realized he was getting all her attention.”
Nonetheless, Cher told Oprah Winfrey she was “crazy about him,” and the audience cheered as she recalled a “long night” in his arms. In 2013, she described their affair as “pretty hot and heavy” and told talk show host Andy Cohen that he was one of her “top five” lovers.
However, their romance ended when Cruise met the woman who would become Woman No. 1: Mimi Rogers.
First woman he cared about “more than anything else in the world.”
Cruise and actress Mimi Rogers, who was six years his senior, met at a dinner party in 1985.
Tom Cruise met his first wife Mimi Rodgers in 1985
Recollections of what happened next vary. Cruise told Rolling Stone that Mimi was “dating a friend,” while Mimi came from a family of Scientologists who were believed to have introduced Cruise to the controversial religion for the hell of it. OK'.'
The couple (left) married in May 1987 in a small ceremony they bizarrely called “The Project,” with actor Emilio Estevez as best man.
The following year, Rogers, an established star who appeared in 1987's “Someone to Watch Over Me” with Kevin Costner, described “contentment and security” in an unfortunately time-limited interview with Cruise that appeared days after their 1990 split. in her marriage stated, “I care about my wife more than anything else in the world.”
So what went wrong?
Rogers says their often exaggerated age difference and being referred to as “Tom Cruise's wife” were a problem, but perhaps more surprising, she told Playboy in comments she later claimed were misinterpreted: “Tom thought seriously considering becoming a monk.”
“At least for that period of time, it appeared that marriage would not fit his overall spiritual needs.
“And he thought he had to be celibate to preserve the purity of his instrument.”
And she added: “My instrument needed to be tuned.”
…until the “immediate lust” with Nicole led to erotic scenes on the screen
When Cruise met Nicole Kidman on the set of Days Of Thunder, he felt “immediate lust” and the two married on Christmas Eve 1990 in a private ceremony in Telluride, Colorado.
Nicole Kidman and Tom Cruise were married from 1990 to 2001 and had two adopted children together
What Cruise described in the early days as a “completely physical” obsession was mutual. In 2002, Nicole told Vanity Fair that she had fallen “madly and passionately in love” and had become so “consumed” by her relationship that she gave up on her “life plan.” They adopted two children, Isabella and Connor, and became one of Hollywood's hottest couples. Their chemistry culminated in their performances in Stanley Kubrick's erotic thriller Eyes Wide Shut. Cruise was said to have bombarded her with love letters and flowers as she later said: “All I wanted was a cheeseburger.”
After they released a joint statement in 2001 announcing their divorce and wryly citing “the difficulties that come with different careers,” she was caught euphorically throwing her arms in the air and, despite being 9.5 centimeters taller than her 1.70 meter tall ex, made the barb comment: “Well, I can wear heels now!” Ouch.
Is it Ms. Cruz – or the new Ms. Cruise?
Tom Cruise and Penelope Cruz in 2003
After Nicole, Cruise quickly fell in love with Penelope Cruz (right), who was 12 years his junior and whom he met in 2001 on the set of the thriller “Vanilla Sky”.
Eventually, the wedding wheels got back in motion when, when asked if he would consider marrying the Spanish actress, he replied, “Yes, definitely.”
But Penelope, now 49, who often films for Cruise in different parts of the world, is said to have struggled to win over his children and the actor couldn't have helped matters when he told reporters during their relationship: “That I did. “I have always loved Nic and I always will.”
The two announced their separation at the beginning of 2004. Cruise's sister and publicist Lee Anne DeVette described it as “amicable,” while Cruz's spokesman Robert Garlock said they “remain good friends and still talk often.”
Always an optimist, Cruise seemed undaunted in his search for wife #3. He said he hoped to find someone who enjoyed “riding motorcycles and flying planes.”
Claims to be his wife because of “auditions.”
Nazanin Boniadi
In 2012, Vanity Fair reported that British activist and actress Nazanin Boniadi, now 42, was auditioned by the Church of Scientology to be Cruise's wife because she feared he would lose touch with the religion – a claim denied by the Scientology Church and Cruise was disputed.
According to allegations in the 2015 documentary “Going Clear,” Nazanin was encouraged to break up with her boyfriend in 2004 and, she said, was isolated from her family.
Their relationship cooled after something Nazanin said to church leader David Miscavige was misconstrued as an insult.
It ended in January 2005 when Nazanin (pictured last year), a privately educated refugee whose family moved to Britain from Iran when she was a baby, confessed her devastating fate to a friend.
She soon left the Church of Scientology, appeared in the thrillers “Homeland” and “Counterpart,” and in 2014 described herself as a “non-practicing Muslim.”
A spokesman for Cruise dismissed Vanity Fair's claims, saying: “Lies in a different font are still lies – designed to sell magazines.”
Couch hopping for Katie and a fairytale wedding
Cruise couldn't have made his feelings for actress Katie Holmes clearer.
Cruise was reportedly recommended as a potential partner by Scientology leader David Miscavige (although this is denied by the church) and demonstrated his love by jumping on Oprah Winfrey's sofa on live television in May 2005.
Cruise was married to former Dawson's Creek actress Katie Holmes from 2006 to 2012. They had a daughter, Suri
Still, the interview paled in comparison to the proposal. After clearing the Eiffel Tower, he popped the question with a “proposal script” that he rewrote half a dozen times.
Afterward, he told the French press, “Today is a great day for me,” while Holmes blushed and appeared unrecognizable to her family.
Their £2million wedding ceremony in November 2006 took place at the 15th-century Odescalchi Castle in Italy, with opera singer Andrea Bocelli serenading, the Beckhams and J-Lo among the guests and Miscavige as best man.
But rumors that “TomKat” was in trouble began when gossip site TMZ reported that the actress was unhappy with Scientology's demands, including the suggestion that women give birth in silence to avoid worrying the baby.
Katie filed for divorce in 2012 and was given sole custody of their now 17-year-old daughter Suri.
Even more bizarre behavior and Tom's brilliant British co-star
Cruise's reputation for quirkiness continues – he reportedly doesn't let anyone walk alongside him in action movies and told members of the U.S. Navy on the set of “Top Gun: Maverick” that they “shouldn't talk to him or look at him” (by a naval representative) and has a penchant for a game of hide-and-seek.
Cruise and Hayley Atwell attend the Australian premiere of Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One in January.
So it would take a brave woman to accept the status of his next lover. In 2020, the honor appeared to go to his “Mission Impossible” co-star, British actress Hayley Atwell, 41, with whom he reportedly “got along well from day one.” A source told The Sun: “They met after work and she was at his London flat. “They get on brilliantly and seem very happy.”
However, they reportedly split the next year and in July, Hayley dismissed rumors about their relationship as “weird”, asking: “Why are things being assumed or projected onto me about my relationship with my co-worker and boss?”
She is now engaged to music producer Ned Wolfgang Kelly, a “sober, vegetarian heathen” who may sound eccentric but may be downright ordinary compared to Cruise.