Actor Tom Cruise was no stranger to marriage: the first Mrs Cruise was actress Mimi Rogers, whom he divorced in 1990, and the second was Nicole Kidman, from whom he separated in February 2001. However, at the time he began dating actress Katie Holmes in April 2005, it seemed that this time the actor was well and truly smitten, and destined to live happily ever after . . .
By this time Tom Cruise was a global superstar, while Katie Holmes was the sweetheart of teen romance television drama, Dawson’s Creek. They made an interesting couple, and for several weeks rumours swirled that they were more than just good friends. Fans, reporters and the curious waited for an official announcement of their love, which eventually came in the shape of an appearance together in Rome.
Dressed casually in jeans and shirts, the couple were photographed for the first time on 27 April 2005, holding hands and greeting fans. Then two days later, on 29 April, they were snapped in far more glamorous attire as they arrived at the David di Donatello Award ceremony, where they thrilled onlookers with a very public kiss – something which was to become a frequent occurrence during the course of their relationship.
By the time the couple returned to the United States, the press had already christened them “TomKat” and began reporting every tiny detail of their lives for all to see. The public were intrigued; fans discussed the relationship on internet forums and photographers recorded their every move; but it was Tom’s appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show on 23 May 2005 that really demonstrated how much the actor had fallen for his new love.
During the interview, Tom giggled like a lovestruck schoolboy; excitedly shook a gobsmacked Oprah; laughed uncontrollably when asked questions about Katie; and bizarrely punched the ground while crouching on the floor. But it was what came next that got everyone talking: Cruise suddenly leapt on to Oprah’s couch and began jumping up and down with his arms in the air. The crowd when wild, but the newspapers even more so, nicknaming Cruise “The Sofa Jumper” and wondering what he was going to do next. During the show he even ran off stage to drag his shy girlfriend on to meet the talk-show host, and once again enjoyed a very public kiss and cuddle in front of the delighted audience.
The press continued to report the couple’s every move to a hungry public, until finally on 6 October 2005 came the announcement that they were expecting a baby. Many people wished the couple well, but there were the odd few who did not, and internet trolls came out of the woodwork to create rumours that Katie wasn’t actually with child; that the pregnancy was nothing more than a false stomach made by Hollywood special-effects artists. In Katie’s case, whole forums began to pop up, discussing whether or not the couple were faking the entire thing. Photographs then appeared not only on the internet but in newspapers and magazines too, showing Katie’s bump frequently changing size and citing this as a reason why the pregnancy could not possibly be real. The entire thing was ridiculous, of course, as a pregnant woman’s bump changes size and shape throughout the average day, but this knowledge seemed lost on the trolls and most certainly did nothing to stop the rumours.
One day, when out on a windy street, Katie’s dress was caught in a breeze, resulting in the front of her outfit puffing out over her pregnancy bump and making it look as though the actress’s stomach was a rather distorted shape. Of course, someone was there to record the event, and immediately the gossip-mongers went into overdrive, refusing to believe that the photo was the result of a windy day, and declaring that it was definite “proof” that the pregnancy was fake.
Finally, Katie was photographed wearing a slightly cut-off top with the hint of stretch marks on her stomach. The photograph was blown up and published in magazines the world over, though even this was not enough to put paid to the rumours. “They’ve faked those too; it’s the work of make-up artists,” screamed crazed posters on internet sites.
When Tom and Katie’s daughter Suri was born on 18 April 2006, the couple sensibly decided to keep her from the prying eyes of the public, which sent conspiracy theorists into overdrive. “Where is the baby?” they asked, while they took to internet forums to accuse the pair of not actually having a baby at all. But Katie and Tom could not be pressured into showing her off until finally famed photographer Annie Leibovitz snapped the family for the October 2006 edition of Vanity Fair. The fact that Suri was the image of her father, Tom Cruise, quietened many of the theorists, though even seven years later there are still the odd few who still like to discuss the far-fetched notion that the pregnancy was the creation not of a couple, but of a team of Hollywood professionals.
On 18 November 2006, Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes tied the knot in a fifteenth-century castle in Bracciano, Italy. Tom Cruise is a faithful and dedicated member of the Scientology religion, and before the wedding it was said that Katie Holmes took part in courses in order to change her religion from that of Catholic to Scientologist. As a result of Cruise’s support of the faith, the wedding was a Scientology ceremony, though publicists later assured the public that they had celebrated an official wedding in Los Angeles the day before. The bride wore a beautiful white gown, and the couple were photographed looking happy with daughter Suri and Cruise’s other children, Connor and Isabella.
For the next five years the couple were reported to be blissfully happy in their marriage, frequently photographed holding hands, kissing and carrying their daughter out and about in New York. However, it seems that what the public saw was somewhat different to what was going on inside the marriage, at least towards its conclusion. Although in April 2012 rumours started to swirl that Katie Holmes was pregnant with her second child, the claim was vehemently denied by her spokesperson. Instead, in the privacy of her home, Katie was planning quite a different surprise: the announcement that she was leaving Tom Cruise to start a new life with their daughter Suri.
According to sources, the actress had been unhappy in her marriage for quite some time and had quietly moved into an apartment in New York, away from the family home. There, she confided her plans to friends and family; changed her phone numbers and email addresses; and finally – on 29 June 2012 – made the shock announcement that she and Tom Cruise would be divorcing after five-and-a-half years of marriage.
Tom was said to have been blindsided by the decision, which appears to have been revealed to him just moments before it was announced to the entire world. He had no idea it was coming, his spokesperson said, and indeed just weeks before, the couple had been seen out and about, holding hands in full view of the cameras.
When the news broke, the actor was in Iceland making a movie and planning a huge party for his fiftieth birthday. After the news, all plans for celebrating were immediately thrown out of the window, and instead he spent the evening quietly with his children, Connor and Isabella. He also chose to remain tight-lipped about the break-up, leaving it to his lawyer Bert Fields to tell reporters, “It’s not Tom’s style to do this publicly. He is really sad about what’s happening.”
As soon as the divorce became public, newspapers were filled with headlines about the apparently warring couple. According to some they were fighting because Tom Cruise wanted Suri to attend a Scientology school while Holmes wanted her raised a Catholic. Meanwhile, other sources claimed that was not the case at all, and that Katie had been quite happy to live her life as a Scientologist, embracing the religion and visiting the Scientology Centre in Los Angeles even when her husband was out of town.
For several days after the announcement, Katie and Suri were kept away from the cameras in the safety of their apartment. There was concern when a large white car was seen sitting near the apartment block, with several men inside, taking a particular interest in the property. Some said that they were private detectives, sent to spy and report on Cruise’s estranged wife, though if that was the case they were not very good at their job since they were spotted on more than one occasion and photographed openly by the press.
Others came up with the idea that the men were actually Scientologists, sent to persuade Katie against the divorce, though in reality it would seem that they were actually a team of security professionals who had been hired by Katie to not only protect her and Suri from unwanted attention, but to keep at bay the hordes of press photographers who were camped day and night outside her apartment. When Katie finally left to undertake a pre-booked work commitment, the photographers went crazy, snapping her every move and reporting on everything from what she was wearing to how skinny she appeared and whether or not she looked happy. Shortly after, she was seen taking Suri for ice cream, though the all-too-familiar press crowded them to such a degree that the child had to cling to her mother for support, her eyes screwed up tight, obviously wondering what was going on.
As gossip heated up, speculation was rife that the divorce proceedings would be public knowledge, cracking open the carefully shrouded mystery of Scientology for all to see. However, everyone was surprised when Katie’s lawyer announced on 9 July 2012 that the divorce had already been settled and, what’s more, the details would be kept entirely private. Any stories reporting otherwise were absolutely false, he assured reporters. He then released a statement which read: “We are thrilled for Katie and her family and are excited to watch as she embarks on the next chapter of her life.”
Meanwhile, Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes released a joint statement as a conclusion of their marriage. In it they said that they were committed to working together as parents to accomplish what was in Suri’s best interests: “We want to keep matters affecting our family private and express our respect for each other’s commitment to each of our respective beliefs and support each other’s roles as parents.”
And with that the marriage of TomKat was ended, and the two went on with their separate lives. In September 2012, while Tom was in London, Suri Cruise took her first tentative steps into education, enrolling in a school in New York. But while Tom may not have been able to wave her off, hundreds of paparazzi did show up, leaving the child even more distressed than a child of her age would normally be when facing their first day at school.
Since then newspapers have reported every detail of Suri’s life to and from school, such as what the child was wearing that day; what cartoon character she sported on her bag; and whether or not she was hanging out with friends. The intrusion into both her life and that of her parents is extreme, and it would therefore seem that while the relationship between Katie and Tom may be over, the public’s fascination with the former family looks set to run and run for many years to come.