Tom Cruise seemed to be head-over-heels in love with Katie Holmes. His marriage to her was the third time he tied the knot with a prominent actress—his previous wives were Mimi Rogers and Nicole Kidman—but he probably thought this one would be for keeps. Who can forget how Cruise ecstatically hopped off a couch on Oprah Winfrey’s talk show while gushing about Holmes? There was a glittering wedding in Italy with an illustrious guest list, but not before the birth of their only child, Suri.
Unfortunately, their marriage did not last. Both Cruise and Holmes have said very little publicly about why their relationship crumbled; the speculation continues to this day. What might have gone haywire for this glamorous Hollywood couple and their apparently storybook romance? Here’s what we know about their relationship as well as the reason for their high-profile split.
Holmes And Cruise Began Dating In April 2005
It seems like Holmes had Cruise on her mind even before they actually got together. In the midst of an interview with Seventeen in 2004, she blurted out some weirdly prescient words: “I used to think that I was going to marry Tom Cruise.”
In early 2005, Holmes split with her then-fiancé Chris Klein, and on April 27, 2005, the celebrity duo known as TomKat turned up together in Rome.
Things seem to have gone kind of quickly after that. People reported in June 2005 that Holmes said she was studying Scientology, the religion Cruise is notoriously a part of. She said on Access Hollywood, “I really like it…I feel like I’m bettering myself.”
Meanwhile, Cruise, the youthfully handsome megastar of Risky Business, Top Gun, and Rain Man, among many other blockbuster hits, was as unabashedly smitten as a schoolboy. Casting decorum to the wind, Cruise giddily jumped off Oprah’s couch in front of a national audience in May 2005. “We’ve never seen you behave this way before,” an agog Winfrey exclaimed. “You are gone!”
The clip garnered a tremendous amount of attention in the weeks following the interview and has been parodied countless times. Winfrey herself has gone on to speak about the now infamous clip, stating that she won’t ever share it again. “I don’t want people getting whacked out about it, taking it off the air, using it out of context… because I thought that was really unfair.”
They Got Engaged Only 7 Weeks Later
Cruise was going into full-throttle romance mode with Holmes. He proposed to her in June 2005 in Paris, the fabled City of Love, at the Eiffel Tower. At a press conference there, People reported, Cruise made his joy known to all.
“Today is a magnificent day for me,” he said. “I’m engaged to a magnificent woman.” Cruise could not stop gushing about his future bride: “I’ve never felt like this before. She’s an extraordinary woman and I love her very much.”
Their Daughter Suri Was Born On April 18, 2006
Cruise was over the moon when Holmes became pregnant with their child. He even got her an ultrasound machine for home use, a fact that he divulged in an interview with Barbara Walters. This raised eyebrows for some medical professionals, but Cruise reportedly donated the machine to a hospital after Suri’s birth.
Cruise rhapsodized about the birth of his and Holmes’ daughter, Suri, when he spoke to the ABC news program 20/20 about it. “It was everything that we wanted it to be. … It was spiritual. It was powerful. It was indescribable. What words can you use? It’s still something that I’m processing and keep reliving.”
Holmes And Cruise Had A Fairytale Wedding In A Castle In November 2006
The Holmes-Cruise nuptials were like something straight out of a fabulous MGM movie spectacle, with no opulent detail spared. They were married by a Scientology minister at 15th-century Odescalchi castle in Bracciano, Italy with guests such as Jennifer Lopez, Brooke Shields, and Richard Gere looking on. Andrea Bocelli sang, there were colorful fireworks, and the stage appeared to be set for a long and happy life for these two lovebirds who were officially married in Los Angeles one day earlier.
Holmes Filed For Divorce In June 2012
Holmes and Cruise’s idyll was short-lived. Holmes filed for divorce on June 28, 2012, and matters were settled rapidly, according to CNN. Allan Mayefsky, an attorney for Holmes, said, “The terms of the settlement are confidential. The parties have issued a joint statement regarding this resolution. We will have no further comment.”
Holmes was granted full custody of their daughter, Suri, The Hollywood Reporter stated. Cruise is slated to pay $400,000 annually in child support to the tune of $4.8 million in total over a dozen years until Suri is 18. He also has to take care of her important expenses such as education and medical, plus some other costs.
Holmes’ her marital status wasn’t the only thing that changed with the divorce—she changed her religious status as well. She “officially returned” to Catholicism, becoming a parishioner at a New York City church, reported HuffPost in July 2012. She and Cruise chose not to elaborate very much when they released a diplomatically-worded joint statement: “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.”
It’s been rumored that Holmes divorced Cruise to protect Suri from Scientology. One incident that led some people to this conclusion was Cruise’s response to a question put to him during a deposition connected with his defamation lawsuit against Bauer media. Their publications supposedly said he “abandoned” Suri, according to HuffPost in November 2013.
Lawyers wanted to know if Holmes walked away from the marriage to Cruise due to Scientology concerns, or if she sought to shield Suri from that religion. Cruise reportedly said, “Did she say that? That was one of the assertions, yes.”
People have wondered how much of a role Cruise plays in Suri’s life today. It does not seem as if he has maintained contact with Suri, now a young adult, since his divorce from Holmes. It is worth noting that Cruise has not been photographed with his daughter in nine years, since 2013.
Cruise does have visitation rights, but it’s been guessed by some that maybe he does not see her because Suri isn’t a Scientologist. Cruise has seldom mentioned her publicly, either, in the decade since his and Holmes’ divorce, except for a quick quip on the red carpet in Australia five years back. Of course, Cruise’s relationship with his daughter is a private matter, and we can’t know the true state of things unless one of them chooses to publicize it.