Tom Cruise

by Andrew Morton

  The couple’s seclusion and the fact that it took a further three months for Suri to make her public debut—naturally on the cover of Vanity Fair, photographs courtesy of celebrity snapper Annie Leibovitz—caused all kinds of wild speculation that her parents were afraid to show her off because she had a birth defect. When the world finally got a glimpse, it was clear that she bore no resemblance to L. Ron Hubbard. With a head of thick black hair and big, wide brown eyes, she was the image of both parents. The shoot itself took five days, rather more than the thirty minutes it took Leibovitz to photograph the Queen of England.

  In June, as a telling counterpoint to the media madness engulfing Tom, Katie, and baby Suri, Nicole Kidman married country singer Keith Urban in a traditional white wedding in a Catholic church in the suburbs of Sydney, Australia. “For Nicole this is a spiritual homecoming, to the church and her faith,” observed Father Paul Coleman, who married the couple. The conventional ceremony drew a line in the spiritual sand, the actress clearly and completely distancing herself from her former dalliance with Scientology.

  While the rest of the world cooed over baby Suri, in Hollywood all eyes were on Tom’s latest movie offspring, Mission: Impossible III. Even though Tom’s bold decision to let TV director J. J. Abrams helm the movie had paid off with generally favorable reviews, the crucial U.S. opening weekend took in only $48 million, compared to $58 million for M:I and II. While the movie, which cost $200 million to make, went on to earn nearly $400 million worldwide and half as much again from DVD sales, the consensus in Hollywood, particularly at his parent company, Paramount, was that Tom’s proselytizing on behalf of Scientology had cost up to $100 million in profits. This was a high crime in Hollywood, where you can worship any God you like, so long as it is Mammon.

  Tom was now on trial in the court of his peers. Witnesses for the prosecution cited the fact that, according to a Gallup/USA Today poll in May 2006, just over a third of the public had a favorable opinion of the star, a sharp drop from nearly 60 percent a year earlier. More than half now viewed him unfavorably, compared with under a third in 2005. Most significantly, the onetime World’s Sexiest Man had lost considerable ground among his female fan base, primarily because of his attack on Brooke Shields. By the end of August, when Tom visited Shields’s Hollywood home and made his peace with her over tomato and basil omelets, it was way too late.

  As leading marketing guru Paul Dergarabedian observed, “It’s hard to ever know why a film fails to live up to expectations, but in this case you can’t fault the marketing campaign. The reasons lie elsewhere.” In his defense, producer Garth Drabinsky, who gave Tom a starring role in his early movie Losin’ It, lauded his achievement in making the Mission: Impossible series so commercially and artistically successful. As he said, “The MI trilogy is a staggering accomplishment as an actor and producer. It took a Herculean effort to do this and you cannot make light of it. He works his ass off on the movie set, and as a producer he will continue to produce great work.”

  The fact that Forbes magazine named Tom the world’s top celebrity in June 2006 cut little ice with the suits at Paramount. When his contract came up for renewal at the end of July, he was found guilty of committing a mortal sin: Tom simply cost too much. Even though he had earned the studio over a billion dollars during his fourteen-year association with them, during contract negotiations Paramount executives tried to reduce his production company overheads from $10 to $2 million a year. Tom and his production partner, Paula Wagner, balked. At the time, they were looking for another studio to call home, but not one had invited them in. As negotiations continued, it was reported that, when leaving his office one night, Paramount Studio boss Brad Grey was approached by a dozen or so Scientologists who attempted to put pressure on him to give Cruise a good deal. Grey, apparently, stood his ground and refused to bend to coercion.

  When the sentence was finally pronounced, it was Tom’s Scientology faith rather than his up-front costs that took the rap. Sumner Redstone, the octogenarian chairman of Paramount’s parent company Viacom, made the announcement in an interview with The Wall Street Journal: “As much as we like him personally, we thought it was wrong to renew his deal,” Redstone said. “His recent conduct has not been acceptable to Paramount.” In a stinging barb, he added: “It’s nothing to do with his acting ability, he’s a terrific actor. But we don’t think someone who effectuates creative suicide and costs the company revenue should be on the lot.”

  He later told Vanity Fair that Cruise had become a “hate figure” for women over his criticism of Brooke Shields. “He didn’t just turn one off, he turned off all women and a lot of men.” There was talk that Steven Spielberg, who was effectively employed by Paramount, stood by as Cruise was taken down, Tom’s behavior during the War of the Worlds tour apparently still rankling. Soon, however, fingers were pointing at Redstone’s wife, Paula Fortunato, who was “incensed” by Tom’s criticism of Brooke Shields, telling friends, “I never want to see another Tom Cruise movie.” A Viacom spokesman conceded that Fortunato “disagreed” with Tom’s views, but insisted that she saw all his movies.

  Tom’s camp hit back quickly, his partner, Paula Wagner, maintaining that she and Tom had been the ones to terminate contract talks in favor of independent financing. According to Wagner, Redstone was “just trying to save face.” Tom’s lawyer Bert Fields was furious: “That a mogul like Sumner Redstone could make a statement so vicious, so pompous, so petulant . . . it tells you more about Sumner Redstone and Viacom than about Tom Cruise.”

  Over the next few weeks, Wagner and Cruise scrambled to finance their own production company. Eventually Tom’s good friend Kevin Huvane interested a group of investors, including Mark Shapiro, who runs Six Flags amusement parks; Daniel Snyder, owner of the Washington Redskins; and real estate magnate Dwight Schar. As one agency executive told the Los Angeles Times, “It all feels very knee jerk. This feels very Plan C, maybe even Plan D. When you lose your studio deal and you get into business with amusement parks, that’s a problem.”

  Historically, though, splits between studios and stars go all the way back to 1919, when silent movie stars Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, and Douglas Fairbanks set up their own studio, “United Artists,” so that they could keep a bigger share of the profits. In October, in a fitting historical coincidence, Cruise and Wagner were approached by MGM and given the chance to take over the ailing United Artists studio. Wagner became the CEO and Tom executive producer, the duo cracking open a $550 bottle of vintage champagne at Mastro’s in Beverly Hills to celebrate. Their aim was to “revive” the company to its glory days, with United Artists producing about four films a year.

  Film star, father, movie mogul; Tom capped a tumultuous year by becoming a husband for the third time in his life. On November 12, 2006, he and Katie tied the knot legally at a small, private, civil ceremony in Los Angeles. Six days later they married again in a fairy-tale castle in Italy in front of family and Hollywood celebrities while the media, ever the bridesmaid, waited outside. Even though the local Catholic parish priest refused to give his own blessing, the Scientology ceremony at the fifteenth-century Odescalchi Castle in Bracciano near Rome made headlines around the world as a host of celebrities, many of them members of Scientology, swelled the congregation. Guests included singers J-Lo and Marc Anthony, Will and Jada Pinkett Smith, Jim Carrey, Jenny McCarthy, Jenna Elfman, Victoria Beckham, and even Brooke Shields, who said, “I’m thrilled for them.”

  Notable absentees included Oprah Winfrey, who had publicly questioned Tom’s couch-jumping antics, as well as fellow Scientologists John Travolta and Kirstie Alley, who also did not attend a party in Los Angeles subsequently hosted by Paula Wagner. Naturally, Nicole Kidman was not invited, but she sent a four-thousand-dollar vase as a wedding present—presumably, suggested one wag, because it saved her the expense of throwing it. There were few of Katie’s friends from her days in Toledo or Dawson’s Creek, but plenty of Scientologists, like her Scientology handler Jessica F
eshbach Rodriguez, to take their place. David Miscavige was best man and Katie’s sister Nancy Blaylock was the matron of honor.

  After a “simple yet eloquent” twenty-minute Scientology ceremony, which included bizarre vows about Katie needing pots, combs, and a cat as well as a reminder that young men can’t be expected to remember their promises, the couple exchanged rings and rounded off the proceedings with what was by now trademark behavior—a lengthy public kiss. Most guests agreed that, apart from the ceremony, the most moving moment was when the blind Italian opera singer Andrea Bocelli serenaded the assembled throng, although as a practicing Catholic he declined to attend the Scientology ceremony itself. “This was,” declared gravel-voiced David Miscavige as he toasted the couple, “a marriage of true minds.” Katie’s father, Marty Holmes, put aside any misgivings to declare that his new son-in-law was “the right guy” for his precious daughter.

  Later, the newlyweds flew to the Maldives for a scuba-diving honeymoon on board the luxurious yacht of Tom’s friend and Scientology convert Jamie Packer. They were apparently not alone—David and Shelly Miscavige were seen boarding the private jet at Rome’s Ciampino Airport for the eight-hour flight to Male, the islands’ capital. Unfortunately, bad weather spoiled the holiday and the couple flew home early. While the church subsequently denied that the Miscaviges went on the honeymoon, it was not long before Tom and his best friend were reunited.

  Tom and Katie spent their first New Year’s Eve as a married couple with two thousand other Scientologists at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, applauding enthusiastically as David Miscavige spoke luridly about the “global obliteration” of psychiatry, using “smart bombs” and grenades to exterminate the profession. Once again, comparisons to Nazi rallies sprung to some onlookers’ minds.

  As he outlined the organization’s plans for world domination and what he called “planetary clearing,” it was clear how critical Tom and Katie were to the strategy. After reeling off statistics about the miles of newsprint and hours of television devoted to Scientology, Miscavige heralded what the media had dubbed “the wedding of the century” as a chance to introduce the planet to the concepts and values of Scientology. It confirmed the suspicions of those wedding guests who felt the occasion was as much a marketing opportunity for Scientology as a union between two people. Of course, the event was both. David Miscavige, who once confessed to an associate that if he weren’t a Scientologist he would be selling laser art at the side of the road, had succeeded brilliantly in selling his faith through the medium of his best friend. From the Scientology tent on the War of the Worlds set and the attacks on Brooke Shields, to the silent birth of Suri and the spectacle of Tom and Katie’s wedding, Scientology had piggybacked on the actor’s celebrity, with Tom prepared to sacrifice his credibility and his popularity for his faith.

  Miscavige had a further challenge for his worldwide ambassador. While it wasn’t Mission: Impossible, it was certainly Mission: Difficult to join with John Travolta in spearheading the expansion of Scientology into Britain and the rest of Europe. In contrast to its tax-exempt status in the U.S., Scientology had been investigated in France, Spain, and Belgium, banned for a time in Britain, and, because of the country’s own totalitarian history, treated with grave suspicion in Germany. During 2006, Tom had provided behind-the-scenes technical and financial assistance when Scientology bought a building in the City of London for $31 million from a Saudi Arabian property company. “It’s like the tipping point, with this base we’ll be recruiting the people who control the planet,” observed one excited Scientologist at the grand opening of the London headquarters in October 2006. Apart from local worthies, however, the celebrity turnout at the opening was negligible. Part of Tom’s mission was to change that.

  David and Victoria Beckham were obvious candidates, the most high-profile celebrities in Britain, with an avid following in Europe and the Far East. The actor first met England’s former soccer captain David Beckham in 2003 after watching him play for his team, Real Madrid, during a visit to the Spanish capital. Apart from a love of sports and fast cars, the son of a gas fitter from London’s poor East End and the Hollywood star would seem to have little in common, but their friendship flourished. Interestingly, both men had met their wives by watching them on the big screen: Tom had spotted Nicole Kidman when she starred in Dead Calm, while David fell for singer Victoria, also known as Posh Spice, when she appeared in a Spice Girls video. “Posh and Becks,” whose worldwide popularity made them grade-A Scientology celebrity material, became a permanent fixture in Tom’s Rolodex.

  More than that, he introduced them to his friend Scientology leader David Miscavige as early as 2004. Just six weeks after Tom and Miscavige opened a new Scientology center in Madrid, Miscavige flew back to Spain to spend time with Posh and Becks and their family. While he knows little about soccer, at the end of October Miscavige gamely sat through a match, watching David’s team, Real Madrid, at the Bernabéu stadium in the Spanish capital. He joined David, who was not playing, his mother, Sandra, his wife, Victoria, and their two boys, Romeo and Brooklyn, as well as Tom in a box at the venue. It is a sign of the couple’s importance to the organization that Miscavige was prepared to fly halfway around the world to see them.

  As with Penélope Cruz and Sofía Vergara before them, Tom gave the Beckhams introductory information on his faith. In October 2005, Victoria was seen reading a book, Assists for Illnesses and Injuries, by L. Ron Hubbard. It was thought that she was reading the self-help guide because her son Romeo suffered from epilepsy, the attacks triggered by photographers’ flashlights. There was one problem, though: If the Beckhams did join, Romeo would have to stop taking any prescribed drugs for the condition. This could have dire consequences, as Tory Christman, a former Scientologist, discovered. When she first joined, Christman followed the dictates of her new faith by refusing to take prescription medicine for her epilepsy, which led to numerous life-threatening seizures.

  That was a consideration for the future. For now, David Beckham was being courted not only by Scientology but also by another American conglomerate, Anschutz Entertainment Group, who wanted to lure him to Hollywood to play major league soccer for the Los Angeles Galaxy. When Anschutz finally got their man in the fall of 2006, David telephoned “his wise friend” Tom Cruise for advice, the actor encouraging him to head out west.

  While Tom was guiding David’s career, Katie was acting on Victoria’s fashion tips. In October 2006 the duo went on a girls-only trip to Paris during Fashion Week, appearing in similar or complementing outfits, often chosen by Victoria, who had published a best-selling book of fashion advice, That Extra Half an Inch. They became friends and confidantes, Katie asking her to be her stylist when she did a shoot in December 2006 for the February cover of Harper’s Bazaar. Even though Katie has her own fashion ideas—she’s a fan of Marc Jacobs and Armani—it was noticeable that when she revamped her hairstyle in spring 2007, she appeared in a bob just like her English friend.

  It was as if Katie had been given the “Catherine Zeta-Jones” makeover, like the Welsh actress who changed from fresh and funky glamour to a vision of classic style following her marriage to Hollywood royalty, veteran actor Michael Douglas. Similarly, the new Mrs. Tom Cruise was transformed from a longhaired, laid-back ingenue into a sleek, sophisticated fashionista, her shorter, more sophisticated locks matched by elegant designer outfits and towering heels.

  The changes in the intelligent, if unreflective, actress had come at a high price. Although she was in love with Tom, the early illusion of romance had long been shattered. She had fallen for an image that had taken shape in her mind when she was a carefree teenager who boasted to her sisters that one day she would marry Tom Cruise. The reality was somewhat different. As commentators made the inevitable comparisions to Princess Diana’s whirlwind courtship with Prince Charles, the marriage did indeed seem a bit crowded. Katie and Tom were living the lives of Hollywood royalty, always surrounded by people, never alone. At home
there was a team of nannies and governesses to care for baby Suri, Connor, and Isabella, cooks and housekeepers and gardeners to attend to her every whim, and if she went shopping—and she shopped a lot for a “career” woman—she was accompanied by a bodyguard to swat away the swarming paparazzi. Inevitably, Tom was hard at work giving his studio, United Artists, the kiss of creative life, as well as breathing the oxygen of publicity into his controversial faith.

  The newly married Katie simply wanted to spend time with her husband—not share him. She could be excused for beginning to feel isolated and alone, living separately from Tom in their new home in Beverly Hills, snatching the occasional hour with him as he focused most of his attention on promoting his film studio and his faith. In other ways, he was ever-present, constantly phoning to check on her well-being and that of his precious daughter, asking about her sleep patterns and eating habits. The controlling behavior that had rankled with Nicole was now clearly apparent to Katie, who was much less of a prima donna than her predecessor. Nor did it help that his mother and sister were living with them, the young mother, according to published reports, sometimes feeling constrained and “stifled” by the endless proximity to his relentlessly cheerful mother and his sister and children. She often went shopping in Beverly Hills just to get out of the house and be her own person for a time.

  While in public with her husband she was all smiles, clinging to his side, in private a rather different Katie was on show. She seemed constantly tired and rather forlorn, as if she were carrying a heavy emotional burden on her slim shoulders. “Away from the cameras she was a different person,” noted a business associate. “I wouldn’t call her happy or acting like a woman in love—quite the opposite. She seemed so sad and depressed, not at all like a woman who was just married and looking forward to a new life. Every time I saw her, she was like this, listless and negative, just a very down person.”