- [Narrator] It's hard
to argue that he is not the biggest movie star in the world. Adored, legendary, controversial, Tom Cruise has been everything in the span of his long career. He is the ultimate action star and has one of the most
remarkable filmographies in the history of American cinema. But his aura has been
tarnished by his personal life, and especially by his involvement in the very polemic Church of Scientology. The star has become a strong
advocate for the organization and his private life is
surrounded in mystery. What is his real
relationship to the church? Why did he break up with Nicole Kidman? What was his marriage with
Katie Holmes all about? Tom Cruise's life is as unexpected and exciting as his movies. Let's explore its secrets. (bright jazzy music) Thomas Cruise Mapother
IV, that's his full name, was born in 1962. His mother was an amateur
actress and teacher and his father an electrical engineer. Because of his dad's career,
the Cruise family moved a lot and Tom wasn't able to settle anywhere and lead a normal life. His childhood was scarred by poverty and his father's abusive behavior. Cruise later described
him as a merchant of chaos who beat his children. He was the kind of person where, if something goes wrong, they kick you. It was a great lesson in my life, how he'd lull you in, make
you feel safe, and then bang. For me, it was like,
"There's something wrong "with this guy, don't trust him. "Be careful around him." - He didn't have a very
good male role model when he was growing up, and he'd sort of become a chameleon as he always
had to change personalities and change into these different schools. But he did remain close with his mother and his sisters as he grew up. - [Narrator] But it's
also thanks to his dad that Cruise discovered what
would become the passion of a lifetime, cinema. I was seven when my dad took
me to the movies to see "2001." The theater was full and I had
to sit on my dad's shoulders. I didn't get everything,
but I was very moved. - When I was a kid and I
would go to the movies, the movies were very,
very important to me. When I looked at those
characters on the screen, it wasn't a movie to
me, they were very real, and I'd bring those
characters home with me and I'd think about their
lives and where they were and I'd dream about that. I love movies so much. - [Narrator] To this day Cruise claims that spending a day
without watching a movie is impossible for him. His mother eventually
divorced when Tom was 11 and took her kids aways from their dad. She remarried and was able to
offer solace to her family. Like his mother and sisters,
he suffered from dyslexia, making school very difficult for him. But at the time, he had
a surprising career plan, becoming a priest. He always had an interest for
spirituality and religion. He was raised in a very religious family and would keep seeking spiritual elevation throughout his entire life. - He did go to a seminary
school for a year when he was 13 or 14 years old. And according to his
classmates and contemporaries at that time he was a very devout Catholic and would attend mass and
go to prayer regularly, and at that point had been
interested in the priesthood. And he has in the past said that he was, so that may have been the
case, it may have changed, but he was a very devout Catholic
at one point in his life. - [Narrator] But he
finally changed his mind and turned to other passions. He got disappointing
grades in high school, but was excellent at sports. He even considered pursuing
a career in wrestling before a bad knee injury stopped his plan. That's when he turned to acting. - He had been acting since he was a kid and he was always in drama when he was in these different schools,
and when he enrolled in high school he really
sort of took to the stage and really bloomed in that area. - [Narrator] In his senior year he starred in a school production
of a play and decided to commit fully to his acting career. He set a 10 year deadline
to build his career and moved to New York. - One of his first roles was in a movie with Sean Penn, who was
another very intense actor, and he took on a lot of his methods, including only addressing his co-stars by their character name. So he just became known as
this very sort of intense, serious guy pretty much right away. From that he was spotted
by Francis Ford Coppola, who he worked with later,
and his second film was "The Outsiders,"
which is another sort of really intense drama. So he even started his career
with these very serious roles that sort of showed his
range as a dramatic actor. That's even before he moved
into any of these action films, so I think he always was seen as someone who did have the acting chops to back up that million dollar smile
that he is now famous for. - [Narrator] Cruise's career was launched and would never slow down. He soon had his first leading
role in "Risky Business," his first commercial success. He was now a star and would
during the entire 1980s spread his influence in Hollywood. But it was in 1986 that
he definitely became one of the biggest stars in
the world with "Top Gun." He had it all. In only six years he had
developed his acting career and was smoothly transitioning
from big blockbusters to great dramas with important directors. With "Rain Main" and
"Born on the 4th of July" he definitively became
one of the greatest actors of his generation. - Oliver Stone had called me. I had been a huge fan of
his and he talked to me about "Born on the 4th of July," that he was gonna give me the script. He said, "It's a tough film,
nobody's gonna wanna make it. "Just read it and see what you think." And I read it and was
absolutely blown away, to say the least. And now we've got eight
Academy Award nominations. It's tremendous. - I don't think you can underestimate what "Born on the 4th of
July" did for his career and what it meant to
the country at that time when it came out. It's a shame that he didn't win that one. Obviously, he's been
nominated three times now, always when he was in a very dramatic role and just sort of hasn't made it. But if anything, that should
have been the one probably that he won for. - [Narrator] His professional
life has made Tom Cruise one of the highest paid actors in Hollywood, but his personal life
also evolved remarkably during the '80s. In 1987 Cruise settled for the first time and married actress Mimi Rogers. This union would end up
having a decisive impact on the actor's life,
since Rogers was the one who introduced him to Scientology. Mimi Rogers helped the
actor become a student of Scientology. What is Scientology? It's a church founded by
science fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard. - Scientology is basically
a level of courses that you go through to get to this what they call state of being clear, which is emotionally being able to shed the things that
are holding you back. But for many people they do become trapped in the church for years
because the courses cost 10,000, 12,000, $15,000
to go up these levels. A lot of people that have
defected from the church have talked about what the teachings are, and the teachings of that
are that there was a god name Xenu from another
planet 75,000 years ago who sent these aliens to
earth and they were living in volcanoes on earth. The volcanoes were then
hit by hydrogen bombs and all the aliens died, but their spirits were still living on earth
and their reincarnated spirits will attach themselves to human bodies. And those are the emotions
that you feel yourself being held down by. So once you get to these upper levels through the courses you're
able to free those spirits from your body and free
yourself from the emotions that are holding you back. - [Narrator] Cruise began
reading Hubbard's book, "Dianetics," and he
went through the process of auditing sessions. - To explain it, it's sort of like a cross between Catholic confession
and taking a lie detector test because they use these
machines they call the e-meter that you put your hands
onto and they're supposed to read your emotions as you're talking about these stories, and
you usually have a person that is interrogating you
and asking you a series of more intense questions to be able to track your emotions. Tom has since said that because
he was diagnosed as dyslexic back in the '70s and '80s,
there weren't programs in schools and they didn't
really have any ways to treat this effectively,
so he grew up thinking that he was an idiot and thinking that there was something wrong with him, which is very hard for him. And when he got into the church
he went through this tech and he said that as soon
as learned how to read through Scientology, he was cured. So I think that was very emotional for him and sort of pulled him
in very, very quickly into the church and its teachings. - [Narrator] His star
status, since the actor just came out of "Top Gun" and "Rain Main" made him progress very
quickly within the church, and he soon became one of
its leading proponents. But his new faith didn't keep him from pursuing his successful career. He joined forces with Tony
Scott, the director of "Top Gun" for a new summer blockbuster,
"Days of Thunder." The team was looking for an actress to play the female lead of
the movie, a neurosurgeon. Against all odds, a 23
year old Australian actress was chosen, Nicole Kidman. It was rumored that
Cruise, who had seen her in a small movie, insisted
on her getting the part. The two lead actors had a real chemistry. - And then they very quickly
started a romance, I guess, a friendship that was very intense and turned into a romance very quickly while he was still married to Mimi. - [Narrator] After his
divorce with Rogers, the new couple married
on Christmas Eve 1990. It was the beginning of a new
prosperous era for Cruise. In the '90s, Tom Cruise was unstoppable. He and Kidman were the most
glamorous couple in Hollywood, and both their careers
skyrocketed at the time. - We are nominated. - [Narrator] He had many successes and critically-praised movies,
such as "A Few Good Men," "Interview With A Vampire,"
and "Jeremy Maguire." And Kidman became widely regarded as one of the best actresses of her generation. In 1996, Tom Cruise made
one of the smartest moves of his entire career and
produced a movie adaptation of the TV show "Mission Impossible." He hired Brian De Palma to
direct the first installment of what would become a very successful saga. Cruise had created for himself a series of action films he was
totally in charge of. His love for entertainment
and his passion for control led to this perfect vehicle for the actor. - To be the employee or the boss. Uh, you know, each one has its challenges, but I enjoyed producing this movie. - [Interviewer] Do you wanna-- - Do I wanna do it again? - [Interview] Yeah.
- Yes. - [Narrator] He was
developing two careers, one as an action film hero
specialized in crazy stunts and crazy challenges, the
other as an ambitious actor shooting intense dramas with
the best directors on earth. On the personal side, the
couple adopted two children, Isabella and Conner. Everything should have
been peaceful, but for much of the 1990s Cruise and
Kidman had to face attacks regarding the legitimacy of their marriage and rumors regarding Tom
Cruise's alleged homosexuality. - It's kind of a sad case,
but I think the rumors started because he was not able to have kids. So it was like, well, he must be gay. There was this thing, although there's really
no evidence for it. - [Narrator] They filed
two different lawsuits against tabloid publications. In each case the couple
received a published retraction and apology, along with a
large monetary settlement, which they donated to charity. - I think the fact that he
responded to it that way and the case was so big
that that sort of was like, well, maybe there's fuel to the fire. - [Narrator] Putting that
negativity behind them, the couple accepted in the late '90s the proposition of a lifetime. Stanley Kubrick hired them
to play in his last movie, "Eyes Wide Shut." One of Cruise's lifelong dreams, working with Kubrick, became a reality. The couple moved to
London to make the film, and because of Kubrick's
perfectionism, the shoot, initially planned for 12
weeks, lasted two years. - I think that that just shows
that he was really dedicated to working with the greats and doing new and experimental things. But obviously working
with Kubrick isn't easy, and was very intense for him
and for Nicole on the set. - [Narrator] Cruise pushed
himself like never before, and even developed an
ulcer during the shoot. The movie was released in 1999, and is now widely considered
as Cruise's best film. The movie was also a
challenge for the couple. They had to face even more
rumors about their intimate life. A tabloid had even pretended
they couldn't perform their sex scenes in the movie
and had to hire a sexologist, even though they don't share
any sex scenes in the movie. But in February, 2001, Cruise and Kidman announced their separation
after 11 years of marriage. The couple cited the difficulties involved with two acting careers and the amount of time spent apart while working. - When they split up,
Cruise very cryptically said at one point, "Nicole knows what she did." But no one ever explained
it, so there were rumors about infidelity or this or that, but no one really has any idea. - [Narrator] But once again many rumors described their divorce as a result of Cruise's involvement in Scientology. Kidman partly confirmed
those assumptions by saying she didn't want her children
raised as Scientologists. But even darker rumors appeared saying that Scientology facilitated their divorce because of Kidman's lack of
engagement in the church. - Later, again, people that
defected from the church and spoke out in a documentary
called "Going Clear" said that they were working behind the scenes to break them up. After they were married, Tom had sort of, not separated himself from the church, he certainly didn't say anything
about leaving the church, but he was pulling away, not as present. What these people who have
left the church said is that they were working behind
the scenes to break them up because they wanted to pull
him back into the church. Eventually, I guess, it worked. Again, we don't know
exactly what happened, but it's understood that it was a wedge that was driven between them by the church because Nicole was never really
a hundred percent on board. - [Narrator] The 2000s
started well for the star. After his divorce, Cruise dated
his "Vanilla Sky" co-star, Penelope Cruz, for a few years. - At that point after he
had broken up with Nicole, I think, with this two
kids, they were drawn back into the church and were very,
very heavily involved in it and Penelope and him had
co-starred in "Vanilla Sky," but she was never considered
acceptable by the church and didn't stick around for very long. - [Narrator] In the meantime,
he was making some classics such as "Minority Report"
with Steven Spielberg, "Collateral" with Michael
Mann, and "War of the Worlds" with Spielberg again. But by the middle of the
decade, his public image would start to change for the worse. In January 2004 Cruise made
a controversial statement saying, "I think psychiatry
should be outlawed." - He was doing promotion
for "War of the Worlds,' or at least he was supposed
to be doing promotion for "War of the Worlds,"
but it sort of became about Tom and his
opposition to psychiatry. He doesn't believe in it
and he doesn't believe that there should be any medical treatment for any mental problems
because they can all be solved through the teachings of the church. - [Narrator] Cruise also
became a militant spokesman for Scientology and began
campaigning in Europe. In order to help the church
be recognized as a religion he lobbied officials
in France and Germany, raising high criticism worldwide. - He just really became
sort of an evangelist for the church in this period of time. He's so esteemed within
the church that he's really sort of their international figurehead. - [Narrator] But maybe
the strangest element of Cruise's life by 2005
was in a new relationship to actress Katie Holmes. In June 2005, after a two-month courtship, Cruise proposed to Holmes in a restaurant at the top of the Eiffel Tower. - All of a sudden they were dating. They showed up on a red
carpet all over each other within like a week. They were making incredibly
excessive PDAs across the world. - [Narrator] In October they announced that they were expecting
their first child together. The hasty proposal and surprise pregnancy quickly became tabloid
gossip, and his best man at the wedding was none
other than David Miscavige, the leader of the Church of Scientology. - And his relationship
with David Miscavige as, again, people who have
defected the from the church have said was incredibly intense. His life at that point was
completely arranged by David, who was supposed to be his best friend, and they would do these
really manly things together like go riding motorcycles and go out and have this dream life
that David made possible. So I think that he was so
far really pulled into that that he couldn't see
anything outside of it. - [Narrator] And as always, crazy rumors had been heard about Scientology auditing potential girlfriends for
Cruise after his breakup with Penelope Cruz. - These had come out later,
and also I can say that at the time even then
it was sort of the rumor around Hollywood that they
were calling people in as sort of like casting calls to date him because he was the number one superstar in the world at that
point and was looking for a younger actress to come
in and be his partner. The rumor has always been that they went through that process and the
one who won was Katie Holmes. - [Interviewer] I have see
that you are learning more about Scientology, can you tell
me a little bit about that? - Yeah, I'm excited about
it, and I feel like it's-- - [Interviewer] Have you
started, have you read any of Hubbard's books at all? - Yeah, I've read a few,
listened to a couple of tapes, and I feel like it's
making me a better person. - [Narrator] But the decisive moment when the public opinion
switched and stopped regarding Tom Cruise
as a well-beloved hero was perhaps his infamous appearance on the Oprah Winfrey Show. - I think every person
has probably seen a video of that and what happened. Had just started this
romance with Katie Holmes and he was on the set of Oprah, supposed to be promoting a film, but he talked about the
romance, he jumped on the couch, he was screaming, he was
doing these fist pumps. He ended up going backstage
and pulling Katie out and kissing her all over. It was like, everything
about it was just so weird and inappropriate that even Oprah Winfrey, who is a very composed
woman, she was just like, "What is wrong with you?" I mean it just sort of
made him a laughingstock. - [Narrator] Those personal
bad bets were followed by some professional downturns as well. In 2006 Paramount Pictures
announced it was ending its 14 year relationship with Cruise. A chairman from the company
cited the economic damage to Cruise's value as an actor and producer from his controversial
public behavior and views. But some industry analysts
commented that the real reason for the split was most
likely Paramount's discontent over Cruise's exceptionally large share of DVD sales from the "Mission
Impossible' franchise. Whatever the truth might
be, the unstoppable star faced difficulties for the first time, but it didn't keep him
from releasing a third and successful "Mission Impossible" movie. He also welcomed his doctor Suri in 2006. Seeing the negative impact
his religion and behavior had on his career and legacy,
Cruise has drastically changed his public relations strategy. Since his Oprah incident,
the star has been much more secretive about Scientology and his private life in general. - You know, he is an amazing actor, but he is at the core a businessman and he didn't want his
business and the business of Tom Cruise to be
punished by his behavior. - [Narrator] On the
big screen he has shown how smart he is by
playing with his own image in the comedy "Tropic Thunder." Cursing and putting on a fat suit proved to be the best way to
win the audience back. - He seemed to make fun of himself and also just to genuinely
be having a good time, so it helped restore
his reputation in that it was sort of like hey,
he's still a fun guy, he's still a good guy,
he's not the intense, crazy person that he's been. - [Narrator] It even earned
him a Golden Globe nomination. In 2011 he even managed to release the biggest success of
his career to that point, "Mission Impossible, Ghost Protocol." - I love making these movies. Because of all of that,
because it is such a challenge. - [Narrator] Critics
praised the action movie and Cruise was back in style. But on a personal level,
things were not getting better. Only five years after their marriage, Cruise was shocked to learn
Katie Holmes wanted a divorce. - The rumor had always also
been that they had signed this deal that it was gonna be five years that she would be married to him, or at least five years kind of thing. As soon as they hit their
five year anniversary she hit him with these divorce papers. And the story is that they
had been seen together just a couple weeks before. She was still playing up the marriage and that they were
happy and this and that. As soon as he flew off to
Iceland for a film shoot she called him up, said,
"We're getting divorced," changed her phone number,
changed everything, and never spoke to him again. When he was married to
Mimi Rogers, he left her because he had started this
relationship with Nicole. When he was married to
Nicole, he left her, she had been very young when they married. He left her, he took the kids,
he controlled that situation. And this was really the first time that anyone stood up against him, and she won. She was pretty smart
in the way she did it. - [Narrator] In the midst of his divorce, Cruise filed a lawsuit against "In Touch" and "Life and Style
Magazine" for defamation after they claimed Cruise had "abandoned" his six year old daughter. During deposition, Cruise testified that, due to his workload, 110 days had passed without him seeing her. But apparently his
relationship to his daughter didn't get better with time. - He saw her a couple of times,
they did photos together, and then as far as we
know he hasn't seen her. They don't have a relationship. And that is, again, because of the church, and that's because the church sees Katie as a suppressive person and
therefore Suri is as well. - [Narrator] He focused on
his career more than ever, building back his image. His movie career in the
2010s seemed less adventurous and versatile. He focused on movies he had also produced that were mostly big action
films in which he can display his love for physical acting and stunts. Tom Cruise became synonymous with action. - These are the kinds of roles
that he's really beloved for. People were willing to
accept him as this hero, action hero, the films are brilliant, exciting, well done,
everything that people love. He's a good businessman,
he instinctually knew, okay, this is where I have to go back to. And he managed to do that
with these action roles. - [Narrator] His drama
years seemed far behind. He created a new action
franchise, "Jack Reacher," and pursued the "Mission Impossible" saga with "Rogue Nation" and
with "Fallout" in 2018. The movies were more popular than ever, and Cruise in better shape
than ever at over 50 years old. But even if he was still
silent on the subject, his link to Scientology
was just as strong. - At this point he's now moved to Florida and he lives 500 meters from
the door of the headquarters. He is very much more
entrenched in the church. He's that involved at this point and has been given a variety of awards within the church that
aren't necessarily real, but he's sort of like, I don't know, he's the face of the church,
he's the leader of the church, he's the person that brings people in. I mean, he's sort of everything. - [Narrator] Since his
divorce with Katie Holmes he hasn't shown the world
any of his girlfriends, or has failed to find another
fulfilling relationship. He seems married to his
work and is mostly focused on his legacy as an actor and producer. - I did speak with him
at the time of the latest "Mission Impossible," and he says that he's gonna continue on this path. He says, "I will still be doing stunts "if I have to be in a wheelchair. "When I'm 90 years old I'm going
to be doing my own stunts." So I think that he very much
intends to keep this up. Physically, can he? Because you know, he's
almost a 60 year old man at this point so that isn't easy to jump from building to building
and hang out of helicopters. - [Narrator] Ever since
the audience discovered his darker side, Tom Cruise has managed to stay relevant and
incredibly successful. No one has forgotten his
antics about Scientology or about his thoughts on psychiatry, but somehow people are willing to separate the actor from the man. His personal life is as chaotic as his professorial life is steady. He will soon be an action hero in his 60s, and his career seems far from over. Maybe the last chapter of his filmography will see him settled down
to more grounded dramas. And who knows, maybe one
day he will turn his back to the Church of Scientology. Both scenarios seem unlikely, but Tom Cruise is used to
surprising his audiences. (bright jazzy music)
