CSI and the Wrath of Cruise, part 3

Let’s jump back to John Travolta just a bit. John went through various stages in his full beliefs in Scientology. Before marrying Kelly Preston, he was interested in admitting his homosexuality to the public and moving in with his long term boyfriend. When Scientology discovered this, they sent him to various rehabilitation camps (yes I said camps) to remove his “tendencies” and negative influences. When this did not fully work, the church pushed him into marrying Preston, yet allowing his “indiscretions” to continue, as long as CSI spies were present during the “trips”. This could also be the factor behind Travolta’s constant “night owl” description of himself. CSI is still aware of Travolta’s tendencies today and fully cooperates with his trips. They have also helped John in keeping under wraps the disability of his son, since CSI does not believe in psychiatry of any kind and believes that disabilities can be removed, just like homosexuality from your “thetan”. When CSI realized that they would never be able to fully utilize Travolta as their spokesperson because of his sexual indiscretions and the media’s realization of the matters, they began searching for another golden boy within the Hollywood community.

Tom Cruise in 1982 was not the star that we know now, nor was Hollywood completely convinced he was on that superstar track, with his average looks. The former wannabe priest moved to LA at age 18 to pursue his acting career and in the beginning, it might have been easy to get parts, but not the kind that make you infamous. After a few small parts in movies, Cruise landed the lead role in the risqué teen flick "Risky Business" in 1983, which put him on that ladder to stardom with his lip-syncing dance in his tightie whities. Cruise followed up the movie with a few other hits, but in 1986, he hit the jackpot with his role, Pete 'Maverick' Mitchell, in "Top Gun"It’s been reported that Cruise originally passed up the film because his dyslexia as so bad at the time he could not follow the script. This is where Mimi Rogers, his girlfriend at the time. Now it is not completely evident if Rogers intent on her relationship with Cruise was to create the megastar for the church, but since she was a longtime member and well known “recruiter” in the industry, its not completely crazy to think there was an ulterior motive here. Rogers began teaching Tom the tenants of CSI, which he credits to “ridding” him of his dyslexia and allowing him to proceed with making “Top Gun”, which was the star maker of his career. Cruise also explains that the tenants of CSI were important to remove the damage done to his as young boy from his abusive father.


What’s interesting is that Cruise has never gone into detail about the abuse, but does acknowledge it was damaging enough for his mother to remove herself and the children from his life. Rogers and Cruise’s relationship grew in that year and the couple was married in 1987. While the majority of information leading up to the marriage is not as easily accessed as his current relationship, we do know that CSI was incredibly enthusiastic to obtain the rising star as a member. Within the three years of their marriage, their “attempts” to have children were unsuccessful, which Cruise blamed the demise of their relationship. Rogers on the other hand said she became disillusioned with CSI, their pampering of stars and their tactics to increase membership. Rogers also knew that Cruise was not able to “perform” in the creation of a baby because he was not “very interested” in sex. Rogers decided to leave the church and asked Cruise to do the same. Tom was torn, since he had gained so much from CSI, in regards to his career, and his close relationship with CSI head, David Miscavige. Tom informed David about the situation and was urged to divorce Rogers immediately to save face and keep CSI out of the equation. Rogers at this point had left the church and became angry at the swill CSI was sending the press, such as Rogers “was too old to have children” and that she wasn’t a “true believer” of CSI ideals. CSI wanted the relationship to end so badly they paid for the entire divorce and forced Rogers to a measly settlement with Cruise, who while being married to her, began to command quite a paycheck.


CSI, even though they had requested Rogers to scale back on her career in order to support Cruise during their marriage, was being blackmailed with her audit tapes to keep quiet about the real reasons the relationship ended and to stick with the settlement. While the demise of their relationship was occurring, Cruise was busy working on "Days of Thunder"where he met a young, up and coming actress Nicole Kidman.
Miscavige knew though that the rumors of Cruise’s sexuality were flying through Hollywood’s inner circle and that gossip like that does not remain inside for very long, especially when its about a superstar like Cruise. CSI also realized that their soon to be poster boy would lose credibility if the rumors were not squashed. They began to research the young Hollywood actresses that could possibly work for Cruise to continue his “charade” when Kidman came to mind. Kidman was using “Days of Thunder” as her first big hurrah into the American movie industry and the audience, as well as Hollywood insiders, began to fall in love.

And so “did” Cruise. While in my humble opinion, I believe Cruise did have some sort of feelings for Kidman, I do not believe they are of the true love kind. The couple began dating almost immediately after his divorce from Rogers and were married in Telluride, CO in the winter of 1990. While “insiders” were still able to keep Cruise’s real life under wraps, there were allegations that the marriage was part of a cover up, created by CSI, to hide Cruise’s homosexuality. It is believed that Kidman was approached during the beginning of their courtship, which was quite similar to the train wreck that was TomKat, by CSI and Cruise to discuss her options of marriage. Cruise immediately had Nicole getting involved in the CSI processes such as auditing, personality tests, beginner’s classes and other meetings. Kidman was cautious in the beginning but thought it could have a positive effect on her career, analytically. As a devout Catholic, Kidman was continuously promised that her religious beliefs would not conflict with that of the teachings of CSI and she could practice both simultaneously. Kidman signed a contract with CSI and Cruise upon their marriage stating that she would keep certain things about Cruise secret, as well as CSI secrets, and in return Cruise would help in propelling her career in Hollywood. Kidman quickly signed, but at the same time found herself truly falling in love with the charismatic actor. I am not sure if Kidman was in love with the real Cruise or the idea that he created for himself. Who knows, but within a few years of their relationship, CSI began getting antsy to have the couple “create” a family. While Cruise was again unable to deliver a child to Kidman, the couple adopted Isabella and Connor. Both children are believed to be kids born to Scientologists who were unable to care for them in the way this couple could. The lack of their “own” children was constantly blamed on Kidman’s “vanity” and quest to stay thin. While the relationship evolved, Kidman’s career blossomed. Her turn in Gus Van Sant’s "To Die For"let everyone know she was a great actress who would not have to ride the coat tails of her famous husband anymore. She won a Golden Globe for Best Actress for that part and it became the catapult to her successful career. Since both of their careers were on the fast track to bigger and better things, the press was becoming hungrier for gossip bits about the “perfect couple”.





As time wore on and Kidman grew into her own, a distance began to show between the two of them, specifically in public. The couple had just wrapped a very grueling shooting schedule together on "Eyes Wide Shut", Stanley Kubrick’s last film before his death. "Eyes” forced the couple to play through an intense relationship, filled with lies and betrayal onscreen. Many insiders blamed the toll of filming on the change in the usually “lovey dovey” couple.


At the same time, Cruise was filming the insanely wonderful (and one of my personal favorite films of all time) "Magnolia"Cruise was playing the part of Frank T.J. Mackey, a woman hating misogynist who created a brand on the “Respect the Cock!philosophy. The Paul Thomas Anderson movie, which focused on dysfunctional families in Los Angeles and their common bonds, infused with a little Bible rhetoric, forced Cruise to dig deeper into a role then ever before and it is still his finest performance to date. Combined with the fallout of "Eyes" and the effect of this role, Cruise began soul searching and decided it was time to be more honest with himself and wife. It was at this time that Tom found out Kidman was pregnant and was hurt since the child was presumably not his. Cruise informed his best friend Miscavige, who had begun to take a larger role in his everyday life, and David insisted on getting out the relationship immediately. Cruise filed for divorce from Kidman just shy of the ten year mark, which in California forces a couple to break up the ownership of all things, money and property 50/50. Kidman was stunned by this revelation and torn apart. She had just been nominated for an Academy Awardand should have been riding the high. Instead, she was dumped publicly and callously. Cruise found himself depressed and angered at the church and became disillusioned once again on his purpose in CSI. He just lost “the love of his life” and could face a real backlash from the public for his behavior.