Tom Cruise admitted that his ex-wife Katie Holmes divorced him to protect their daughter Suri from the religion of Scientology.
The shocking admission came during a deposition, first obtained by RadarOnline for his $50 million defamation suit against Life & Style — who said that Cruise abandoned his daughter.
The 51-year-old actor reportedly became extremely angry when originally asked if he left his seven-year-old daughter, but later admitted to doing so.
Tom Cruise first said he found the question offensive saying, “there is no need to protect my daughter from my religion.”
However, when pressed by lawyers whether Katie Holmes left him to protect the couple’s daughter from the Church of Scientology, Tom Cruise said:
“Did she say that? That was one of the assertions, yes.”
But Tom Cruise’s shocking revelations weren’t limited to the relationship between the couple, confessing that Suri is no longer a member of the Church.
This is, perhaps, an even bigger admission since anyone who leaves the church is considered a “Suppressive Person” and is cut off from all members of the church, including their immediate family.
Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes divorced in 2012 and at the time many critics of Scientology thought the church was playing favorites with Cruise’s family.
An account from insider Samantha Domingo — a former Scientologist — who was labeled a “Suppressive Person” and whose ex-husband Placido Domingo Jr. spoke out and eventually left the church after officials tried to make him break connection with her, talked to Vanity Fair about Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes split.
Domingo says that the way in which Holmes left Cruise and enrolled Suri in a private school would have been immediate grounds for disconnection if Holmes was married to anyone else.
Domingo adds that even if the real reason Holmes left Cruise to protect their daughter from his religion, he won’t give up trying to convince her to come back.
In the Vanity Fair fair interview Domingo explained:
“According to Scientology doctrine, Katie has denied Suri her spiritual eternity in the church. There’s no chance for her now. Why would Katie deny their daughter her spiritual freedom? How suppressive is that? If [Tom] loves his daughter, he will never give up on [Scientology]. He will try to use every means available to help his child, and he does think he’s helping his child, but he’s also helping the church control his life.”
During his deposition, Tom Cruise wouldn’t commit to saying he and the church of Scientology consider Katie Holmes was a “Suppressive Person” saying it would be a “oversimplification of religious doctrine.”