Was Tom Cruise’s marriage to Katie Holmes the result of the Church of Scientology auditioning women to marry the actor? That’s the latest rumor to do the rounds as the Cruise and Holmes divorce gets underway.
According to the New York Post , the church pushed for Cruise’s sudden divorce from the then-pregnant Nicole Kidman, on the grounds that his wife of a decade wasn’t all that sold on Scientology; Kidman’s refusal to commit solely to the cult allegedly cost her her marriage.
The Post adds that the couple’s prenup saw Holmes get $3 million for every year she was with Cruise, and that giving birth to mini-Scientologists would produce an especially large bonus. Lovely.
And it gets better, by which I mean, it gets more depressing : after Cruise and Kidman went their separate ways, the church effectively started its very own Wife Idol , auditioning numerous women for the role of Mrs Cruise, with actresses lured to Scientology’s Celebrity Centre in Hollywood for screening. Penelope Cruz and Sofia Vergara were among those courted by the church, but neither wished to convert.
When Scientology leaders found an interview in which Holmes said she would like to marry Cruise, they’d found their woman. Rings were swapped, sofas were jumped on, and a short while later, TomKat were hitched.
Holmes is now seeking full custody of the couple’s 6-year-old daughter Suri, and Us Weekly says she now has a rented apartment in Manhattan to ensure a stable home life while divorce proceedings take place.
If this story is confirmed as true, goodness knows what else Holmes could reveal about the church she spent six years in . Whether or not she would reveal all is another matter, however; some former Scientologists believe it would be unwise, predicting the church would unleash its own revenge on Holmes and her daughter .