No one balances blockbuster fame & off-screen intrigue quite like Tom Cruise. The “Mission: Impossible” star, now 63, has been a global movie icon for decades, and with that comes the world’s fascination with his personal life.
(Photo by Warner Brothers/Getty Images)From high-profile marriages to headline-making rumored romances, Cruise’s love story is as sprawling as his film career. Here’s a look at every confirmed relationship, marriage & noteworthy rumor. Chronologically, spanning the 1980s to his most recent rumored connection with Ana de Armas.
Melissa Gilbert: A Teenage Fling
(Photo by Andrew H. Walker/Getty Images)Cruise’s Hollywood beginnings included a short-lived connection with Little House on the Prairie star Melissa Gilbert. In a 2014 appearance on “Watch What Happens Live!” with Andy Cohen, she clarified that while they didn’t have sex: “I was 16, maybe, or 17” at the time, “we made out,” she said, adding, “and he was a good kisser.”
Heather Locklear: A Short-Lived Date
(Photo by Vinnie Zuffante/Getty Images)In the early ’80s, Cruise and Dynasty star Heather Locklear shared a brief night out, highlighted by Cruise doing the splits at a club, much like his “Risky Business” dance scene.
Rebecca De Mornay: His First Major Love
(Photo by Geffen Company/Getty Images)Cruise fell for “Risky Business” co-star Rebecca De Mornay after the film’s release in 1983. “There’s something earnest and virtuous about him that’s quite rare,” she told Rolling Stone in 1986.
They dated during his filming of “Legend” in London but parted ways before Top Gun launched him into superstardom.
Cher: An Unexpected ’80s Romance
In the mid-1980s, Cruise & Cher quietly dated. “I was crazy about him,” Cher told Oprah, as reported by Daily Mail. “He was shy… It could have been a great big romance.” She later named him one of her top five lovers.
Mimi Rogers: First Marriage (1987–1990)
(Photo by Vinnie Zuffante/Getty Images)Cruise married actress Mimi Rogers in 1987. She introduced him to Scientology, but their relationship ended in 1990. “Tom was seriously thinking of becoming a monk,” Rogers told Playboy after the split.
Nicole Kidman: A Hollywood Power Couple (1990–2001)
(Photo by Vinnie Zuffante/Getty Images)Nicole Kidman met Tom Cruise during the casting of the 1990 racing drama “Days of Thunder”. He had just finalized his divorce from Mimi Rogers when he proposed, and the two were married on Christmas Eve that same year.
Together, they built a family, adopting daughter Isabella in 1992 and son Connor in 1995. They partnered on two films, “Far and Away” and Stanley Kubrick’s haunting “Eyes Wide Shut”. That final collaboration proved to be an emotional marathon, shot over 400 days and shadowed by Kubrick’s sudden death just after finishing the film.
(Photo by Vinnie Zuffante/Getty Images)“Our marriage is stronger because of it,” Cruise said at the time. “And our friendship is deeper.”
Kidman, too, believed in the depth of their bond. “All I can say is that I hope we are together when we are 80,” she told Talk in 2000. “I can’t say we will be, but I will be so devastated if we are not.”
But just months later, Cruise filed for divorce. The announcement came on Feb. 5, 2001, with a statement from their longtime rep explaining, “citing the difficulties inherent in diverging careers which constantly kept them apart, they concluded that an amicable separation seemed best for both of them at this time.”
Looking back, Cruise remained private but resolute. “She knows why, and I know why,” he told Vanity Fair later that year. “She’s the mother of my children, and I wish her well… There’s a point at which you just sometimes have to face the brutal reality.”
(Photo by Michael Montfort/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)Kidman, still piecing together her understanding, opened up to Vanity Fair in 2002. “I’m starting to understand now [why we broke up]. At the time, I didn’t.”
She had fallen fast and hard. “He basically swept me off my feet. I fell madly, passionately in love,” she said. “And as happens when you fall in love, my whole plan in terms of what I wanted for my life—I was like, ‘Forget it. This is it.’ I was consumed by it, willingly. And I was desperate to have a baby with him. I didn’t care if we were married. That’s what I wish I’d done.”
Penélope Cruz: A Three-Year Romance
Photo Credit: Kevin Winter/Getty ImagesPenélope Cruz and Tom Cruise first met while filming “Vanilla Sky” in 2001, but their relationship didn’t begin until after production wrapped. Despite Cruise still being married at the time of filming, Cruz clarified on Good Morning America, “There’s nothing to hide and it’s a good thing.”
The pair went public in August 2001 at the premiere of “Captain Corelli’s Mandolin.” “He came and shared it with me,” Cruz said on GMA. “It was special for me that he wanted to share it with me that way.”
Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images.Their romance lasted three years, and during that time, Cruise told People in 2003, “I’m very, very happy with my relationship,” while also denying rumors that he was engaged to the Spanish actress.
The relationship wasn’t without media scrutiny. By January 2004, the couple had quietly called it quits. A source confirmed the split two months later, telling People, “The relationship just ran its course, and they decided not to be girlfriend and boyfriend anymore.”
Reflecting on her approach to love in a 2008 interview with The Telegraph, Cruz explained,
“I’ve never fallen in love with someone I’m working with. It’s always been afterwards. If something becomes friendship, then maybe months later it becomes something else, but you can never know. It’s always a mystery. You can’t plan those things.” In 2010, Cruz married her frequent co-star and longtime friend Javier Bardem.
Nazanin Boniadi: A Secret, Scientology-Linked Romance
According to Vanity Fair, the relationship was orchestrated by the Church of Scientology, claims the church later denied. Boniadi has declined to speak in detail about the relationship. “I’d rather not talk about that,” she told The New York Post in 2013.
Katie Holmes: TomKat Era (2005–2012)
Photo by Robert Evans/Handout via Getty Images)After a whirlwind courtship, including that famous Oprah couch moment, Cruise married Katie Holmes in 2006. Their daughter, Suri, was born earlier that year.
(GIULIO NAPOLITANO/AFP via Getty Images)The couple divorced in 2012. “I don’t want that moment in my life to define me,” Holmes told People in 2014.
Rumored Romances: Cameron Diaz, Laura Prepon & Sofia Vergara
(Photo by Jose Antonio De Lamadrid/Getty Images)Cruise sparked dating rumors with several stars over the years, none confirmed. Cameron Diaz: costarred in “Vanilla Sky” & “Knight and Day”, but Diaz later laughed off dating rumors.
Cruise was linked to Laura Prepon in 2014, but both actors denied the relationship. The “Modern Family” star Sofia Vergara laughed off speculation in 2011, saying, “Let’s keep it that way!”
Vanessa Kirby: ‘Mission’ Rumor, No Romance
Cruise was briefly rumored to be interested in “The Crown” actress Vanessa Kirby in 2017, but nothing came of it. She was later linked to actor Callum Turner.
Hayley Atwell: Onscreen Sparks, Offscreen Denial
(Photo by ANGELA WEISS/AFP via Getty Images)During filming for “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning”, Cruise & Hayley Atwell sparked romance buzz. Atwell shut it down in 2023, revealing she turned to Cruise for advice on handling rumors. “He’d be like, ‘You know exactly who you are… That is the only thing that matters.’”
Ana de Armas: Latest Rumored Love
Cruise and “Ballerina” star Ana de Armas fueled romance speculation in 2025 after being spotted holding hands in Vermont ahead of her birthday. While promoting “Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning”, Cruise praised her work: “It just kicks ass.”
She later told Good Morning America: “Not just one, but a few projects [are coming]… with Doug Liman and Christopher McQuarrie and, of course, Tom.”
They are confirmed to star in the upcoming thriller “Deeper” together. Still, neither has confirmed a relationship, leaving fans to wonder if this is just another onscreen collaboration… or something more.
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Tom Cruise’s Romance History