Whether you love him for his work in notable blockbusters like “Top Gun” and “Mission Impossible” or are intrigued by his captivating persona, there is no arguing that Tom Cruise is a Hollywood icon. Over the years, the actor has equally become known for his accomplishments on film as he has for his controversial viewpoints and various romances. Since starting his acting career, Cruise has been linked to several leading ladies, including Penélope Cruz and Nazanin Boniadi. Cruise’s most notable romances are with the women he had married, however. The “A Few Good Men” actor has been married three times to actors Mimi Rogers, Nicole Kidman, and Katie Holmes. Most recently, Cruise has garnered attention for his relationship with his “Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One” costar Hayley Atwell, with whom he allegedly had an on-again, off-again fling from 2020 to 2022, as reported by The Sun. While the actor currently appears to be single, there is no doubt that his romances of the past are worth exploring. Read on to learn more about Cruise’s dating history, which also includes Cher!
Rebecca De Mornay
Cruise’s on-screen chemistry with his “Risky Business” costar was not just for the cameras. Though De Mornay was in a relationship with actor Harry Dean Stanton, she and Cruise started an intense affair during the production of the 1983 film. The pair’s “Risky Business” costar, Curtis Armstrong, revealed in his memoir, “Revenge of the Nerd,” that the dynamic on set was awkward at points.
“I suspect that most of Harry Dean’s great qualities were lost on Tom, who, I think, was beginning to regard him as a guest overstaying his welcome. It must have been a little galling to have your heart set on f*cking your costar, and just when you think you’re starting to make headway, her significant other comes popping up out of a trap like a lanky, amiable Banquo’s ghost,” Armstrong said (via The Hollywood Reporter).
De Mornay and Cruise continued to have a relationship until around 1985. In a 2018 interview with Celebrity Page, De Mornay opened up about her romance with the “Top Gun” star, telling the outlet, “I will say that I thought he was very annoying when we first started [filming] . . . He came to grow on me because we wound up together for two and a half years after that film.”
Cher
Though short-lived, one of Cruise’s most notable romances was with none other than music icon Cher. The two connected for the first time at the 1985 wedding of Madonna and Sean Penn, though they got to know one another better at a White House event, per People. “Then a bunch of people who were dyslexic were invited to the White House, and Tom and I are both dyslexic . . . there was definitely a connection,” she explained to the outlet.
Though it is unknown exactly how long Cruise and Cher’s rendezvous lasted, the “Believe” singer did tell Andy Cohen on “Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen” in 2013 that their romance “was pretty hot and heavy for a little minute,” and that Cruise was easily in her top five list of lovers.
Mimi Rogers
Cruise met his first wife in 1986. The two have differing accounts of how they initially connected, with Rogers claiming that a mutual friend set them up, and Cruise alleging that Rogers was dating someone else when they met, per Parade. Regardless of how the pair crossed paths, their relationship took off pretty fast, and a year after they met, they tied the knot in a private ceremony in May 1987, according to The Daily Beast.
Rogers, a second-generation Scientologist, is likely one of the greatest influences that introduced Cruise to the controversial belief system that he has since adopted so passionately. Throughout their marriage, details of the relationship between Cruise and Rogers were constantly speculated, coinciding with the actor’s growing fame following films like “Cocktail” and “Rain Man.” The couple quietly split in 1989 and announced their split in January 1990, as reported by Entertainment Weekly.
Nicole Kidman
Around the time Cruise separated from Rogers, he met Kidman in 1989 while filming the movie “Days of Thunder.” The two hit it off right away, with Cruise later revealing (via Newsweek), “My first reaction to meeting Nic was pure lust . . . It was totally physical.” The pair wed just months after meeting in December 1990 in a private ceremony held in Colorado, according to Entertainment Weekly.
After starring in the 1992 film “Far and Away,” the couple adopted a baby girl, Bella Kidman Cruise, shortly after she was born on Dec. 22, 1992, per People. Bella’s adoption came after Kidman had a pregnancy loss, which Kidman opened up about in a 2007 interview with Vanity Fair. “From the minute Tom and I were married, I wanted to have babies . . . And we lost a baby early on, so that was really very traumatic. And that’s when we would adopt [our daughter] Bella,” she said (via People). Three years later, Kidman and Cruise adopted their second child, a boy named Connor Kidman Cruise, after his birth on Jan. 17, 1995.
For the majority of the ’90s, the two were one of Hollywood’s greatest power couples. They would collaborate on screen again in 1999 and star as lovers in Stanley Kubrick’s “Eyes Wide Shut” together, but their marriage deteriorated not long after. In February 2001, the couple announced their separation. The divorce filing cited “difficulties inherent in divergent careers” as the cause for the relationship’s end, per Entertainment Weekly, though many speculated the split to be partially attributed to the pair’s differences in religious beliefs. “Scientology had NOTHING to do with this,” Pat Kingsley, the couple’s former representative, assured at the time.
Penélope Cruz
Cruise met Cruz on the set of “Vanilla Sky” in 2000, and the pair started dating in 2001, per People. While there was media speculation that the couple were expecting a child and had plans on tying the knot, nothing of the sort happened, and their relationship was mainly private.
By March 2004, Cruise and Cruz called it quits, with a source revealing to People, “The relationship just ran its course and they decided not to be girlfriend and boyfriend anymore. Through most of the relationship they were both shooting movies in separate parts of the world.”
Nazanin Boniadi
Though Cruise’s relationship with Boniadi was short-lived, it was later revealed to be under unusual circumstances. According to a 2012 Vanity Fair story, Boniadi was one of several actors that were misled by Scientologist leaders to audition for a “special project” which required a makeover, training, and confidentiality agreements. Allegedly, the project was actually a quest from leaders in the organization to find Cruise another girlfriend after his split from Kidman.
In 2004, Boniadi was chosen to be Cruise’s girlfriend, and within a month, the couple were living together. The relationship came to an end, however, after a meeting with Cruise and the Church of Scientology leader David Miscavige. Per Business Insider, the event that ended their brief fling involved a misunderstanding between Boniadi and Miscavige. “Overcome by a severe headache, Nazanin had a hard time understanding Miscavige, which infuriated him. The next day, Cruise — inches from her face — pounded on the table and screamed at her for insulting the head of the church,” said Alex Gibney in the HBO documentary “Going Clear.”
“Two weeks later, church henchman Tommy Davis delivered the news to Boniadi that her relationship with Cruise was over,” the documentary revealed.
Katie Holmes
Following his breakup from Boniadi, Cruise met Holmes in April 2005 and started dating the “Dawson’s Creek” star that same month, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Just one month after their romance started, Cruise notoriously professed his love for Holmes in an interview with Oprah Winfrey in May 2005, which many still associate with the actor even years after it took place. In June 2005, Holmes converted from Catholicism to the Church of Scientology, and the pair got engaged that same month.
By October 2005, Holmes and Cruise announced that they were expecting their first child together, and on April 18, 2006, they welcomed their daughter, Suri, into the world, per Today. The pair, dubbed “TomKat,” eventually tied the knot in November 2006 and went on to garner intense media attention throughout the duration of the marriage.
Despite appearing strong on the outside, the couple’s relationship was dwindling behind the scenes. In June 2012, Holmes filed for divorce from Cruise, with her rep telling outlets at the time (via Us Weekly), “This is a personal and private matter for Katie and her family. Katie’s primary concern remains, as it always has been, her daughter’s best interest.” A rep for Cruise on the other hand issued a separate statement, which read, “Kate has filed for divorce and Tom is deeply saddened and is concentrating on his three children. Please allow them their privacy.”
Hayley Atwell
Cruise met Atwell on the set of “Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One” in 2020. Though the pair have neither confirmed nor denied being in a relationship, there have been fierce rumors about a romance between the costars. According to The Sun, the two began dating shortly after meeting on set, but kept their relationship under wraps. From that point on, they had an on-again, off-again relationship, and ultimately called it quits in June 2022, with a source close to the two telling The Sun, “They get on really well, and have fantastic chemistry, which is why they decided to quietly give the relationship another try earlier this year. But what was working behind closed doors didn’t work out so well when it was made public, and the fanfare around them as a couple exploded again . . . They have now decided they are better as friends.”
Is Tom Cruise Dating Anyone?
Though Tom Cruise has certainly had his share of high-profile and intensely publicized romantic relationships, since his 2012 divorce from Katie Holmes, it has been over a decade since the star’s love life has garnered attention in a significant way. The Mission Impossible actor has not been publicly romantically linked to anyone – a fellow celebrity, normie, or otherwise – in a major way since his divorce 15 years ago. Though that seemed to be possibly changing after he was rumored to be dating Shakira, and his co-star Hayley Atwell, both rumors have since been shut down.
During an interview with The Independent earlier this month, the latter maintained she sees her Mission Impossible co-star as an “uncle” figure, as she questioned: “Why are things being assumed or projected onto me about my relationship with my work colleague and boss?”
While we now know that neither Shakira nor Hayley are recent romances of Tom’s, who has he been romantically linked to?
Rebecca De Mornay
Tom and Rebecca met while filming the former’s now-classic breakthrough film, Risky Business. The film premiered in 1983, and the former couple were together for a little over two years before their 1985 break up.
Cher
Talk about two icons getting together! Though their romance was brief, in 2013 the ‘Believe’ hitmaker revealed to James Corden that her 1985 fling with Tom landed him in her list of “top five lovers” ever.
Mimi Rogers
Mimi is Tom’s first wife. The two met at a dinner party in 1985, and tied the knot with a private wedding in upstate New York on May 9, 1986, when Mimi was 31 and Tom was 24.
Nicole Kidman
Tom and Nicole met while working on Days of Thunder, which premiered in 1990, the year they tied the knot. They have also worked together on Far and Away, in 1992, and Eyes Wide Shut, in 1999.
Penélope Cruz
Tom and Penélope developed a romance while working on 2001’s Vanilla Sky, and they made their red carpet debut at the premiere of Captain Corelli’s Mandolin in August of that year. They split in 2004.
Nazanin Boniadi
In 2004, Boniadi was chosen to be Cruise’s girlfriend, and within a month, the couple were living together. The relationship came to an end, however, after a meeting with Cruise and the Church of Scientology leader David Miscavige.
Katie Holmes
Tom and Katie first started dating in 2005 – Katie was 27 and Tom 43 – the same year the actress called off her engagement from Sweet Magnolias actor Chris Klein. Seven weeks after they first met, they were engaged.
Hayley Atwell
Cruise met Atwell on the set of “Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One” in 2020. Though the pair have neither confirmed nor denied being in a relationship, there have been fierce rumors about a romance between the costars.
FAQs
Is Tom Cruise currently dating anyone?
No, as of now, Tom Cruise is not publicly dating anyone.
Who is Tom Cruise’s first wife?
Tom Cruise’s first wife is Mimi Rogers.
Who is Tom Cruise’s most recent ex-girlfriend?
Tom Cruise’s most recent ex-girlfriend is Hayley Atwell.
Did Tom Cruise date Cher?
Yes, Tom Cruise had a brief romance with Cher in 1985.