After reading Tom Cruise biography book by Andrew Morton, who interviewed Many people knew him.....The book didn't disappoint. In fact, it clarified a lot of mysteries surrounding Cruise
The three things we hear most about Tom Cruise is that he's secretly gay, he was rotten to Nicole, and he's a nutcase Scientologist. Only the last statement is correct.
He's definitely not gay. -- even those who don't like Tom Cruise find it difficult to understand the gay rumors. (Mimi Rogers-- his first wife-- had an axe to grind and didn't help things ) After reading it, it cemented my belief that Tom Cruise is Not gay, He's an intense man, when he is in a relationship, very real and caring towards his love. When he is "into" something, whether it is a relationship, movie or his faith, he is unstoppable. However he is also a very controlling and manipulative person, but I believe that most of the manipulation is not by him, but by the Scientologist leader David Miscagive . They took Tom, who has that strong personality along with some hurt and disappointment from his childhood, and used their "religion" to make him feel good about himself and even more powerful. Which just fed the beast.
A lot of material presented in this book that I had not read before. Stories about drug taking, casting couches and what really went on during the filming of some Hollywood sex scenes. While Morton is sometimes critical of Tom, but he also consistently praises his parenting skills and his devotion to his friends, family and wives.
With Nicole-- , Nicole and Tom's marriage lasted 10 years. The bulk of the book includes information about her and their marriage. She comes off many many times more unsympathetic than Tom, being shown as a needy, manipulative, ambitious and vain woman who drove Cruise to his limits. Their adoption of children Bella and Conor are explained not as a cover for their respectively alleged homosexual private lives but due to Kidman's ectopic pregnancy early in the marriage which made carrying another pregnancy to term unlikely. Yes, she was upset after he left but I think it was more a case of "you don't know what you got 'till it's gone" than being upset about the demise of their breakup. She's cold, calculating, and unloving.
She'd leave for weeks at a time when their kids were young and wouldn't call them for two weeks at a time. To get "into character" for Portrait of a Lady, she left and didn't see them all summer. Tom was hands-on. When she and Tom were married, she spent much less time with them than Tom did.
Tom finally left Nicole because he believed Nicole was cheating-- it's indicated that she probably did and her behavior is indicative of someone cheating, but we don't know for sure (regardless, Nicole was someone you'd want to leave).
I don't know why Nicole was/is portrayed as a victim during her marriage/divorce from Tom though the Opposite is true! the book left me feeling that Cruise had been treated harshly.
