Katie Holmes files for divorce from Tom Cruise

[Roman]

There must be gag orders in the pre-nups. that's the only reason why they haven't confirmed nothing about him. But, her father drew up the pre-nup for this latest marriage, so things may finally come out.

[Max]

I think that Tom Cruise is absolute scum. But why is Katie Holmes so much better than him? She knew exactly what she was doing when she married him, and chose that course of action in order to further her fame and career. These two deserve each other.

[alphanguy74]

I bet your'e right... Phil Spector did that kind of crap, always calling Ronnie "Veronica".

[Cat]

She's lucky she has some good lawyers on her side, but Nicole Kidman had Rupert Murdoch on her side and she STILL had to cut all ties with her two children.

I hope Suri stays with her mom. She seems like a kid who knows what she wants.

[DaytimeFan]

I think Katie will win custody of Suri simply because she's with her 99% of the time and Cruise is, so far as paparazzi pictures portray, a non-entity in the kid's life.

I find the Nicole & The Kids dynamic so interesting, like the kids call her Nicole and not 'mom'...and when having the mighty Rupert Murdoch on your side doesn't help things...well...the Scientologists are pretty whacked. I thought it also interesting that when the divorce happened Nicole immediately left the US and went right back to Australia. It seemed to me like she fled to safety. If I were Katie Holmes, I'd have my house in Beverly Hills on the market immediately, the place is likely bugged.

[quartermainefan]

The New York Post had an article at the time insinuating that the child she was pregnant with was not Tom Cruise's. It was never mentioned again but around 2005 I was talking to a then B list now probably C to D list actor who when the subject of scientologists came up just out of nowhere said "why do you think the press never mentioned it wasn't his baby? Does it make sense that the biggest star on earth never has his own kids and suddenly she is pregnant and they divorce and she just happens to lose the baby? Even if it wasn't true, wouldn't the press be all over this anyway?" When you think how the press aggressively covers lesser stars it does seem like there was something to the theory.

It is interesting though that despite being so hooked up in Hollywood the scientologists have not been able to protect John Travolta lately.

[Soapsuds]

John Travolta is just gross now......just a complete mess

Funny how my mom could never stand Cruise even before his first marriage....it was during his teens and my mom once said to me I just cant stand Tom Cruise....lol......

Who knows how many skeltons TC has hidden in his closet....lol

[Money]

Everything I've read prior to this news was that Tom was emotionally and verbally abusive to her - and it showed. Every year the girl looked more haggard in appearance. She wanted fame and all the luxuries that came with being Mrs Cruise and she got it - but it came with a price. Now it's lesson learned. She'll never get sole custody of Suri because Tom is ruthless. I wish her luck. She'll definetly need it.

[dragonflies]

Nicole got the last laugh,, she's got an awesome husband and they have a child. Suck on that Cruise

[Cat]

It's more than just mild harassment, let's put it that way. David Miscavige runs an organisation that is mid-Stalinist cult, mid-mob. They run loose-talking ex-members off the road, they physically keep members away from family who have left the "church." Nicole K never got into the whole thing -- Oprah's interview with Nicole and Tom when they were promoting a movie together (possibly Days of Thunder) made that clear when Tom was asked to talk about his faith and Nicole practically rolled her eyes to the back of her head.

My take is, NK was a smart, ambitious young starlet who had high aspirations -- we are talking Mega Movie Stardom which she damn-near achieved for a time -- and whose relationships with bad boys like Russel Crowe left her deeply hurt and anxious not to expose herself to that again. Tom mentored her during their marriage, turned her into an acting machine where you really only truly "live" when you are playing a role. TC seems so much more comfortable "being" Ethan Hunt than "being" Tom Cruise, don't you think? To a certain extent, Nicole became the same way. They adopted two children and while I do think NK cared for them, her commitment to her career and her propensity for enormous self-control prob kept her from being a truly mothering parent. Her maternal instinct kicked in later. I think her difficulty in having children (she suffered a couple of miscarriages) may have played a part in putting up emotional barriers, too.

The Rupert Murdoch link is key. Nicole is godmother to his son Lachlan's children. During the TC-NK marriage, Nicole managed to keep some of the Scientologists at bay, and Tom even considered leaving the church at one point. As stresses in their marriage intensified, Miscavige offered TC support and began staffing the house with CoS loyalists who spied on the family. NK felt like it was a prison. When she talked to Lachlan and his wife on the phone, it was apparently in code because everything was bugged. NK managed to extracate herself from the marriage with the help of the Murdochs who, like the CoS itself, have plenty of dirt on the stars, including TC. They threatened exposure in return for a clean, complete cut of all ties. CoS countered with Isabella and Connor staying with their father and never seeing NK again. NK, at that point, was scared and feeling like she was being followed everywhere, agreed. I think she justified it by telling herself that, all things considered, TC was a caring dad to his two kids, warmer with them than she was.

The Murdochs got NK the hell out of LA, even to this day NK doesn't like living there, preferring to commute between Nashville and Sydney. Her family in Australia were a huge support, too. She got her freedom, but at a cost. Katie will have to pay the price, too. The difference being that she wants full custody of Suri. Katie, unlike NK, did get taken in by the CoS and believed some of the teachings, but little by little grew nervous about the church and the people who surrounded them. I think she truly was in love with TC in the beginning and that probably helped in terms of bringing her into the church. Laineygossip suggested that something must have happened involving CoS and Suri to make Katie snap out of it. KH's father is a big lawyer in Ohio and she comes from a close-knit, Catholic family (like Nicole, incidentally). They have a powerful, established church on their side, too, but not Rupert Murdoch. IMO, CoS might get vengeful and start leaking stories about KH being a bad mom/addicted to prescription medication/having affairs. I doubt some of these stories are wholly true, though some may hold grains of truth. Worse, CoS could get violent, which is why a new, non-CoS security team is now in place around Suri and Katie. But the CoS has been weakened in recent years -- there are investigations into their finances (that ALWAYS hurts), long-time members are leaving in droves (despite the fact that Miscavige threatens them with releasing all their deepest secrets gotten through auditing), and their other big-name get, Travolta, is unraveling fast like a ball of yarn being pulled apart by an angry cat.

BTW, FWIW, I do think Suri is Tom's baby. Test tube baby perhaps but his all the same. She is his spitting image.

[Bright Eyes]

Just read on CDaN that Rogers, Kidman, and Holmes were/are all 33 when they divorced Tom Cruise. Strange coincidence, eh?

[DRW50]

If only she could move her face enough to laugh...

[JaneAusten]

I never read all of the stories about Nicole and Tom and I have zero love for Tom Cruise but I always assumed Nicole marrying him was more about advancing her career than any real affection she had for him. And we all know his motives.

[Max]

This is also true for Katie, which is why I'm surprised she is getting so much support on this thread.

[Soapsuds]

http://www.tmz.com/2012/06/29/katie-holmes-scientology-tom-cruise-divorce-suri/

http://www.tmz.com/2012/06/30/tom-cruise-katie-holmes-divorce-taxes-new-york-california/