If you watched the recent HBO documentary Going Clear, then you’re aware of the vitally important role that Tom Cruise plays within the Church of Scientology.
Cruise has been a crucial part of the controversial religion’s efforts to gain acceptance from the mainstream, and the filmmakers claim Church leaders have gone to such great efforts to please the actor that they even auditioned and vetted potential girlfriends for him after his split from Nicole Kidman.
As powerful as Cruise may be within the secretive ranks of the COS leadership, however, he’s still subject to Scientology’s strict rules regarding unsupervised contact with outsiders, especially in the case of “suppressive persons” – the Church’s name for anyone antagonistic to its cause.
As addressed in Going Clear, suppressive persons can be immediate family members or even children, and many now believe that Cruise is being forced to keep his distance from 8-year-old daughter, Suri, whom he reportedly hasn’t seen in nearly a year.
Cruise has admitted that he hasn’t seen Suri for several months because he was in London filming Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation, but now sources have told TMZ that he was back in LA for two weeks and made no effort to see his daughter.
He’s now reportedly in Atlanta for a 90-day shoot.
There have been rumors of Cruise abandoning Suri in the past, but never before has the 52-year-old actor been accused of going quite so long without any involvement in his daughter’s life.
Cruise has had his shields up in recent months, partially due to the renewed interest in his beliefs spurred by Going Clear.
Little is known about his love life these days, but it seems there’s no truth to the rumor that Cruise is dating fellow Scientologist Laura Prepon.
So if you’re interested, ladies, auditions are probably being held around the clock. We recommend picking up a copy of Dianetics first.