Tom and Nic lost the faith

NEWS.com/May 28, 2005

MORE than four years after the demise of his marriage to Nicole Kidman, for the first time Tom Cruise has hinted at the reasons why their union ended.

"They say, 'Hey, promiscuity is part of marriage, it's okay.' You have this whole thing going out there," Cruise said cryptically in an interview with TV's Access Hollywood this week. While he didn't go into further detail about exactly why they split, he added that his Scientology religion couldn't solve the problems with their marriage.

The pair, who were married for 10 years, didn't seek marriage counselling because Cruise's controversial religion prohibits such "psychiatry", the diminutive actor said.

Cruise did use the interview which screened on US television to commend the fact his ex-wife, who is Catholic, let him follow his beliefs and apparently allowed their children to be inducted into Scientology.

"Nic and I are doing a great job raising our children because, right from the beginning, the thing that I do admire about Nic is the respect of someone else's beliefs," Cruise said. "She's not a bigot."

Meanwhile, the US public is sceptical of Cruise's latest supposed relationship with actress Katie Holmes, who's 16 years his junior. Polls by both People and US Weekly magazines both indicate more than 60 per cent of their readers think their relationship is more of a publicity stunt as both have movies due to hit the screens imminently ­ War of the Worlds (Cruise) and Batman Begins (Holmes).