The long and apparent estrangement between Tom Cruise and his daughter Suri got here into focus last weekend – 11 years after he filed a $50 million defamation lawsuit against a magazine that reported that he had “abandoned” his daughter because his ex-wife Katie Holmes didn’t want to lift her within the Church of Scientology.
In a September 2013 deposition within the case, the Hollywood megastar outlined his objections to reports in In Touch that he had severed ties with then-seven-year-old Suri after Holmes divorced him in 2012. He contradicted the publication, claiming that he, a distinguished member of Scientology, had “finally” chosen the church over his daughter.
“'Abandoned by Daddy,'” Cruise said angrily in his statement, referring to the story's headline. “I mean, come on, that's absolutely disgusting. That's absolutely disgusting.”
But as Queen Elizabeth II once said of “memories,” definitions of “abandonment” in this case can vary. A report this week states: The Sun quoted insiders who said that Cruise had not seen his daughter in 11 years.
Last weekend, allegations of “abandonment” arose again when Cruise was photographed at certainly one of Taylor Swift's sold-out “Eras Tour” performances at London's Wembley Stadium. The “Top Gun” actor was seen exchanging friendship bracelets, hanging out with NFL star Travis Kelce and dancing to Swift's music within the VIP seats.
But the night before, Cruise publicly missed a vital milestone in Suri's life: her graduation from the Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts in New York City.
Cruise's absence from Suri's graduation ceremony made headlines. And then more headlines got here when the 18-year-old dropped her father's last name for the ceremony, using the name “Siri Noelle” as a substitute.
Sources told Page Six that the brand new name was a tribute to her mother. Noelle is Katie Holmes' middle name, and Holmes has raised Suri as a virtual single mother in New York City since her divorce from Cruise.
It's not clear if Suri has gone to court to make the name change official, Page Six said. A source told the publication that Suri dropped her father's last name because she desired to have her “own identity” and “start over in college.”
However, Suri's latest alternative of name is also seen as a rejection of her famous father – an indication that she has abandoned him in her own way.
Tony Ortega, a journalist who covers Scientology, accused Cruise of “neglect” this week after reports emerged that the actor went to Swift's concert but to not his daughter's graduation. In an email newsletter for his Underground Bunker newsletter, Ortega said the alternatives Cruise has remodeled the past 12 years show that his “neglect” of his daughter is “even worse than most people realize.”
Cruise and Holmes had been together since 2005, became parents of Suri in spring 2006 and married that very same 12 months in a ceremony in an Italian castle attended by quite a few high-ranking Scientologists, including church leader David Miscavige.
Early of their marriage, Holmes was very involved within the church, which allegedly exerts cult-like control over its members, Ortega said. But her interest in constructing her life on the teachings of Scientology cooled over the course of the subsequent six years, Ortega said. While Holmes was raising Suri, she also met Cruise's older children, Isabella and Connor, whose mother is Nicole Kidman. Like Holmes, Kidman was initially very involved within the organization, however the Oscar winner's interest similarly waned before she split from Cruise in 2001.
Isabella and Connor eventually lived with Cruise after the divorce, where they were home-schooled and learned that Kidman was a “suppressive person,” or an “SP,” someone viewed as hostile to Scientology, in accordance with a 2012 investigative report. ^ “Vanity Fair – The Wonderful World of Vanity”.
Holmes realized that Suri's Scientology indoctrination would begin after her sixth birthday, Ortega said. It's no coincidence that Holmes decided to depart Cruise in 2012, across the time Suri turned six. The Sun also reported on this.
Cruise admitted he “didn't expect” Holmes to file for divorce; the divorce was quick, with the ex-spouses coming to an agreement inside 11 days. The Sun reported that Cruise was awarded sole custody of Suri. Under the terms of the settlement, Cruise also needed to pay $400,000 annually for her upbringing. There aren’t any reports of Cruise failing to fulfill this obligation.
Holmes' decision to depart the wedding, seek custody of Suri and send their daughter to a personal school was, in accordance with Ortega and Vanity Fair, “a huge PR disaster” for Cruise and Scientology.
Holmes' actions “would automatically be grounds for disbarment from the church and from Scientology members if she were married to another Scientologist,” Vanity Fair reported. However, Cruise was given the chance to take care of ties along with his daughter due to his celebrity status inside the church, in accordance with Ortega and Variety Fair.
The extent to which Cruise had a relationship along with his daughter became the principal point of contention within the actor's lawsuit against In Touch and its owner Bauer Publishing. in accordance with The Hollywood ReporterIn his statement, Cruise said he “never cut Suri out of my life – physically, emotionally, financially or otherwise.”
Cruise admitted he hasn't seen her much because the divorce, saying it's been difficult to rearrange visits around his filming and Holmes' schedule.
“What certainly doesn't change is the love that I have for my daughter and that I have never failed her emotionally, physically or otherwise,” Cruise said. “And as far as my feelings for her, as far as the responsibility that I feel for my child, is – (has) not diminished in any way.”
However, in his deposition, Cruise admitted that he had only seen his daughter for ten days between June 18 and Thanksgiving 2012. He was also questioned harshly about making a brief 24-hour trip from the East Coast to the UK in the midst of a movie production to attend a Scientology event, but not finding time to go to his daughter, who lived in New York City. Cruise was also pressed to confess that certainly one of the explanations Holmes sought the divorce was to guard Suri from Scientology.
A number of weeks after Cruise's testimony became public, the actor reached an agreement with Bauer Publishing in December 2013. said the Hollywood Reporter. Terms of the settlement weren’t disclosed, but Bauer Publishing released a joint statement with Cruise's lawyers. The statement said the publisher “never intended to communicate that Tom Cruise had severed all ties and abandoned his daughter Suri, and regrets if anyone drew that conclusion from the publications.”
Since then, there have been several reports over time that Cruise now not sees his daughter. The Sun's report suggested that their visits ended around 2013.
In his newsletter, Ortega criticized Cruise's alleged decision to chop Suri out of his life, regardless that he apparently enjoyed an exemption in Scientology. Ortega said he could ignore the principles that apply to most members, who’re told to avoid non-believing family and friends, Ortega said.
“Even if Scientology had officially declared Katie an enemy, Tom Cruise is not a regular Scientology member,” Ortega said. “He's a celebrity. The most important Scientology celebrity of all time. And as a celebrity, Tom would have the ability to ignore those rules and continue to date both Katie and Suri if he wanted to.”
“But that didn't happen,” Ortega said. “As the years went by after the 2012 split, it became increasingly obvious that Tom had completely cut Katie and Suri out of his life.”
Ortega believes Cruise actually selected Scientology over his own daughter, regardless that the actor denied it in 2012. Cruise did so because he believes the late Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard is “the greatest human being who ever lived” and that Hubbard's “technology” is the one thing that may “save” this planet, Ortega said.
Cruise would subsequently want to take care of his relationship with Scientology even when that meant he wouldn’t have a relationship along with his daughter, Ortega said. But the journalist gave another excuse why Cruise cut ties with Suri regardless that he didn't need to.
Ortega believes that Cruise isn’t an admirable person, no less than not as he is usually portrayed in positive press reports. Ortega used much more blunt language in his description of Cruise, stressing that the media is “always too afraid” to show him.
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