A new book has offered insights into why Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman's marriage ended. Photo / Getty Images
A new book has offered insights into why Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman's marriage ended. Photo / Getty Images
Tom Cruise began to drift away from Scientology while filming Eyes Wide Shut with then-wife Nicole Kidman in 1997, a new book has revealed.
Former high-ranking officer in the church Mike Rinder made the claims about the celebrity marriage in his book A Billion Years: My Escape from a Life in the Highest Ranks of Scientology, reports the New York Post.
According to Rinder, Cruise began to ignore church head David Miscavige's calls while filming the psychological drama with Kidman, prompting an audit from top church executive Marty Rathbun to "clear" him.
But this led to "distance between [Cruise] and Nicole".
Kidman had been brought into the church by her husband years beforehand, but "never expressed particular eagerness for her Scientology courses or auditing", according to Rinder.
The daughter of a psychiatrist, a profession frowned on by the church, meant she would not have been able to participate in the church at all "had she not been Mrs Tom Cruise".
"Rathbun worked with [Hollywood lawyer] Bert Fields to hire infamous PI Anthony Pellicano to spy on Nicole and tap her phone," Rinder writes.
Pellicano spent more than 10 years in prison for offences including conspiracy, wire-tapping, racketeering and illegal possession of grenades and explosives, though a church spokesperson told Page Six the church "never ordered or participated in any illegal wire-tapping".
Nicole Kidman and Tom Cruise married in 1990 and adopted Connor and Isabella together. Photo / Getty Images
"Mike Rinder is an inveterate liar who seeks to profit from his dishonesty. He supports himself by orchestrating the harassment of his former church and its leader through false police reports, incendiary propaganda and fraudulent media stories," the spokesperson added.
The book claims Rathbun also turned the couple's two adopted children Isabella and Connor against their mother by teaching them about "suppressive persons".
According to Scientology, a "suppressive person" is an enemy of the church who must be silenced or destroyed.
"When Tom and Nicole divorced, Miscavige was happy that the 'negative influence' of Nicole was no longer dragging Tom away," Rinder writes. "Cruise thereafter became more fervent in his vocal public support of Scientology and Miscavige."
