Love-bitten Cruise hints at marriage

Tom Cruise (R) kisses his new girlfriend Katie Holmes on a recent trip to Rome. Picture / Reuters

LOS ANGELES - Ouch! Nicole Kidman may be a bit put-out by this.

Tom Cruise's other ex-wife, Mimi Rogers, and former long-term girlfriend, Penelope Cruz, may also be upset.

A love-bitten, hyperactive Cruise with marriage on his mind confessed on US TV never before has he experienced the feelings he has for new love, Katie Holmes.

"Honestly, I haven't," Cruise told Oprah Winfrey on her talkshow.

"I'm not going to pretend."

Cruise, 43, dropped another bombshell on the show, indicating he plans to discuss marriage with the 27-year-old Holmes.

"It is something I still have to discuss with her personally, but, you know," Cruise smiled.

He then jumped off the couch, bent down on one knee and excitedly punched the ground.

An equally excited Winfrey asked: "So does that mean you are going to ask her to marry you?"

Cruise replied: "I have to discuss it with her."

The couple's relationship was only made public late last month, but Cruise said Holmes, best known for her TV series Dawson's Creek, agreed he was more than smitten.

Whether it was nerves, excitement, love, embarrassment or some other driving force, Cruise acted like a love crazed teenager during the hour long interview while discussing his new relationship.

At one point he jumped up on Winfrey's couch in excitement about his new love.

Cruise on separate occasions knelt on the floor punching the ground with as much intensity as Lleyton Hewitt would if he won a Grand Slam.

Other times he jumped up and excitedly grabbed both of Winfrey's hands and shook them vigorously.

"Tom, we've never seen you behave this way before," Winfrey told her excited guest.

Cruise admitted he was in love with Holmes.

"When you meet someone and it's like you go 'Huh!'," Cruise, attempting to explain his emotions, said.

"There's so much we have in common.

"I can't be cool. I can't be laidback. It's something that's happened and I want to celebrate it and I want to celebrate her.

"She's a very special woman and I'm sure you know her and you're going to get to know her more."

Winfrey's audience soon did.

Holmes was sitting backstage and Cruise and Winfrey both pleaded for her to come out in front of the cameras. Cruise eventually chased her down, with a camera in tow, and coaxed her into joining Winfrey on stage.

Holmes once told US teen magazine Seventeen her dream was to marry Cruise.

Holmes told Winfrey: "I'm glad I was a big dreamer".

Cruise said a key to the relationship was the lanky, dark-haired beauty, enjoyed the same adventure sports as he did.

He also confirmed recent reports they had enjoyed romantic rides along the beach on his motorbike and he secretly covered their Italian hotel room with rose petals.

"I'm a romantic," Cruise gushed.

"I love stuff like that. I'm a romantic. So I like treating a woman how she deserves to be treated."

The actor was cagey about how they first met, but eventually admitted he had called Holmes and set up a meeting.

"I admire her and I wanted to meet her," he said.

"So I called her because I wanted to meet her."

Cruise also said he has spoken with Holmes' parents and introduced her to his mother, family and son, Connor, and daughter Isabella.

The actor also praised Kidman, who he split with in 2001 after 10 years of marriage, for the way they have raised their two children despite their separation.

"I think Nic and I are doing a terrific job," he said.

Kidman was Cruise's second wife. His first marriage to actress Mimi Rogers ended after three years in 1990.

After splitting with Kidman, Cruise was in a relationship with actress Penelope Cruz for three years.

Holmes was engaged to American Pie actor Chris Klein, but their five year relationship ended in March.

Despite their open affection, the Cruise-Holmes relationship has been questioned in some quarters as a publicity stunt as both have big budget movies releasing in the next few months.

Cruise has War of the Worlds. Holmes is in Batman Begins.

- AAP