Why Tom Cruise And Mimi Rogers' Wedding Was Kept A Secret
Tom Cruise is one of those superstars who became famous almost as soon as they stepped into the scene. The actor has enjoyed commercial success since the early 1980s, and from the get-go, the public has been privy to most of what happens in his private life, including his romantic partners. Many are aware that he's been married three separate times, twice to fellow actors Nicole Kidman and Katie Holmes, but not all fans are familiar with his first wife, Mimi Rogers.
In a 1986 interview with Rolling Stone, the "Mission Impossible" star shared that he met Rogers when he was in the middle of conceptualizing one of the biggest franchises of his career. "I met her at a dinner party about a year ago, when I was developing 'Top Gun.' She was dating a friend, and, uh, I thought she was extremely bright." Years later, he admitted to the same outlet that, "I was really lonely before I met her," and that she was the most important person in his life. "I care about my wife more than anything in the world. She's my best friend. I just really like being with her, you know? I love her."
But what's ironic is they divorced the very same year that interview came out — and their wedding? No one even knew they'd decided to get hitched until it was over and done with.
Tom Cruise and Mimi Rogers wanted to keep the media out of their relationship
As actors, Tom Cruise and Mimi Rogers know how relentless the media can be, which is why they made sure to keep their wedding under wraps. As opposed to Cruise's wedding to Katie Holmes — which reportedly took place in an Italian castle and cost millions of dollars — his wedding to Rogers was far more intimate and low-key, that even Cruise's publicist wasn't informed that it happened.
Entertainment Weekly reported that, in May 1987, Cruise and Rogers exchanged vows in a small ceremony in New York, surrounded by the key people in their life, including Cruise's mom, Mary Lee Mapother, and his best man, actor Emilio Estevez. Apparently, there was not a member of the press in sight, which was what the couple had wanted. Rogers didn't appreciate how the media hounded them, which they've constantly been experiencing ever since they attended an event together for the first time. ”There were 10 million photographers, all going mad, pushing and shoving,” Rogers shared with Chicago Tribune. ”I was just madly trying to get out of the way.”
Sadly, their marriage was shortlived, and by 1990, Cruise was already married to someone else — Nicole Kidman. "Before Nicole I was dissatisfied, wanting something more. It was just two people who weren't meant to work and it wasn't what I wanted for my life," he once told Talk Magazine, according to Today. "I think you just go on different paths. But it wasn't Mimi's fault... It's just the way it is."
Inside Tom Cruise and Mimi Rogers' divorce
There were reportedly multiple factors that contributed to the demise of Tom Cruise and Mimi Rogers' marriage, and one of them was apparently Cruise's desire to become a monk.
"Tom was seriously thinking of becoming a monk," Rogers told Playboy in 1993, according to E! News, without clarifying whether she was being serious or not. "At least for that period of time, it looked as though marriage wouldn't fit into his overall spiritual need. And he thought he had to be celibate to maintain the purity of his instrument. Therefore it became obvious that we had to split."
But really, though, their divorce had been the result of the media's constant fixation on their age difference of six years. Since Rogers is Cruise's senior, many deemed their relationship inappropriate. "The stardom wasn't really a problem," she explained to The Telegraph. "What did annoy me, though, was the age thing. Some of the tabloids brought it up all the time, and exaggerated the gap between Tom and me. Every six months they seemed to add a year to my age. If Tom and I were still married, the tabloids would probably have me in my sixties by now." And eventually, Cruise's popularity did become an issue. "You cease to become a singular individual," she told People post-divorce. "You're never again mentioned without that name. And that's hard."