How Tom Cruise's Involvement In Scientology Has Affected His Love Life

As former Scientologists will attest, the controversial group isn't something you can choose to dip in and out of. Once you're in, you're in for life — or risk constantly dodging "squirrel busters" riding around in golf carts and knocking on your door wearing T-shirts with your face superimposed on a rodent's body, according to the Tampa Bay Times. As Scientology's highest-profile member and prized possession, it's pretty safe to assume that Tom Cruise is in forever now. It's also pretty safe to assume Scientology has affected his love life countless times.

Most women's idea of a dream date likely doesn't involve being hooked up to a machine and being quizzed about their deepest sex secrets for hours. However, that's the situation Katie Holmes found herself in mere months after meeting Cruise. "I just started auditing, and I'm taking some courses, and I really like it. I feel it's really helping." Holmes gushed to W magazine while her "Scientology chaperone," Jessica Rodriguez, hovered in the background. "I'm learning to celebrate my own spirit, my own being," Holmes continued.

Cruise was also introduced to Scientology by a love interest. Daily Beast reports that the actor was brought into the fold by his then-girlfriend and now-ex-wife, Mimi Rogers, shortly after the death of its founder L. Ron Hubbard. By all accounts, it was love at first audit. His devotion has been front and foremost throughout Cruise's lengthy dating and relationship history. Begging the question, how has Tom Cruise's involvement in Scientology affected his love life?

Some of the wildest rumors about Tom Cruise involve Scientology. Per The Hollywood Reporter, Sea Org members – Scientology's management organization – reportedly created a fake field of wildflowers in the desert, so Cruise and Nicole Kidman could romp their way through a romantic fantasy. And leading Scientologists auditioned women to be Cruise's girlfriend and future wife. There's actually credence to the latter, and it's one of the ways Tom Cruise's involvement in Scientology has affected his love life.

Andrew Morton writes in "Tom Cruise: An Unauthorized Biography" (via Insider) that Scientology bigwigs vetted and screened a list of women Cruise had his eye on, including Jennifer Garner, Scarlett Johansson, Jessica Alba, and Sofia Vergara. Vergara made it to second base, meeting with Miscavige at the Scientology Center. However, despite him busting out the full charm offensive, Miscavige ultimately sent Vergara skedaddling after he went too heavy on convincing her to convert to Scientology. Another one bit the dust for Cruise. 

But Katie Holmes didn't escape that easily. Morton claims in the New York Post that Miscavige's fingerprints had been all over Cruise's divorce from Kidman. He'd deemed her a threat to Scientology and decided she had to be cut loose. "Wives may come and go," Morton writes. "Scientology is forever." Penelope Cruz was "groomed" for the role next, but she was out after refusing to submit to Scientology. Miscavige's wife was then handed the task of finding Mrs. Cruise III, and Shelly Miscavige decided on lucky, lucky Holmes.

David Miscavige may have been the determining factor in why Tom Cruise and Mimi Rogers divorced too. Former Scientologist Mike Rinder claims in his book, "A Billion Years: My Escape From a Life in the Highest Ranks of Scientology" (via Page Six), that when Cruise fell hard for Nicole Kidman on the "Days of Thunder" set, Miscavige used his powers of persuasion to clear the path for Mrs. Cruise II.

But Cruise's involvement in Scientology hasn't only affected the making and breaking of his relationships. Leah Remini claims in her book, "Troublemaker: Surviving Hollywood and Scientology" (via Us Weekly) that the organization once determined dire consequences for one of Cruise's cast-offs. Remini alleges that Nazanin Boniadi was unwittingly groomed to mend Cruise's broken heart after he split from Penelope Cruz. "She underwent a confidential mission for the church where she thought she was being prepared for a special humanitarian project," Remini writes. "But ended up with the role of Tom's girlfriend."

Remini, who's a former Scientologist and outspoken proponent of the organization, alleges Scientology seniors performed a makeover on Boniadi and then dispatched her to live with Cruise and report back on any mood irregularities. However, after growing bored with his new plaything, Cruise dumped her. A devastated Boniadi cried her heart out to a "friend" who reported her, and Cruise's ex was "subjected to doing four months of menial labor, including tasks such as digging ditches and cleaning public toilets with a toothbrush."