Inside Tom Cruise’s Forgotten First Marriage to an Older Woman Credited With Introducing Him to Scientology

Opposite Meet Cute Stories

While we know that Tom Cruise and Mimi Rogers met sometime in the mid-1980s, they both had very different accounts of how they met. Cruise insisted for years that they met at a dinner party while he was making Top Gun, and that he was interested in Rogers, but she was with someone at the time. 

However, Rogers claims they were set up by mutual friends a whole year after Cruise claimed they met. She told the Sun Sentinel back in 1987, “I wasn’t seeing anybody, he wasn’t seeing anybody, and they thought, ‘These people should be going out with somebody — let’s see if they want to go out with each other … And we said, ‘Aw, what the heck'” 

But Sparks Flew Quickly

No matter when the two met, it’s clear there was a spark and the two started officially dating in 1986, when he was 23 and she was 29.

They Secretly Wed a Year Later

Per Entertainment Weekly, Tom Cruise and Mimi Rogers secretly married in May 1987, and the only two people in attendance were Cruise’s mother and actor Emilio Estevez, who was Cruise’s best man (which is slightly awkward when you remember Rogers and him reportedly dated back in the early 1980s). They reportedly wanted to keep attention away so the paparazzi wouldn’t continue to scrutinize their age gap, and they didn’t even tell Cruise’s publicist about it.

Their Marriage Was Quite Normal

Despite tom Cruise being one of the biggest stars at the time, Rogers revealed that their marriage was quite normal. ”We go to the movies, we go out to dinner, and we never, never have a problem,” she said to the Chicago Tribune in 1988, talking about their lives in lower Manhattan and how they balance career and love. ”We’re not real provocative. We don’t inspire cloak-and-dagger tactics.”

Cruise Called Rogers His ‘Best Friend’

In a super-rare interview with Rolling Stone, Cruise talked about his relationship with Rogers. “Since I’ve been with her, it’s opened me up a lot,” he said. “I think it’s helped me be a better actor. We live a lot of life together. We share everything. That’s the best thing about life. Otherwise, you go through it pretty sad and lonely and angry.” At the risk of laying it on too thick, Cruise added, “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.”

Rogers’s Background in Scientology Came Into Play

To know why Mimi Rogers is considered the woman who allegedly brought Tom Cruise into Scientology, we need to look at her background. Not only was she a Scientologist, but her father and ex-husband were devout followers for some time. 

In a 1991 interview with the Los Angeles Times, she talked about her upbringing in Scientology. “My father is Jewish and my mother’s Episcopalian, and in the early ‘50s–before I was even born–my father became involved with Scientology. So, it’s not like I ever ‘converted’ to Scientology, rather, that philosophy was simply part of my upbringing.” And per Telegraph, her dad was even friends with the founder L. Ron Hubbard.

Her husband Jim Rogers was also a Scientologist, specifically, he was a Scientology counselor, per EOnline.

She Allegedly Brought Him Into Scientology

Rogers is allegedly the one who initially introduced Cruise to Scientology, and the timeline matches up when you remember he joined the Church in 1986 (when they were dating). While neither has confirmed or denied this, Tom Cruise Unauthorized author Wensley Clarkson told Entertainment Weekly in 2000 that “she took him under her wing.” 

Rogers Allegedly Brought Cruise to Scientology to Fix 1 Issue

A close family friend of Rogers spoke with a blog about how she originally wanted Cruise to be in Scientology to make him stop wandering his eye, to put it lightly. “Tom was f*****g everything that moved. But they were all women. I know why the gay rumors started later, but it had nothing to do with who he was having sex with. He slept with women, and he slept with a lot of them.”

But It’s Claimed That 1 Scientologist Tore Them Apart

In Lawrence Wright’s book Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, and the Prison of Belief, he alleged that the leader of Scientology, David Miscavige, had the two apart so Cruise could pursue his then-co-star Nicole Kidman.

They Entered Couples Counseling

In 1989, the pair split up. It’s alleged that when Rogers saw that there was something between Cruise and Nicole Kidman, she allegedly demanded that they go to Scientology’s version of marriage counseling. However, it didn’t work and they continued divorce proceedings.

The Reason for Their Split Is Highly Debated

It’s unclear, for the most part, why they split up for good. Many theorized it was the age gap, or the fact that she was only referred to as “Tom Cruise’s Wife,” and even the Church of Scientology.

But Rogers Set the Record Straight on Why They Allegedly Split

In a 1993 interview with Playboy, Rogers claimed that their marriage ended due to Cruise’s desire to become a monk. “Well, here’s the real story. Tom was seriously thinking of becoming a monk. At least for that period of time, it looked as though marriage wouldn’t fit into his overall spiritual need,” she said, per E.

And She Addressed More of the Theories

Back in 1995, she talked to People about how being his wife made her “cease to be an individual.” She said, “No matter what the article is, it’s ‘Tom Cruise’s wife …'” 

Years later, in 2001, she also explained to The Telegraph that it wasn’t Cruise’s superstardom that hurt their romance, it was the age gap. She said “stardom wasn’t really a problem” in their marriage. “What did annoy me was the age thing. Every six months, [the press] seemed to add another year to my age. If we were still married, the press would have me in my 60s by now,” she said.

They Finalized Their Divorce in 1990

After four years together and three years of marriage, they finalized their divorce in 1990.