Tom Cruise was quizzed by lawyers as part of his libel action against two magazines that claimed he had “abandoned” Suri, which the star denies.
Some of his testimony has been filed in legal papers in Los Angeles – giving a fascinating public insight into the private life of the star.
When asked if Katie Holmes left him to protect Suri from Scientology
“Listen, I find that question offensive. I find it – those statements offensive. And like with any relationship there are many different levels to it…there is no need to protect my daughter from my religion.” The questioner asks again “Ms Holmes has never indicated in any way that was one of the reasons that she left you? To protect Suri from Scientology?” Cruise responds, “Did she say that? That was one of the assertions, yes.”
On divorce and fatherhood
“Things change. And certainly what doesn’t change is the love that I have for my daughter, the fact that I didn’t abandon her emotionally, physically or otherwise.”
On talking to Suri on the phone
“You have to work at it. I’ve gotten very good at it. I’ve gotten very good at it. I tell wonderful stories and they like hearing it.”
On missing Suri’s first day at school
“Kate and I both knew that I wouldn’t be able to be there…with Suri, if she had asked me to be there I would have been there…Well it’s also something where – I think the press and everyone – there are many different circumstances with that. One is the circus of Suri’s first day of school that the press wanted ..look, we do the best we can to try to think about things and mitigate that stuff as best we can.”
On his lawyers likening his absence from Suri to be like someone fighting in Afghanistan
“I didn’t hear the Afghanistan, but that’s what it feels like, and certainly on this last movie, it was brutal. It was brutal.”
On why he isn’t like his own absent father
“He didn’t call, he didn’t send money….Even the fact that you would suggest that I was being like my father, that it’s the same thing that my father did, and suggesting that that’s something that I’m doing in terms of abandoning my children, I find that greatly offensive.”
Why he prefers to fly private
“Generally its easier, yes … it does save – it does save time. Sometimes the flight itself is longer if you have, you know…but yeah, it’s better. It’s much more comfortable.”
On Scientology
“It shows a lack of respect and understanding for my religion. That is understandable in a minority religion. People don’t know and understand, and of course the way things are reported and taken out of context, can create this kind of sense of what something is as opposed to people going and finding out and knowing for themselves…so when you’re talking about a seven-year-old, you know know, its not the same thing as – Catholicism or Judaism. Its just it’s different.”
His job is really hard
Cruise describes his heavy work schedule while filming movies including “Mission Impossible,” “Rock of Ages,” “Reacher” and “Oblivion”, “Sometimes I’ve spent months, a year, sometimes two years preparing for a single film….I have to watch what I eat for inflammation and different things you have to do physically to prepare for a film…I train, you know. I’ve studied professional athletes..a sprinter for the Olympics they only have to run two races a day. When I’m shooting I could potentially have to run 30, 40 races a day, day after day.”