EXCLUSIVE: Secrets of Tom Cruise’s Forgotten First Marriage as He Ramps Up ‘Relentless Pursuit’ of Ana de Armas
Tom Cruise's relationship with Mimi Rogers, right, has fallen off the radar with his fans.
June 2 2025, Published 10:00 a.m. ET
Tom Cruise has called Mimi Rogers "my best friend" and claimed: "My wife is the most important thing in the world to me. I love being with her. I love her."
But few remember their short-lived marriage – or how it shaped the Hollywood star he would become, RadarOnline.com can reveal.
The Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning actor, now 62, is marking 45 years in the industry – and as rumors swirl about his reported "relentless pursuit" of 36-year-old Blonde actress Ana de Armas, insiders say his first marriage still casts a long shadow over his life and current love life.
Forgotten Romance
The actress had three years with Cruise.
Cruise and Rogers tied the knot in 1987, when he was 24 and she was 30, but split three years later in a divorce that remains clouded in mystery.
A source close to the actor said: "Tom doesn't talk about Mimi – ever. But anyone who knew him back then knows she was the one who changed everything."
Rogers, now 69, was already an established actress and a practicing Scientologist when she met Cruise at a party in 1985.
He was fresh off Top Gun and quickly rising as one of Hollywood's most bankable stars.
According to insiders, their connection was intense and immediate.
"She had this magnetic, almost spiritual pull on him," said a former agent. "Mimi had the brains, the looks, and the belief system – Tom was hooked."
She later claimed in an interview Cruise had been struggling with spiritual commitment during their marriage.
"Tom was seriously thinking of becoming a monk," Rogers said. "At least for that period of time, it looked as though marriage wouldn't fit into his overall spiritual need."
Doomed Relationship
Cruise's obsessions are said to have broken up his marriage to Rogers.
A Hollywood executive who worked with the pair said: ‘He was obsessed with purity and discipline – that drove a wedge between them."
Friends say their split in 1990 blindsided Rogers.
"He basically walked out on her overnight," said one source. "It wasn't about another woman at that point – it was about control, image, and the Church."
Days later, Cruise began filming Days of Thunder, where he met Nicole Kidman, who would become his second wife.
"Instant lust," he later said of his feelings for Kidman. "It grew into love and respect."
But long before Kidman, there was also Cher – who revealed in 2018 she and Cruise, 15 years her junior, had connected at a White House event in 1985 organized by Nancy Reagan.
"We didn't start dating until later,' she said. "But the connection between us started that particular night."
Long List of Exes
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Cruise's other exes included Nicole Kidman.
A former stylist who worked with Cher said: "She never let anyone forget she had Tom first."
Cruise also had flings with Risky Business co-star Rebecca De Mornay, singer Patti Scialfa, and Little House on the Prairie actress Melissa Gilbert.
"It's no secret Tom had a wild streak in his early twenties," said a former Paramount publicist. "But Mimi was the one he married – that says a lot."
Rogers later complained the media never let her forget their six-year age gap.
"Every six months, they'd add another year," she said in 2001.
"If we were still together now, I'd get 60."
She moved on in 1990 and later married producer Chris Ciaffa, with whom she has two children.
Cruise went on to marry Kidman, divorce her in 2001, then wed Katie Holmes – but that's another story...
