Before Katie Holmes and Nicole Kidman, Tom Cruise had another wife. She refuses to talk about him.

Tom Cruise has built a reputation for himself as an enigma. Though his ties with Scientology are well known, he rarely addresses it publicly, and his personal life remains largely private.

This wasn't always the case. In the past, his relationships with Nicole Kidman, Cher, and Katie Holmes frequently made headlines. Even now, those past relationships often resurface in discussions about Cruise's love life.

Yet, there's one significant figure who seems to have been overshadowed: Mimi Rogers.

Watch: Tom Cruise's confrontation on 60 Minutes Australia. Post continues below.

Cruise and Rogers first crossed paths in 1985, though the details of their meeting are a bit murky. Speaking to Rolling Stone in 1986, Cruise said he met Rogers "at a dinner party about a year ago" but at the time, she was "dating a friend".

"I thought she was extremely bright," Cruise said.

Rogers on the other hand told Sun Sentinel that the two were introduced by mutual friends.

"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,'" Rogers said. "And we said, 'Aw, what the heck. OK.'"

They married in 1987—Cruise's first marriage and Rogers' second.

Tom and Mimi. Image: Getty.

This was before the publicity around Scientology, before Cruise skyrocketed to mega-stardom and famously leaped onto the couch during his Oprah appearance.

Rogers, who was six years older than Cruise, a divorcee, and a professional poker player, is believed to have been the one who introduced him to Scientology.

The former couple wed in a private ceremony with a small gathering of guests, including Cruise's mother and his The Outsiders co-star Emilio Estevez, who also served as his best man.

However, their marital happiness was short-lived, and they finalised their divorce in February 1990.

After divorcing Rogers, Cruise married Nicole Kidman later that same year. Rogers appeared unfazed by the turn of events, revealing in an interview that their sex life had dwindled.

"Tom was seriously thinking of becoming a monk,” she said. “He thought he had to become celibate. "

Image: Getty.

From that point on, Cruise's career soared, solidifying his status as one of Hollywood's biggest stars. Unfortunately, the same didn't happen for Rogers.

Though she appeared in films like Austin Powers and posed for Playboy, her career didn’t experience as much growth.

Yet, her personal life was able to flourish. Today, Rogers is in a relationship with film producer Chris Ciaffa, and they share two children together.

Just don't remind her of her marriage to Cruise, with Rogers telling People in 1995: "I’m waiting for the moment when I don’t have to talk about that … name anymore."

"You cease to be an individual," she said. "No matter what the article is, it's 'Tom Cruise's wife ...'" 

But six years later, she told a more positive tale to The Telegraph, saying that they never competed for "stardom" while they were married.

"What did annoy me was the age thing," she said. "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." 

Feature Image: Getty.