This week we all chose to forget Tom Cruise's wrongdoings.

The physical presence of Tom Cruise is felt at least twice a year.

Usually, that presence is tied to a movie premiere, awards season, or viral footage of the Hollywood actor. The former is what most Sydney-siders bared witness to as Tom was in town promoting the 436th Mission Impossible movie. 

The red carpet was rolled out and thousands gathered behind barriers just to catch a glimpse of Tom Cruise during his stint down under. 

Inside the screening, it was announced that it was actually Tom's 61st birthday and, as if it were scripted, the entire auditorium started singing as a cake was wheeled out for Tom to slice. Tom exclaimed, "This is the best birthday, EVER!" in his signature not-so-chill style, and almost the entire room believed him. 

Kee Reece, who was in the cinema for this moment, agreed. "The energy was palpable. I lapped it all up," she admitted before talking about the sheer star power this man has on The Spill podcast. 

You can listen to this exact episode of The Spill, right here. Post continues after podcast.

And it's true. Tom Cruise has been a mainstay in Hollywood for four decades. An eternally bankable actor who drums up millions with every movie, all while being adored by the masses.

Which wouldn't be a confusing notion if he was either a) Tom Hanks or b) Paul Rudd, who have both clocked a total of zero controversies over their careers so far. But Tom Cruise has quite the scandalous rap sheet, including, but not limited to: Helping to run a cult-esque church, allegedly controlling behaviour toward his partners, multiple divorces, and accusations of being an absent father.

If any other star, particularly a woman, had a single one of these allegations against their name they would always be hovering in the background. 

And yet, Tom Cruise not only persists but is thriving.

He's rebooted a franchise and turned it into an Oscar-nominated hit, with Top Gun: Maverick raking in a casual $1.4 billion at the box office. He is still pumping out Mission Impossible films every other year and at the age of 61 is a bonafide action movie star who production companies are begging to work with. 

Tom Cruise has also wrangled a real 'nice guy' persona, with interviewers often noting how personable he is and how important he makes people feel – despite definitely being the most 'important' person in all of those scenarios. 

But is he actually a 'nice guy'? That seems to be the question everyone is actively avoiding, all so we can keep enjoying silly action movies and asking more pressing questions about him like, 'How tall is Tom Cruise?'

We hate to trudge up the past, but we need to remind you of the following so you can come to your own conclusion about Mr. Hollywood.

Tom Cruise was once famously married to Nicole Kidman (it's okay if you forgot about that too), and the pair adopted two children. These two children are now adults and seemingly have little to no relationship with their adoptive mother, Nicole, but remain close with their adoptive dad, Tom. This is thought to be because, at some point, he pulled them into the Church of Scientology – the faction that Tom remains a huge ambassador of, endorsing Scientology as often as possible. 

It has been alleged that Nicole was not a fan of the church and it was this difference in religious agenda that drove a wedge between her and her husband. Eventually leading Nicole to file for divorce and be iconically photographed exiting a family court hearing where her separation was confirmed. 

Image: Reddit. 

In case you're wondering that is a face of relief. Freedom. Joy! 

Next up in Tom's timeline was the ceremonious dumping of his publicist, Pat Kingsley. Pat had worked with Tom Cruise for a number of years and was best known for allegedly providing watertight NDAs to anyone who came into Tom's orbit and had a phenomenal ability to keep him out of the headlines for anything other than promotional press.

Despite her great work, it appears Tom parted ways with Pat in favour of hiring his sister.

His sister, Lee Anne Devette, was not a publicist at the time, nor was she particularly enmeshed in the entertainment industry. But she was a Scientologist, and maybe that was qualification enough for Tom Cruise.  

About a year into Lee Anne running the publicity plan, one of Tom's most infamous television appearances took place. 

We're sure we don't need to remind you of that couch-jumping moment, but just in case you want a visual refresher you can watch the whole escapade here:

The couch saga was brought on by the new relationship he was in with Katie Holmes. While he was visibly over the moon, there were rumours that Tom had 'auditioned' women to be his girlfriend prior to this. Whether Katie was the 'winner' of that round of auditions or a chance romantic meet-cute is still unknown.

Tom Cruise's relationship with Katie Holmes was about as public as it can get. The pair attended red carpets together, were papped constantly, and fell pregnant pretty quick smart too. They welcomed their daughter, Suri Cruise, just a year after meeting.

The couple were married a few months after welcoming Suri, in a "star-studded ceremony in an Italian castle". Fast forwarding six years, their divorce was finalised.

While there are no dramatic divorce court pictures of Katie Holmes fleeing with a massive grin on her face, their separation was not without stress. 

It became clear fairly quickly that Katie was the primary carer of Suri. The two of them often pictured together, with minimal spottings of Tom with his daughter. Soon after reports surfaced that Tom was somewhat ghosting his child because she was no longer part of the Church of Scientology.  

Suri was five when her parents divorced. 

Aside from his family life, Tom Cruise has copped some criticisms from within his own industry. Thandiwe Newton, who was his co-star in one of the Mission Impossible films, had some choice words about having to interact with Tom Cruise on set.

She recalled a scene to Harper's Bazaar where Tom got extremely frustrated with the lines and concept and lashed out.

"He gets so frustrated with having to try and explain that he goes, 'Let me just—let's just go do it. Let's just rehearse on-camera.' So we rehearsed and they recorded it, and then he goes, 'I'll be you. You be me.' So we filmed the entire scene with me being him—because, believe me, I knew the lines by then—and him playing me. And it was the most unhelpful … I can't think of anything less revealing. It just pushed me further into a place of terror and insecurity. It was a real shame."

Much later on, Thandiwe essentially backtracked on her comments, explaining that she instead believed Tom Cruise was just under a lot of stress at the time and plonked a lot of the blame on herself. "Look, creative stuff is difficult. I was so tender and sensitive," she said. "And, also, if you think about the timeline of that, it was still early in my healing, in my recovery. I'd had good therapy. I'd realised that I was precious."

But Tom Cruise's fury in certain situations has since been made public.

In 2021 footage was leaked of Tom Cruise categorically losing his nut on set of a Mission Impossible movie that was being filmed in the thick of COVID. He was seen screaming at the crew for potentially breaching COVID protocols by standing too close together.

"I don't ever want to see that again, ever! If you don't do it, you're fired! If I see you do it again, you're f**king gone."

While Tom was obviously trying to keep a movie set open for business, the rage was shocking to hear – particularly by fans who have lumped him firmly in the 'nice guy' bucket. 

But beyond the screaming, Suri and Scientology of it all, Tom Cruise's reputation has remained intact. A flawless resume and a Hollywood charm that draws thousands to see him in person and millions into cinemas to watch his movies. 

He's still classified as a bit of a hottie (even if it's more of a silver fox vibe) and remains a bankable actor to this day. 

Surely the only reason his 'sins' have been so swiftly forgiven is due to a collective subconscious agreement that we don't and won't ever cancel Tom Cruise. An agreement none of us should have signed. 

Feature Image: @tomcruise Instagram + Mamamia.