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Mission Impossible superstar Tom Cruise has established himself as a legendary figure on screen, but his private life is still a mystery and rife with controversy. Cruise’ life remains under scrutiny to some extent because of his affiliation with the Church of Scientology. Previous members have charged the group with being a cult that instills a culture of fear, manipulation, and abuse in its adherents. However, one of the ‘weirdest’ rumors that the Knight and Day star himself debunked was that people on set “were not allowed to look him in the eye.”

According to Huff Post, in an interview with The Sunday Times, Cruise’s longstanding director Chris McQuarrie, remembered his first encounter with the actor. In 2006, McQuarrie claimed to have asked Cruise to tell the “weirdest story he has heard about himself”. The Top Gun: Maverick actor commented in jest that the funniest thing he ever heard was that folks “were not allowed to look me in the eye” on set. Actor Simon Pegg, a close friend and co-star from Britain, said that under “all the bizarre mythology” that surrounds Cruise, “he’s just a guy.” “I like being normal with him,” he stated.
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Cruise has been making an effort to disassociate himself from the Church of Scientology in recent years, which has displeased a lot of churchgoers. “Tom is only in L.A. every six months or so but he used to be such a huge presence among the church community and at the church facilities and gatherings in Hollywood and in Los Feliz and that’s simply not the case now,” a source related to the L.A.’s Scientology community exclusively told In Touch. “It’s clear he comes to L.A. when he has movie business stuff to attend to but if he needs to practice Scientology, he’s doing it out of Florida, if at all.”

The source stated that the iconic actor doesn’t “relish spending his precious downtime with Los Angeles Scientologists” as most are “mixed up in the entertainment business or still trying to ‘make it.’”  “He’s got bigger and better things to do. But it really takes the air out of the Scientology community in L.A. that was once his home base,” the insider explains. “You also see him chasing after women who clearly have no interest in Scientology, which is very telling about where Tom’s heart truly is at the moment. How great for the church would it be if Tom actually dated a longtime, true-blue member? But that’s not what’s happening at all!”

“It’s something that has helped me incredibly in my life. I’ve been a Scientologist for over 30 years,” Cruise made a rare public statement regarding his faith in 2016. “It’s something, you know, without it, I wouldn’t be where I am. So it’s a beautiful religion. I’m incredibly proud.” In 2004 he was awarded the Freedom Medal of Valor and during his acceptance speech he praised the religion saying, “I think it’s a privilege to call yourself a Scientologist and it’s something you have to earn,” he said. “If you’re a Scientologist, you see life, you see things the way that they are. In all its glory, all of its complexity. The more you know as a Scientologist, you don’t become overwhelmed by it.”