The Truth About Penelope Cruz's Relationship With Tom Cruise

From Cameron Diaz to fellow Scientologist Elisabeth Moss, Tom Cruise has been linked to quite a few A-list actresses over the years. That being said, between all the rumored romances and supposed flings, Cruise has had several long-term relationships — three of which resulted in marriage. In 1987, Cruise tied the knot for the first time with actress Mimi Rogers. By 1990, the two had decided to go their separate ways. Ever the charmer, Cruise wasn't a single man for long. The actor and Nicole Kidman said their "I dos" on Christmas Eve the same year Cruise and Rogers split. Alas, that marriage wasn't destined to last either with Kidman and Cruise calling it quits in 2001. And of course, how could we forget Cruise's ill-fated marriage to Katie Holmes?

In the years between his split from Kidman and his marriage to Holmes, Cruise dated another Hollywood A-lister who very well could have ended up with a ring on that finger: Penelope Cruz. The two dated for three years from 2001 until 2004. While Cruise didn't hop up on any couches to profess his love for Cruz, their time together was still pretty eventful. Here's the truth about Penelope Cruz's relationship with Tom Cruise.

Like so many Hollywood couples before them, Penelope Cruz and Tom Cruise met on set. However, when the two started working together on 2001's Vanilla Sky, Cruise was a married man. Here's where things get dicey. According to Entertainment Weekly, Cruise filed for divorce from Nicole Kidman in February 2001. By August 2001, the divorce was finalized. Ironically, Cruz and Cruise made their public debut as a couple the same month at the premiere of Cruz's film Captain Corelli's Mandolin. Following the premiere, the actress gushed to Good Morning America (via ABC News) about what it meant to have Cruise attend the premiere with her. "He came and shared it with me," Cruz said. "It was special for me that he wanted to share it with me that way."

Despite the timeline that might suggest that the co-stars hooked up while filming Vanilla Sky (which would have meant that Cruise cheated on Kidman), over the years, Cruz has maintained that the two didn't get together on set. "I've never fallen in love with someone I'm working with," she told The Telegraph in 2008. "It's always been afterwards. If something becomes friendship, then maybe months later it becomes something else, but you can never know. It's always a mystery. You can't plan those things." We guess we'll just have to take her word for it.

After three years together, Penelope Cruz and Tom Cruise split in January 2004. "The relationship just ran its course and they decided not to be girlfriend and boyfriend anymore, a source told People at the time. "Through most of the relationship they were both shooting movies in separate parts of the world." While the insider pointed toward distance as a factor that contributed to Cruz and Cruise's break-up, another factor could have been their religious opinions.

A source told Radar Online that Cruise had been "head over heels in love" with Cruz and had planned on proposing, but Cruz wasn't interested in tying the knot for one major reason. "Penelope pulled the plug on the relationship because she felt that the Church of Scientology was the third wheel in their relationship. Penelope doesn't have anything against the Church, but it just wasn't her thing. She admired Tom's dedication to it, but it wasn't her cup of tea and wasn't something she wanted to give her life up for." 

That being said, at the time of their split, Cruz's spokesman, Robert Garlock, said that Cruise's involvement with the Church of Scientology didn't play a part in the breakup, even noting that his client had "taken (church) courses and she's found them beneficial" (via People). 

While Cruise has been in and out of several relationships since parting ways with Cruz, the actress settled down in 2010, tying the knot with actor Javier Bardem.