Tom Cruise to fight Scientology backlash by "laying low"
The actor will shortly be promoting new blockbuster Jack Reacher, set for release worldwide in December.
It has been a tumultuous year for the star, with his divorce from Katie Holmes and her subsequent "gagging order" regarding Scientology, inviting much speculation from the public and the press on the role played by the Church in their marriage.
This was followed by a highly-publicised Vanity Fair article where a number of allegations were made about supposed 'wife auditions' held by the Church for the star.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Paramount Pictures, the studio releasing Jack Reacher, wants Cruise to keep a low profile over the next few months due to the potential for tricky questions on the press tour.
An unnamed studio executive told the publication: "You're not going to see him everywhere."
The report features a number of former Scientologists and people close to the Top Gun star who speculate whether the bad publicity afforded by the year's events migh! t lead to Cruise reconsidering how closely he associates himself with the Church.
Marty Rathbun, a former auditor for Cruise in the Church, alleged that the actor effectively distanced himself from them in the '90s after he "stopped showing up" to auditing sessions while married to Nicole Kidman.
Rathbun claimed that Cruise only came fully back into the fold after their divorce in 2001. A Scientology spokesman refuted Rathbun's claims, arguing: "Mr Cruise never left the Church, effectively or otherwise."
Watch the trailer for Jack Reacher below:
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