Hollywood dream couple Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes are getting divorced after five years of marriage, People magazine reported yesterday.
This is a personal and private matter for Kate and her family
The office of New Jersey divorce attorney Jonathan Wolfe confirmed to the Los Angeles Times that he is representing 33-year-old Ms Holmes in the proceedings, but declined to say whether the process had formally begun.
“This is a personal and private matter for Katie and her family,” the attorney told People magazine.
“Katie’s primary concern remains, as it always has been, her daughter’s best interest.”
Mr Cruise, who turns 50 on Tuesday, wed Ms Holmes in a storybook Italian castle in November 2006 after famously declaring his love for the former Dawson’s Creek star live on Oprah. They have a six-year-old daughter, Suri.
It was Ms Holmes’ first marriage and Mr Cruise’s third.
The split comes just 10 days after the “amicable” parting of US actor Johnny Depp and French singer/ actress Vanessa Paradis, and will doubtless lead to renewed chatter about the pressures on Hollywood star couples.
Fireworks lit up the night sky above the 15th-century Odescalchi castle near Rome when Mr Cruise and Ms Holmes tied the knot on November 18, 2006, following a whirlwind romance.
Glitterati from the worlds of cinema, sports and music were at the sprawling estate perched above the lakeside town of Bracciano as Ms Holmes offered her hand to the Mission Impossible star.
Italian media reported that American Scientology leader David Miscavige officiated at the event, arguably the most high-profile Scientologist wedding to date, in a ceremony that lasted no more than 15 minutes.
Reports at the time said that, under the prenuptial agreement, Ms Holmes would receive $3 million for every year of the marriage plus ownership of a California mansion if they split.
Mr Cruise, still one of Hollywood’s most bankable stars as shown by recent box office smash Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol, was married to Australian actress Nicole Kidman from 1990 to 2001. The couple had two children.
He was also married to American actress Mimi Rogers from 1987 to 1990 and had a three-year relationship with Spanish actress Penelope Cruz after splitting from Ms Kidman.
Ms Holmes appeared in Batman Begins (2005) and starred alongside Adam Sandler in the 2011 romantic comedy Jack and Jill.