Tom Cruise has been a Hollywood heartthrob for decades, but did you know that before he made it big in Tinseltown, he had dreams of becoming a Catholic priest? According to an article by the Daily News, Cruise attended St. Francis Seminary in Cincinnati for two years in the early 1980s, where he was known as Tommy Mapother.
Despite his sincere desire to pursue a religious vocation, Cruise’s time at the seminary was cut short when he decided to leave the school after his family relocated from Louisville, Kentucky, to New Jersey. However, according to Shane Dempler, a close friend of Cruise’s from the seminary, the real reason he left was because the two of them were caught stealing liquor from their Franciscan fathers.
“The priests didn’t even realize until some of the other boys found out about our plan and snuck into the woods and got drunk. They were caught staggering down the road to the seminary and forced to confess,” Dempler told the Daily News. “The school wrote a letter to our parents saying they liked us both, but would prefer if we didn’t return. So we weren’t kicked out, just preferred not to go.”
Despite this rocky start, Cruise went on to become a three-time Academy Award nominee and one of the most recognizable actors in the world. So the next time you’re watching one of his movies, remember that before he was a Hollywood superstar or a controversial figure in the Church of Scientology, he was just a young man with dreams of serving God.
Source:
http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/gossip/cruise-considered-catholic-priesthood-kicked-seminary-article-1.1278436
