Why Tom Cruise may view his daughter Suri as a ‘potential trouble source’: Amid rumours the pair haven’t spoken in 12 years, ALISON BOSHOFF reveals the very strange world of Scientology and why its rules could be blamed for extraordinary rift

He has one of the most recognizable smiles in the world – not to mention that defined jawline and striking profile.

So when Tom Cruise’s daughter Suri stepped out in New York on her 18th birthday last weekend, it was truly surprising to see how much she looked like her famous dad.

But while his daughter was celebrating with actress Katie Holmes, her A-list dad was filming 3,500 miles away in London.

You would imagine that most fathers would try to celebrate such an important date in person with their daughter.

But the last time Cruise was photographed in Suri’s company was almost 12 years ago, in July 2012, when she was just six.

It was a tumultuous time: he had just settled his divorce with Holmes and was enjoying a custody visit to Disney World Florida. Suri – dressed as the little mermaid – grabbed her father’s hand.

Many people — including Cruise’s former friends — claim he hasn’t seen his daughter in person since.

Could this be true?

The question of what kind of relationship Cruise has with Suri – he also has two older children, Bella and Connor, adopted during his marriage to Nicole Kidman – is a mystery wrapped in an enigma and there is no clear answer.

Calls and emails to Amanda Lundberg, his publicist, and to his lawyer, asking if he has seen Suri, go unanswered.

It’s all the more confusing because Cruise was so effusive about the importance of spending time with his daughter. Think back to the 22-page portfolio in Vanity Fair in 2006, in which Suri was first depicted.

“I always told myself that my children could rely on me, and that I would always be there for them and love them,” a proud Cruise told the magazine.

But now that pride seems a world away – and the sweet bond between father and daughter appears to be ancient history.

Last summer, a source close to the actor told this newspaper that he kept in touch with his daughter via Zoom and phone calls, and denied that they were estranged.

Still others doubt this – citing Scientology, the controversial religion followed by Cruise, as the possible cause of any schism.

When she married Cruise, Holmes was educated in Scientology, and Suri would be raised as a Scientologist.

However, after their split, she returned to her Roman Catholic faith and was said to be keen to get Suri away from Scientology.

Fascinatingly, there is some question as to whether the rift between Cruise and Suri is due to Holmes protecting her daughter – or whether Cruise cuts her off at the behest of his religion.

Scientology is known for discouraging believers from having relationships with people outside the religion, and is regularly accused of alienating its devotees from non-believers, some of whom are called “oppressive persons.”

Former leading Scientologist Karen De La Carriere – once married to the religion’s president – ​​tells me she is confident Scientology is at the root of the rift.

She said: ‘Katie was seen as an oppressive person and Suri, by extension, as a potential source of trouble. Tom cannot connect with his own daughter. In Scientology, Scientology comes first; family priorities rank low.”

Brendan Tighe, who worked in Cruise’s security department and was a Scientologist, told me this week: ‘Basically, when it comes to Scientology thinking, there is a disconnection policy. When applied rigorously, there is no room for emotion.

“As long as Suri sides with her mother, there will be no contact with her father.”

Mike Rinder, once the number three in Scientology, had known Cruise and his family firsthand for years. Since leaving the religion, he has spoken out against it and recently published an autobiography A Billion Years.

Rinder tells me that his own eldest children, who are still religious, do not want to talk to him because he has left the religion. He says he is certain this is the reason for the apparent rift between Cruise and Suri.

“Because Katie took the lead in bringing about the divorce, which ‘surprised’ the most famous Scientologist on earth, she committed an ‘act of oppression.’ So Tom could not be linked to her,” he says.

Wouldn’t this cause problems for Cruise? Rinder says no, adding, “Scientologists believe that everyone is a spiritual being who lives many lives. The being who is your mother in this life could have been your daughter in a previous life – and this detracts from the importance of family ties.’

Cruise might object to this, not least because it’s all coming from ex-Scientologists hostile to his religion.

A Scientology spokesperson did not respond to a request to discuss details about the possible situation between Suri and Cruise. However, the church has said in the past that it never “commands” followers to cut themselves off from anyone, and the practice has nothing to do with “former members or people critical of the church.”

Yet it is certain that the happy family future that Cruise envisions for herself, Suri, and her older siblings, who remain Scientologists, has not been realized.

Some even say a similar dynamic is on display following Cruise’s divorce from Nicole Kidman — who no longer follows Scientology and has seen very little of their children, Bella, 31, and Conor, now 29, since.

Before her parents’ divorce, Suri was depicted incessantly, almost always held by her father. And then, as soon as the split was announced in 2012, that ended. Holmes moved to New York and did everything she could to keep her child out of the public eye.

The issue of Suri’s relationship with her father became explosively public in September 2013, when Cruise took legal action against two magazines that said he had “abandoned” his daughter.

The lawsuit was settled out of court and it was clear that the accusation angered Cruise. During a deposition, he admitted that he had not seen the then-six-year-old for 110 days last summer, just after the divorce.

He said he and Suri kept in touch by phone instead, because he was busy filming: “I tell wonderful stories… I’ve become quite good at communicating.”

He added that the arrangements with Holmes were complicated.

He said, “Listen, if there’s a divorce… it’s more complicated. Things change.

He added: ‘What certainly doesn’t change is the love I have for my daughter, and the fact that I have not abandoned her emotionally, physically or otherwise.’

One can only hope he would say the same thing today.