He's totally undateable – insiders reveal Tom Cruise’s embarrassing quest to find a girlfriend

 There are some pop culture moments that will live on forever. Take Madonna and Britney’s VMA kiss, Will Smith’s Oscar slap, and, of course, the day that Tom Cruise jumped on a sofa and declared his love for Katie Holmes, leaving Oprah Winfrey and the world speechless.

The year was 2005, the pair had only recently started dating, and – just over one year (and a myriad gushing TV and magazine interviews) later – they wed in a very lavish, celebrity-filled wedding ceremony in Italy. The rest, as they say, is history: one very bitter divorce, an iron-clad NDA, and total utter estrangement between Tom and his and Katie’s now 20-year-old daughter, Suri. And – in the two-decade interim – the metamorphosis of Tom, who’s gone from being a globally-desired pin-up, more than willing to share details of his love life with the world, to a very elusive kind of celebrity enigma, who, at 62, is more single than ever.

By all accounts, it’s a big turn of events – and it’s even bigger now that Katie, who spent years living in the shadows of her failed marriage to Tom, has gone public with her hot, young new boyfriend. From Tom’s vantage point, the tables have most definitely turned in.

Last week, the beloved actress delighted fans as she hit the red carpet for New York Fashion Week with her new paramour, Jason Bard Yarmosky, by her side. The pair actually went Instagram official earlier this month with a loved-up carousel of pictures taken from their recent holiday in Lake Como, Italy, which showed them enjoying romantic boat rides and sneaking kisses. And judging by Katie’s perma-grin over the past few months, the 47-year-old is more besotted than she has been in years – ever since meeting New York-based artist Jason, 39, earlier this Summer.

Katie’s happiness – and willingness to share her new love with the world – has certainly been a long time coming, as anyone who followed her and Tom’s sad divorce story will know she kept silent for years (amid rumours of very strict NDA), and kept any talk of romance on the down-low, as she focused on her life as a mum to Suri. But for Tom, we’re told that seeing her so loved-up is a tough pill to swallow as they inch closer towards the 20-year anniversary of their wedding in November.

On Tom’s part, he’s failed to make any relationship work long-term since his and Katie’s split in 2012 – amid reports that his devotion to Scientology ruined yet another marriage, following his divorce from ex-wife Nicole Kidman in 2001. As the years progressed, and rumours persisted that the pseudo-religion held an uncomfortable grip on any romance he had, the actor became less and less willing to jump up and down on a sofa and declare his love for another woman. He did briefly date socialite Elsina Khayrova from 2023 to 2024, and then actress Ana de Armas in 2025, but sources tell us that, despite his attempts, he just can’t make a relationship stick. And the more time that ticks on, the more he worries that his single – and dare we say it, undateable – reputation will precede him.

‘Tom is all too aware that he's become this poster child for failed relationships,’ says an insider close to the Mission: Impossible actor, who was first married to actress Mimi Rogers from 1987 to 1990, before later marrying and divorcing Nicole and Katie, respectively. ‘He tries to laugh it off and say it's ridiculous how he’s constantly being linked to different women, but truth be told, he has pursued a lot of famous women. He made a big play for Shakira in 2023 that didn’t go anywhere, which was pretty demoralising and embarrassing. That didn’t stop him from going after Ana De Armas and really rolling out the red carpet to woo her. That didn’t go the way Tom was hoping, either, and he was left very deflated. Since then, he’s been much more low-key because he’s worried about getting shot down publicly. Tom is very proud - his image means everything to him, and he knows that, with Katie finding love again, it’s going to mean everyone is once again looking at him and wondering why he hasn’t, and branding him the problem.’

Katie’s decision to go very public with her new beau has certainly come at an unfortunate time for Tom, as it’s coincided with his big return to the PR spotlight to promote his new movie, Digger. Earlier this week, the actor broke the internet after appearing on the cover of GQ, 20 years since he last posed for the glossy mag. Alongside his sultry cover image, which saw the actor exposing his torso alongside the very simple headline ‘Tom’, he also sat down for an ostensibly revealing chat. Except, despite the magazine’s persistent questions, it was clear he wasn’t willing to reveal very much at all – beyond waxing lyrical about his total dedication to his industry and his craft.

When asked what turning 64 had meant to him, he drily replied, ‘It means I’m 64.’ And in answer to the question, ‘What do you think the biggest misconception about you is?’ Tom said, ‘I don’t know. I really have no idea. I’m not sitting here thinking about that stuff. I never think about that. I’m more looking out. For me, I’m more in present and future.’