All the women Tom Cruise has loved and lost over the years

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In the years since he split from third wife Katie Holmes, Tom Cruise has done his best to keep his love life out of the spotlight. But sometimes, he can't avoid headlines. Wonderwall.com is taking a look back at all the women the iconic action star — whose newest movie, "Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One," opens in theaters on July 12, 2023 — has loved and lost over the years… 

In 2016, Tom's first girlfriend, a woman named Diane Cox, opened up to DailyMail.com about her two-year romance with the A-list actor. The duo met at their high school prom in 1979 when he was 18 and she was 17 — and a grade below him. They ended up ditching their dates for each other and dating for more than two years. The high school sweethearts ultimately split when Diane cheated while they were struggling to make a long-distance relationship work after Tom left his native New Jersey for Hollywood. "We didn't talk about marriage but he told me I was the love of his life, the only person he wanted," Diane said years later.

Keep reading for Tom's romance retrospective…

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Tom Cruise's first famous girlfriend? That would be "Little House on the Prairie" star Melissa Gilbert! They briefly dated in the early '80s. "It was when he first moved to Los Angeles and I think I was 16, maybe, or 17. … He was a struggling starving actor and I was working. I actually bought him his first set of dishes," she said during a 2014 appearance on "Watch What Happens Live," adding that Tom was a good kisser but that things between them never went much further than that.

MORE: "Top Gun: Maverick" and more of the best movies about pilots

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Actor Curtis Armstrong — who had a small role in "Risky Business" — claimed in his 2017 memoir that Tom Cruise had an "intense affair" with the film's leading lady, Rebecca De Mornay, when they shot the 1983 comedy. At the time, she was involved with a different actor: the late Harry Dean Stanton, who was 36 years Tom's senior. Tom and Rebecca were seen together several times in 1985, though it's unclear how long their "intense affair" actually lasted.

MORE: Handsome leading men when they were young

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One and done! During a 2013 appearance on Chelsea Handler's "Chelsea Lately" show, Heather Locklear said she only went out with Tom Cruise once — even though they were photographed together multiple times in the early '80s. They went to a nightclub together after meeting at an audition, she said, but her interest in him cooled when he started dancing: "You know in 'Risky Business' where he does that dance in his underwear and does the split? We were dancing in a club and he went into that," she recalled. "You just kind of stand there and don't know what to do. Do you dance around him? It was weird. So I just sat down." And that was that.

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Tom Cruise and Cher first met at Madonna and Sean Penn's 1985 nuptials. They reconnected at the White House a few months later during an event focused on people with dyslexia. "We didn't go out till way later, but there definitely was a connection there," the singer recalled in 2018. Five years earlier, she gushed that Tom, who's 16 years her junior, was "in the top five" of her all-time greatest lovers. "It was pretty hot and heavy for a little minute," she said. During a 2011 interview with "Entertainment Tonight," the superstar singer said that she loved Tom but that their careers ultimately pulled them apart: "[We broke up] after 'Risky Business' and right before 'The Color of Money.' I couldn't go to Chicago [where he was working] and that was kind of the straw that broke the camel's back," she revealed.

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Tom Cruise briefly romanced musician Patti Scialfa in 1985 — a few years before her relationship with Bruce Springsteen turned romantic following his divorce from his first wife, Julianne Phillips. (Patti and Bruce tied the knot in 1991.)

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In the mid-'80s, Tom Cruise met actress Mimi Rogers, who's seven years his senior, through mutual friends at a dinner party. They tied the knot in 1987 when she was 31 and he was just 24. (Emilio Estevez served as Tom's best man during the super-secret nuptials.) The actor once told Rolling Stone of his first missus, "I care about my wife more than anything in the world. She's my best friend. I just really like being with her, you know? I love her." But it wasn't meant to be: Tom reportedly filed to divorce Mimi in late 1989. "While there have been positive aspects to our marriage, there were some issues which could not be resolved even after working on them for a period of time," they said in a joint statement in early 1990. (It's widely believed, by the way, that Mimi introduced Tom to Scientology.)

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In the wake of his split from Mimi Rogers, Tom Cruise fell hard for Nicole Kidman. They first connected on the 1989 set of the racing drama "Days of Thunder" and tied the knot on Christmas Eve in 1990 following a whirlwind courtship of about a year. A few years later, Tom told Vanity Fair that he felt "instant lust" for the Australian actress. "I thought she was amazingly sexy and stunning. It grew into love and respect," he said.

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Newlyweds Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman shared the screen for the second time in Ron Howard's 1992 Western drama "Far and Away," which performed well at the box office in spite of poor reviews from critics.

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In 1993, Tom Cruise and second wife Nicole Kidman adopted daughter Isabella Jane, who was 2 months old at the time. Two years later, they became a family of four when the "Days of Thunder" co-stars adopted a 2-week-old baby boy: their son Connor.

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Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman shared the screen for the third and final time in 1999's "Eyes Wide Shut." More than two decades later, the Australian actress would tell The New York Times that she and Tom were still "happily married" while shooting the Stanley Kubrick-directed erotic thriller. Still, less than two years later, their marriage of a decade came to an end: Tom filed for divorce in February 2001. "Maybe I don't have the ability to look back and dissect it. Or I'm not willing to," Nicole told the Times in late 2020 of what went wrong.

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Tom Cruise and Penelope Cruise grew close while shooting the 2001 psychological thriller "Vanilla Sky." Their relationship of about three years came to an end in early 2004. Nearly a decade later, Vanity Fair reported that the couple parted ways when the Spanish actress refused to convert to Scientology.

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In 2004 and 2005, Tom Cruise briefly dated Nazanin Boniadi, who later had stints on "General Hospital," "How I Met Your Mother," "Scandal" and "Homeland." According to persistent rumors, the Church of Scientology set up Tom and the Iranian British actress after "auditioning" several young beauties for the part of his real-life love interest. Former Scientologist Leah Remini, who's been extremely critical of the church over the years, claimed in her 2015 memoir that Nazanin "underwent a confidential mission for the church where she thought she was being prepared for a special humanitarian project but ended up with the role of Tom's girlfriend." The "King of Queens" alum also alleged that the church pushed Nazanin to break up with her then-boyfriend for Tom and gave her an expensive makeover to prepare her for her romance with the A-lister. Ultimately, the relationship lasted just three months. (But Tom and the Church of Scientology have denied the allegations about how his relationship with Naz came to be.)

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In 2005, Tom Cruise briefly pursued a pre-fame Sofia Vergara. But things between them never took off reportedly because of their differences regarding religion.

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Tom Cruise first connected with Katie Holmes — who'd spoken openly in interviews about her childhood crush on him — in April 2005 when, according to the rumor mill, they met to discuss a potential role for her in 2006's "Mission: Impossible III." Just weeks later, they made their red carpet debut as a couple at an event in Rome. The following month, Tom made headlines for jumping on a sofa while gushing over Katie during an interview with Oprah Winfrey on her eponymous talk show. Things only moved faster from there…

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In June 2005 — just two months after they met — Tom Cruise proposed to Katie Holmes at the Eiffel Tower in Paris. Then in April 2006 — less than a year after they first connected — the "Dawson's Creek" alum gave birth to their daughter, Suri Cruise.

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Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes tied the knot at the Odescalchi Castle in Lake Bracciano, Italy, on Nov. 18, 2006. Less than six years later on June 29, 2012, she quietly filed for divorce amid whispers that their differences over Scientology were to blame.

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In the summer of 2012, several dubious tabloid reports attempted to link Tom Cruise to fellow devout Scientologist Yolanda Pecoraro, who reportedly met the A-list actor for the first time in 2004. According to the rumor mill, he was interested in her at the time, though nothing ever came of the attraction. Nothing ever came of the talk in 2012 either! Despite the rumors that the Church of Scientology wanted to set up Tom with Yolanda in the wake of his split from Katie Holmes, they were never seen together in public. She ultimately married a different famous Scientologist: "Malcolm in the Middle" actor Chris Masterson. (They're pictured together in 2015.)

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In late 2012, Tom Cruise got tongues wagging when he was seen spending time with Jennifer Akerman — the younger sister of his "Rock of Ages" co-star Malin Akerman — at a nightclub in Stockholm following the Swedish premiere of "Jack Reacher." But the actor's rep called the romance rumors "completely ridiculous" and insisted to E! News that the blonde beauty had a serious boyfriend at the time. Just a few weeks later, Tom shut down another set of false romance rumors when he was linked to Cynthia Jorge — then-manager of New York City's Beauty & Essex — after they were seen dancing together at a different NYC hotspot. A source told People magazine "it was nothing but a casual night out" while a New York Post source insisted the pair were "just friends."

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The rumor mill worked overtime to connect Tom Cruise to former Bond girl Olga Kurylenko after they co-starred in the 2013 sci-fi love story "Oblivion" … even though she was dating Danny Huston at the time. There's no evidence they were ever anything other than colleagues.

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Tom Cruise sparked romance rumors with fellow Scientologist Laura Prepon when they were seen dining together in Los Angeles in late 2013. Then in April 2014, Page Six reported that the duo had been "secretly dating" for months. But reps for both the action star and the "That '70s Show" alum insisted the rumors were "not true" and that the pair were just friends. (Laura eventually married a different actor: Ben Foster. She's since walked away from the church.)

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In May 2017, the rumor mill erupted with buzz that Tom Cruise was dating "Mission: Impossible – Fallout" co-star Vanessa Kirby after they were photographed sharing an on-set smooch. (Previous tabloid reports alleged he'd fallen for her … and that he thought she was "perfect to be his next wife.") The following year, Vanessa called the rumors "disconcerting" — especially because she was in the midst of a long-term relationship with actor Callum Turner at the time.

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In late 2020, The Sun reported that Tom Cruise and "Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One" co-star Hayley Atwell were secretly dating after growing close on set. The following day, a People magazine source threw cold water on the British tabloid's report, insisting that the romance rumors were "not true at all." Yet the rumors persisted, although there was a spattering of reports in the summer of 2021 claiming the action star and the British beauty had gone their separate ways.

The co-stars were all smiles while attending Wimbledon together in 2021. Though fresh reports claimed they rekindled their romance in early 2022, The Sun published a story in June 2022 citing sources who said it was over again. "They get on really well, and have fantastic chemistry, which is why they decided to quietly give the relationship another try earlier this year. But what was working behind closed doors didn't work out so well when it was made public, and the fanfare around them as a couple exploded again," a source told the British tabloid. "They have now decided they are better as friends."

In July 2023, Hayley shot down the reports herself, telling the Independent the "weird [romance] rumors" felt "dirty" and "grubby" and that she views Tom and "M:I" franchise director Chris McQuarrie as "sort of two uncles," not love interests.

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In May 2023, Tom Cruise once again got the rumor mill churning… this time with speculation that he'd fallen for a global pop star after he was seen chatting with Shakira at the 2023 Miami Formula One Grand Prix in Florida that month. Though they certainly looked comfortable together, TMZ reported that Shakira and Tom were not romantically involved and were at the F1 race because they'd both been invited by a mutual friend, driver Lewis Hamilton.