It’s official. The marriage between Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman will be over on August 8. The Mission Impossible star’s application for an immediate divorce was granted by an LA judge on Tuesday, and will become effective next Wednesday.
Ironically, just hours before the divorce becomes final both sides are expected to be present at the New York post-launch party for the last project they collaborated on, the movie The Others, in which Nicole stars and which Tom produced. Adding a further frisson to the scenario is the possibility that the Top Gun actor may attend with his Vanilla Sky co-star, Penelope Cruz, whom he has recently been dating.
But though the divorce is now signed and sealed, wrangling over details of the settlement will keep the pair’s lawyers battling for months.
The end of their marriage is about the only thing the couple seem to agree on. “There are numerous issues regarding date of separation, issues of property and many other issues in the case” which have still not been resolved, said Nicole’s legal representative Sorrell Trope. Bearing these “contentious issues” in mind, her lawyers asked for, and received, time to prepare their fight over the financial settlement.
Despite having a personal fortune of £238 million and a lifestyle so opulent his friends just call him “Lux” – as in luxury – Tom Cruise has his heart set on a slice of his estranged wife’s £84 million fortune. And it’s not just her cash that Tom is after.
He has also claimed for miscellaneous jewellery and personal effects. These are understood to include Nicole’s spectacular £350,000 diamond wedding ring, a pair of matching earrings with sentimental significance and an £17,500 emerald necklace he gave her on her 30th birthday.
Tom wants to retain the New York and Colorado properties the couple once shared, plus his £24 million private jet – once called Sweet Nic and now renamed after his daughter. Meanwhile, Nicole is keen to hang on to the couple’s £7 million home in LA where she and the couple’s adopted children Isabella, eight, and six-year-old Conor are living.
The couple, who were married in a romantic ceremony in Colorado in 1990, split up in February of this year with Tom filing divorce papers citing “irreconcilable differences”.
Photo: © Alphapress.com
Photo: © Alphapress.com
Photo: © Alphapress.com
