Tom Cruise slams wife recruiting claims as `lies`

London: Tom Cruise has denied reports which claimed that Scientology officials “auditioned dozens of young women” for the superstar before he married his former wife Katie Holmes.

“Lies in a different font are still lies - designed to sell magazines,” the Daily Mail quoted Cruise’s representative as saying in a statement. According to Vanity Fair magazine, the secretive religious group had organised an “audition” process to find the now 50-year-old actor a wife, and grilled dozens of young women to make sure that they posed no threat to the church or to its most famous member. And the ‘Dawson’s Creek’ star was apparently not the first choice - the church had wanted the ‘Mission Impossible’ actor to marry a young Iranian-born actress called Nazanin Boniadi, who was already a Scientologist, but she was seen as disrespectful towards the religious leaders. The shocking allegations about the origins of the stars’ 6-year marriage were made by writer Maureen Orth. Orth said that the project to identify a new partner for Cruise, following the break-up of his relationships with actress’ Nicole Kidman and Penelope Cruz, started in 2004 and was headed by Shelly Miscavige, wife of the church’s top official David Miscavige. ANI