Powerful forces are conspiring to make it seem like Tom Cruise and Ana de Armas are in the early stages of a romantic relationship. Since the pair first got dinner in February, there has been lots of tabloid speculation about what they’re up to — which has coincidentally ramped up just in time for Cruise to promote Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning and de Armas to begin promoting her John Wick spinoff, Ballerina. Isn’t that interesting? I’ll lay out the available evidence, and then you can decide if this is true love or the best PR move since Andrew Garfield on Chicken Shop Date.
Cruise and de Armas’s story began back in February, when they were photographed getting dinner together on Valentine’s Day Eve and going on several helicopter rides. Sources told the tabloids that this was strictly business, and that the two were working on something with frequent Cruise collaborators Doug Liman and Christopher McQuarrie. (Deadline reported that it was an “undersea supernatural film” directed by Liman and that de Armas was doing diving training with Cruise.) This was believable only because Cruise is famously bizarre and intense —of course he would enter into a professional relationship with someone and start whisking them around Europe in a helicopter.
In May, the press tour for Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning started gearing up, and the story around Cruise and de Armas took a turn. On April 30 (de Armas’s birthday), a video surfaced on TikTok showing Cruise and de Armas casually strolling through a London park with a security detail close behind. “Page Six” then claimed they kept the birthday celebration going that night with dinner at a Michelin-starred Mexican restaurant. This is the point where we’re all supposed to say, “Huh, why are they hanging out all day on her birthday if they’re just co-workers?”
A few days after the park spotting, David Beckham held his 50th-birthday bash in London. Cruise brought de Armas, of course, and although they reportedly arrived separately, the Daily Mail published photos of them leaving together, Cruise smizing and looking right at the camera and de Armas hiding from view by ducking down. The British tabloid went so far as to call her his “girlfriend” in its headline. Apparently, this outing was enough for People to stop filing stories about them under the “Celebrity Friendships” tag and to start using “Celebrity Relationships.” (Most recently, however, it has pivoted back to “Celebrity Friendships.”)
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On May 14, an anonymous source confidently told Us Weekly that Cruise has been “courting” de Armas. “They’ve gone out on some dates and it’s very low-key,” the source said, adding that their relationship was “in the early stages.” According to this source, things did begin professionally, but Cruise became “super smitten” with the actress.
As for de Armas, she was apparently “more cautious” and “taking it really slow.” This very chatty source also told the tabloid that one of the things Cruise likes about de Armas is that she “doesn’t like public attention.” Right.
This brings us to the present day, where both Cruise and de Armas are promoting their respective action movies. While giving interviews about the final chapter of the Mission: Impossible saga, Cruise told Extra that de Armas is a “very, very talented, great dramatic actress, comedic, tremendous ability, learns quickly.” Then he told Access Hollywood, “Her ability is incredible. There’s an actress that has dramatic chops, someone who’s comedic, very, very talented.”
De Armas is also hard at work trying to sell their spark. During an appearance on Good Morning America, she touched on her professional relationship with Cruise, sharing that she’s working on “a few projects with Doug Liman and Christopher McQuarrie and, of course, Tom. And I’m so excited.”
The actress also told Women’s Wear Daily, “Obviously, everyone knows I’m working with Tom Cruise,” adding again that Liman and McQuarrie are “so lovely and a great team, and the process we’re having is amazing.” She added that she’s currently doing “crazy training” for the current project, “as you do when you’re working with Tom,” but that the foursome got “so excited” they started collaborating on additional projects.
All right, so what the tabloids (and perhaps some crafty publicists) want us to believe is that these two just so happened to get papped during a work meeting the day before Valentine’s Day, and then, over the course of a few months and several helicopter rides, their professional relationship blossomed into something romantic. The fact that they both have high-profile movies coming out within a month of each other — right as chatter about their relationship hits a fever pitch — has nothing to do with anything. Is that right? Let’s circle back a few weeks after Ballerina comes out to check if love is still in the air, or if they’re back to platonic diving training.
