A new biography of Tom Cruise claims he was encouraged to end his marriage to Nicole Kidman by Scientology bosses. Andrew Morton’s controversial book alleges the church soured towards Kidman after she gave an interview describing herself as a “Catholic girl”.

Morton alleges that in 1999, Cruise took a course that would identify those in his life who create problems and difficulties and Kidman was identified as such. Shortly after her interview, senior Scientology leaders discussed their strategy to keep Tom in the fold. Their fear was that Nicole could fatally compromise Tom’s commitment to his faith.

He claims that Kidman discovered she was pregnant after the split and Tom sent flowers but never visited.