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.

Nicole Kidman is not pregnant, her Australian press representative has said.

Kidman’s expecting a baby was first reported by the U.K.’s Daily Mail, which said The Hours Oscar winner, 40, had told friends and family members over Christmas that she and her husband of 18 months, Keith Urban, were expecting their first child together.

But the Melbourne Herald Sun quotes Kidman’s Australian publicist as denying the Mail’s story.

“It is incorrect,” the spokeswoman tells the paper. “She must have had about 30 babies by now.”

As for Kidman, says the rep, “She’s in Australia making a film” – director Baz Luhrmann’s epic Australia, costarring Hugh Jackman – “and her family are in Australia. She’s happily ensconced away somewhere having a few days break. It’s the silly season. As far as we’re concerned, it’s another rumor out of London.”

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Nicole Kidman and her husband of 18 months are expecting their first baby, the Daily Mail can reveal.

The Oscar-winning actress and Keith Urban, the country and western singer she calls the “love of my life”, broke the news to their families over the Christmas holiday.

The 40-year-old Australian star had already spoken of “winding down” her film-making activities as much as possible next year.

The baby, whose expected arrival date has not yet been revealed, will be the actress’s first natural child.

She adopted Isabella, 14, and twelve-year-old Conor during her first marriage to Tom Cruise.

Miss Kidman was stunned when he filed for divorce in 2001.

Shortly after they split, she revealed that she had suffered an ectopic pregnanacy and a miscarriage during the marriage.

Miss Kidman spent her Christmas holiday in Syndey, after finshing work on Baz Lurhmann’s epic romantic adventure film “Australia” on December 21.

She is due to film The Reader with Ralph Fiennes and British director Stephen Daldry in Berlin next month, but has no more cinema work planned after that.

“I just want to spend as much time as possible with my husband,” she told the Daily Mail.

Earlier this month the actress also dismissed the idea of returning to the stage next year.

“It wouldn’t fit in with the logistics and dynamics of my family”, she said – a remark given extra meaning by the news of her pregnancy.

Her most recently-released film is the extravagant fantasy The Golden Compass.

Although the film was attacked by some critics, the actress’s performance as the glamorous villain Mrs Coulter won wide praise.

Miss Kidman married Urban in Sydney in June 2006.

The early months of the marriage were described as difficult as the actress helped her new husband deal with a drink problem.

Urban spent several months in a rehabilitation clinic in the U.S.

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UPDATE: It is being called a rumor now:

However, Kidman’s Australian publicist yesterday denied the reports, saying it was simply a rumour made up over the silly season.

The Daily Mail’s respected entertainment editor, Baz Bamigboye, reported the Oscar-winning actor, 40, and her husband, Keith Urban, broke the news to their families over the holidays after Kidman finished work on Baz Luhrmann’s epic romantic adventure film Australia on December 21.

Kidman’s spokeswoman said: “It is incorrect. She must have had about 30 babies by now.

“She’s in Australia making a film and her family are in Australia,” she said.

“She’s happily ensconced away somewhere having a few days’ break. As far as we’re concerned it’s another rumour out of London.”

But one of Kidman’s friends said it was “conceivable” the actor was almost three months pregnant.

“She did have a small baby bump a month ago, so it would be reasonable she’d now be three months and telling her friends and family,” the friend said.

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Is there a feud brewing between Katie Holmes and Nicole Kidman?

Holmes, the star of Mad Money, 29, has been moving more and more into the role of mother to stepchildren Isabella, 15, and Connor, 13. “They call me Mom,” she tells Parade.

As Us Weekly reports in its new issue on newsstands now, this coincides with 40-year-old Kidman’s confession on a British TV show that her two kids with Tom Cruise no longer “call me Mummy.”

“It’s Mum or sometimes Nicole. I’m like, ‘Hey!’” she said. (Kidman’s rep tells Us she was only “joking around.”)

“Isabella especially took to [Katie] right away,” a source close to the family tells Us.

Adding to the tension is the fact that Cruise is raising his children as Scientologists, something the Catholic-raised Kidman is “not cool with,” an insider tells Us.

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About a month ago, I posted an article on Nicole Kidman saying her children don’t call her ‘mom’ anymore. Which is sad and horribly depressing. Now Katie announces that those very children are calling her mom. That’s gotta sting.

Katie Holmes gushes that husband Tom Cruise is a “great father and husband” and says his two children with ex-wife Nicole Kidman are “incredible, really smart and kind.”

“They call me ‘Mom’,” Holmes says in this week’s Parade Magazine of Cruise’s first two children, Isabella, who turns 15 this month, and Connor, 12.

The 29-year-old actress says she’s looking forward to spending the holidays cooking and skiing in Telluride, Colo., with Cruise, their baby daughter Suri, and both sides of the big family.

“Last year was Suri’s first Christmas. It was so spectacular to share the holidays with her,” she says. “It really meant the world to me. To be able to create a tradition for your children is one of the best gifts you can have.”

Her one-year marriage to Cruise, she says, is another gift.

“Oh, we have so much fun,” she says. “Tom has introduced me to so many new experiences. I have done things I never thought I would do, like climbing mountains and flying in the P-51. That’s what is so inspiring about being with him – constant thrills and joy.”

After taking a two-year hiatus from her acting career, Holmes stars in the upcoming film Mad Money with Diane Keaton and Queen Latifah. She says the three of them had a blast: “We got our morning female talk in the trailer every day.”

She tells Parade that Tom was very excited for her to do the movie, and that he loved hearing all the stories. He has a great understanding of “the female bond” because he has three sisters, she says. “He was raised by a single mother and has two daughters,” she explains.

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It really bugs me that Katie would come out and say that Nicole’s children call her mom.  I don’t know, it just seems really tacky to me.  What do you think?

Nicole Kidman at the ‘The Golden Compass’ premiere in Sydney, 12/15.

I’m not feeling this outfit at all and her hair looks like a frizzy mess.