Nicole Kidman kept some of the placenta from a miscarriage to prove that Tom Cruise was the father of her unborn child, the author of a controversial new biography claims.

British journalist Andrew Morton, whose book about Tom Cruise has sparked a $100 million legal threat from the Church of Scientology, spoke in detail about the actor’s relationship with Kidman in an exclusive interview with A Current Affair.

“They did try to start a family [but] she sadly had a miscarriage,” said Morton. “And because of all the questions over the father, she ordered that some of the placenta be saved in order to prove paternity — the fact that Tom Cruise was the father.”

Morton, 54, said the couple then decided to adopt, sparking rumours that Cruise was gay and the marriage was just a facade.

The author goes on to describe Kidman’s alleged plan to give up acting and “become a nun”, as well as the effect Cruise has had on his new wife, Katie Holmes.

“Those who saw [Katie] were shocked about how changed she was,” he said.

“Before she met Tom she was a kind of exuberant sparkly eyed girl and [after the marriage] they described her as being ‘dead-eyed Katie’ and they saw the transformation and it’s not me who is saying it, but people who interviewed her who say that she looks like a Stepford Wife — that she is robotic.”

Tom Cruise: An Unauthorised Biography has been released in the United States but will not be published in several countries, including Australia and the UK, due to stricter defamation laws and a legal threat from the Church of Scientology.

“Publishers find that it is not really worth it,” said Morton.

The Church of Scientology has responded to Morton’s book with a 15-page statement, calling it “a bigoted, defamatory assault replete with lies.”

Morton has also written books about Princess Diana, David and Victoria “Posh Spice” Beckham, Madonna and Monica Lewinsky.

Source, WENN

Pics: WENN

British actress Kate Winslet is reportedly set to replace Nicole Kidman in The Reader, after she dropped out because “She is so concerned about the welfare of her unborn child that she’s taking a break from her film career and has dropped out of the film,” said a source.

Insiders told People.com that, in fact, Winslet, 32, was originally offered the role as Hanna Schmitz, but couldn’t commit due to schedule conflicts.

“Kate was offered it first before Nicole but couldn’t do it but the dates clashed with commitments to Revolutionary Road,” says an insider. “So the dates changed, Nicole then got pregnant and now it has come back to Kate.”

Based on German author Bernhard Schlink’s bestselling 1995 novel – and Oprah’s Book Club selection – the film is about an affair between a teenage boy and an older woman in post-WWII Germany.

“Actually everyone is happy now – Nicole as she has a baby on the way, Kate because she has this great role she originally wanted to do, and the filmmakers are too,” says the source.

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Just hours after Nicole Kidman announced her pregnancy, George Clooney offered up his congratulations.

“I’m thrilled for her,” he told People at the picket-line-free Critics’ Choice Awards in L.A. Monday night. “[She’ll be] a perfect mother.”

(The two have been friends for years, dating back to their work in 1997’s The Peacemaker. Kidman famously bet Clooney $10,000 he would be unmarried and childless when he turned 40 in 2001. She lost, of course.)

“She’ll be great,” Clooney said of the Aussie actress, already mother to Isabella, 15, and Connor, 12, her adopted children with ex-husband Tom Cruise. “She’ll be a tall mother.”

Clooney, who lost the best actor award to Daniel Day Lewis, also endured some good-natured ribbing from Ocean’s Thirteen pal Casey Affleck. “Hey you big loser,” Ben’s little brother heckled during Clooney’s chat with People. “You’re a loser!”

Clooney, who won a best supporting acting Oscar last year for Syriana, took it all in stride, noting, “[Being] a nominee, it’s fine. But when you’re a loser, you’re a loser.”

The actor was also on hand to present the first-annual Joel Siegel Award (named after the late ABC movie critic) to friend and former costar Don Cheadle for his humanitarian work.

“The fact that [George] only charged me $1,500, I thought was really nice of him,” Cheadle joked in the press room. “Matt [Damon] was around $2,500, and what Denzel wanted, I won’t even mention.”

The Darfur activist did get serious for a minute, adding that “George is . . . someone who I’ve not only worked with onscreen, but we’ve also done things for the cause – and it’s great to have an ally.”

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Nicole Kidman and husband Keith Urban are expecting their first child, her rep confirms.

“The couple are thrilled,” the rep says in a statement.

For Kidman, this will be her third child. She and her former husband, Tom Cruise adopted two children during their marriage: Isabella, now 15, and Connor, 12.

As for where Kidman and Urban, who will be a first-time parent, may bring up their impending arrival, the couple, though both Australian, purchased a farm near Leipers Fork, Tenn., a half-hour southwest of Nashville, in 2007.

The couple, who have been married 18 months, wed, after a yearlong courtship, on June 25, 2006, in a candlelit ceremony at Sydney, Australia’s Cardinal Cerretti Memorial Chapel on St. Patrick’s Estate at Manly. Guests at the black-tie event included Russell Crowe, Hugh Jackman, Naomi Watts and Rupert Murdoch.

Before the couple even started dating, Kidman made her desire for more children clear. In April 2005, she told reporters that her biological clock was ticking. “I have got hormones running through my system,” she said. “That is why I sit wriggling, saying I want to have a baby.”

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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.