Katie Holmes and Tom Cruise at a movie premiere in December. Photo credit: Andrew H. Walker/Getty Images
When it comes to celebrity breakups, Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes are not Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor.
Burton and Taylor shook the foundations of the country. If you lived through that time and the reports from the set of "Cleopatra," you will remember the saga of Dick and Liz. Passion, shame, dropped jaws — Liz and Dick had it all.
As for Tomkat, they are cute kids who weren't really meant for each other. But didn't you know that years ago?
"Entertainment Tonight" devoted a full hour to the Cruise-Holmes split over the weekend, and the show seemed to be reaching for the old Dick-and-Liz magic. Burton and Taylor were earth-shaking. The only time that Cruise and Holmes shook the Earth was that mild tremor when he jumped on Oprah Winfrey's furniture.
Cruise has visited splitsville before with actresses Mimi Rogers and Nicole Kidman. We get it. He's not a good bet in the marriage department.
Why the split? I've read that Holmes wants to concentrate on her career. Has she watched the movie work of Michelle Williams, a "Dawson's Creek" co-star, with envy?
Tomkat, however, could become the biggest child-custody battle in Hollywood history. Holmes is seeking sole custody of their daughter, Suri, who is 6. Sources tell Us Weekly that the divorce was her "culmination of a year-long attempt to break free of a confining, Scientology-influenced marriage to Cruise."
"Every move she made and everything she did was controlled . . . She felt like she was in 'Rosemary's Baby,' " one insider tells the magazine.
The magazine then goes on to explain "Rosemary's Baby," the 1968 horror film starring Mia Farrow. It shook the world, too.
The "ET" hour often felt like a warm-up for Cruise's obituary. The show went through a lengthy look at his memorable movies, including "Top Gun," "Rain Man," "Jerry Maguire," "Interview With the Vampire" and "Mission: Impossible."
His movies are more memorable than his marriages. That's true of many stars. But that custody battle could change everything.
Tomkat: not built to last, and not that interesting, either. Yet.
