Tom Cruise would feel the need, the need — to stay away from his ex-wife, Nicole Kidman.
The 60-year-old ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ actor was conspicuously absent from the 2023 Oscars on Sunday, despite the film being nominated for six awards.
He was reportedly MIA because he wanted to avoid an “awkward encounter” with Kidman, 55, whom he divorced more than 20 years ago.
“Tom wasn’t there because she was there, and he didn’t want a run-in,” a source told the Daily Mail on Monday.
But insiders close to Cruise reportedly told the outlet that his absence was “not personal” and was instead the result of scheduling issues.
The Post has reached out to reps for Cruise and Kidman for comment.
The prolific The duo married on December 24, 1990 and adopted two children – Isabella, now 29, and Connor, now 27, who are both believed to be members of the Church of Scientology, as their father, Cruise.
![Nicole Kidman and Tom Cruise were married from December 1990 to August 2001.](https://fiilmi.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/Tom-Cruise-skipped-the-Oscars-to-avoid-seeing-his-ex.jpg)
Cruise filed for divorce in February 2001, citing an “irreconcilable difference” after allegedly dumping Kidman that same year.
The move left the ‘Big Little Lies’ actress in utter shock as fans suspected the marriage had ended due to her refusal to become a Scientologist.
“She knows why, and I know why, [we divorced]Cruise told Vanity Fair in 2013, promising to keep the reasoning private. “She’s the mother of my kids and I wish her well. And I think you’re moving on.”
“And I don’t say that lightly. I’m not saying that with anything,” he continued. “Things happen in life, and you do whatever you can, and whatever way you can, and there comes a time when you have to face brutal reality sometimes.”
![Nicole Kidman attends the 2023 Oscars on March 12, 2023 in Hollywood.](https://fiilmi.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/1678764212_109_Tom-Cruise-skipped-the-Oscars-to-avoid-seeing-his-ex.jpg)
![by Tom Cruise "Top Gun: Maverick" was nominated for six Oscars.](https://fiilmi.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/1678764212_58_Tom-Cruise-skipped-the-Oscars-to-avoid-seeing-his-ex.jpg)
“I was young. I think I offered it? Kidman told Harper’s Bazaar in October 2021 of the continued public interest in her marriage to Cruise.
“Maybe I’ve become a bit more worried, but I always try to be as open as possible. I just prefer to live in the world that way,” she added.
Cruise married actress Katie Holmes, 44, on November 18, 2006.
The couple had a daughter, Suri, now 16, and divorced in August 2012.
![Nicole Kidman and her husband, Keith Urban, heat up the 2023 Oscars red carpet.](https://fiilmi.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/1678764212_519_Tom-Cruise-skipped-the-Oscars-to-avoid-seeing-his-ex.jpg)
Meanwhile, Kidman and her husband of 16 years, country musician Keith Urban, 55, warmed up the champagne-colored Oscars carpet with a hot and spicy PDA.
The couple have two daughters: Sunday Rose, 14, and Faith Margaret, 12.
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