Tom Cruise remains super tight with Salma Hayek and is firmly on her side as she reportedly feuds with his ex wife Nicole Kidman – which is threatening to send the two exes on a fresh collision course, a source exclusively tells In Touch.
Salma, 58, made an appearance at Balenciaga’s show during Paris Fashion Week in October, where she appeared to clash with the Big Little Lies star, 57, while posing for photos alongside Katy Perry. The altercation seemed to start when the From Dusk Till Dawn actress touched the Aussie actress when photographers asked them to pose together.
Despite the Top Gun star maintaining a break-neck work pace, the source notes that he “keeps up with Hollywood news a lot more than he lets on and this one definitely caught his eye, not just because it involved Nicole.”
“He’s always been a huge fan of Salma and is still so grateful for the support she showed him after he broke up with Nicole.”
The Risky Business actor and the Mexican-born actress never appeared in a movie together, but met in 2005 when Tom produced a movie in which she starred, Ask the Dust. They became fast friends and stayed close ever since, with Salma even wishing Tom a happy 62nd birthday on social media in July.
“His admiration for her is purely platonic,” the insider assures. “He really respects her talent and her work ethic and thinks she’s a class act, so of course he’s itching to find out what really went down between her and Nicole.”
“Salma is being very professional and saying it’s all a big fuss over nothing, as is Nicole. They’re both trying to downplay this, but that hasn’t stopped Tom from poking his nose in and bringing it up to his contacts, trying to get the inside dirt and guessing it’s his ex wife who’s to blame.”
Tom married Nicole on Christmas Eve in 1990, after starting their romance on the set of Days of Thunder. They would go on to have two children: Isabella, in December 1992, and Connor, in January 1995. Throughout their marriage, they would team up on screen again, notably for Eyes Wide Shut, which filmed for nearly three years from November 1996 to early 1999. However, the Mission: Impossible actor filed for divorce from his Babygirl star wife in February 2001.
Tom’s then-spokesperson told People “the difficulties inherent in divergent careers which constantly kept them apart” had caused the split, adding, “they concluded that an amicable separation seemed best for both of them at this time.”
Though, in 2006, Nicole opened up to Ladies’ Home Journal, describing the divorce as a “major shock.”
By snooping around his ex’s ire, which others have said wasn’t aimed at Salma, but at the photographers, the source adds, “He’s playing a pretty dangerous game, because it’s obviously going to get back to Nicole, and everyone knows that anything Tom says about her, especially if it’s the least bit negative, triggers an avalanche from her.”
“If he’s not careful she will go on the attack and at this point in her life she’s not afraid to take the gloves off.”
