The cynics aren’t giving this new lifetime of Cruise’s, the one co-starring Katie Holmes, much of a chance. But Cruise, who was divorced from Mimi Rogers in 1990 and Nicole Kidman in 2001, and ended a long relationship with Penelope Cruz a year and a half ago, says he wouldn’t mind getting married again. "I’d like to have more kids," he says, referring to Isabella, 12, and Connor, 10. "But I’m not rushing into it. I like long-term relationships. Sex is great when you’re in a relationship with someone. I just don’t find it to be that interesting outside of that. It’s a little disconcerting."

Does he ever have that all-too-human reaction of getting jealous seeing his old flames photographed with someone new? "I don’t. I don’t!" Cruise says, laughing. "No, I don’t. But the relationship is in a different place. They can talk to me about boyfriends. I don’t make decisions lightly. When I’m with people, I really don’t stop caring about them. I really just want them to be happy."

He can’t help himself.

TOM BY DEFINITION
FATHER: "Emotionally, he [had] a tough time. He was trying to help. He was just incapable of doing it. Some people hurt when they help."

MOTHER: "If I got lost, separated from her, I’d close my eyes and wait for her to laugh. I would go to that laugh. Where is she, where is she?"

SELF-RELIANCE: "I don’t discuss things with anybody else. When I do something, I sit back and I think it out very carefully, and then I do it."

LIFE: "This world, it’s rough-and-tumble. It’s wild and ragged. And the point is, are you confronting life? Are you in present time?"

SUCCESS: "People want to know—how did I do what I’ve done? If I’ve done something and it’s helped me I’ll say, ‘Look, I’ve gone this way.’"

HEALTH: "Any drug you put in your system is a poison. It’s not a matter of morality. It’s a matter of scientific fact."

SALVATION: "I’ve always looked at things in terms of, Is this helping people, or is it not helping people? Is this helping the world?"

SEX: "Sex is great when you’re in a relationship with someone. I just don’t find it to be that interesting outside of that. It’s a little disconcerting."

WORK: "I always knew I could work, I can get a job. Some people think talking on the phone or reading is working. I don’t consider that work."

ART: "How Hollywood works, there’s profit in keeping an artist not knowing. It’s oppression. It’s suppression. It’s keeping them ignorant."

MIND: "When you really study psychiatry, it’s a pseudo-science. It’s not based on facts. You can interpret behavior a million different ways."

DEATH: "I believe in reincarnation, absolutely. I believe that man is not his body. He’s a spiritual being. And he lives many lifetimes."