World-Famous
Everywhere you go at every corner on this Earth, people know Tom Cruise’s name. He has been making a name for himself ever since he stepped into the limelight and starred in many Hollywood blockbuster movies that we just can’t begin to count. His success is somewhat unbelievable despite all that he went through growing up.
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This world-famous star is known for many things but one fact stands out about him, and it’s quite unique. You see, the Mission Impossible leading man is a devout Scientologist and he will stop at nothing to follow through on his beliefs – including selling his own 10,000 square foot mansion in Telluride. But what really is the reason?
Designed Just For Him
As the Wall Street Journal would have it, Tom Cruise had this cabin-style house custom built for him back in 1994. It took him a good few years before coming up with the final designs to the interior of the house. The property market in Telluride was booming and developments were being done in the 1990s, so Tom was really in luck.
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Although there really weren’t much reports on how much he paid for the plot of land but because of the market situation back then, it could have been relatively lower than the overall amount with the house standing on it. Either way, he paid it in full using the proceeds he got from his movies.
Spacious Home
The mansion that was built had a size of about 10,00 square feet. It consisted of four spacious bedrooms and six large-enough-to-be-living-room bathrooms in the main house. Tom designed this with one purpose in mind – leisure.
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But the mansion doesn’t end there. On the property, you can find a guesthouse which measures about 1,600 square feet and has three large bedrooms and three en-suite bathrooms. So, excluding the outside grounds of the house, the mansion itself has about 11,600 square footage to it.
Right Amount Of Privacy
Tom chose the perfect place where the house of his dreams would be built. According to the property listing, the house is just an estimated 12 minutes away from Telluride town center and even from the Telluride Ski Resort – provided that you took the mile-long driveway trip up through the hills.
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But, I mean, you wouldn’t want to be stepping out of the house especially when it’s got great amenities on the inside. The house is complete with a gym, recreation room, library and a sports court. It’s a safe haven that will definitely make you want to just stay indoors.
The First Try
Hollywood A-Listers like Tom Cruise are no different from us, regular people. Like us, they too, need to sell their homes in order to upgrade or buy a property somewhere they’re relocating to. It’s basically them showing us that it’s a pretty normal thing to do in the world of real estate.
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Tom first put the property up for sale back in October of 2014 and he priced it at $59 million hoping that there would be takers. But unfortunately, no buyer had taken interest in the property. So after months of getting little to no interest, he withdrew the property off the market.
Relocating
Just like many homeowners who sell to buy new properties, Tom is not so different. Although celebrities have more money than we can ever imagine, especially a Hollywood blockbuster star such as him, they too, think that it isn’t feasible to be buying and buying properties without any return.
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Because of Tom’s dedication to his religion of Scientology, he sold off his Beverly Hills mansion in 2016 for about $40 million and relocated to Clearwater, Florida. This has been a city that the Church of Scientology has been taking over since 1975.
Cedar And Stone
The houses in the whole town all looked somewhat alike. Because of the weather and how cozy the whole architecture looked, the houses were made cabin-style. And it wasn’t only that. Tom made sure that it not only looked cozy on the outside, but as well as on the inside.
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As in any type of cabin, the whole mansion was made in both cedar wood and accent stones. Every nook and cranny of the mansion was made of lots of wood. The interior is made of bleached cedar with many custom cut pieces to fit the whole style and design.
Privacy Is Key
When you live the life of a celebrity, your life is basically an open book. People can invade it and pick at important parts of your life regardless if it’s something personal to you or not. That is unfortunately the downside of being a public figure and people can be so mean sometimes.
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But there are countless other celebrities that strive to keep their personal lives private. Tom Cruise is one of them. He is usually a very private person and keeps to himself, only associating with other celebrities during important events.
Good Business
When Tom was starting out, it wasn’t necessarily easy for him to land jobs right away. Shortly after finishing high school at Glen Ridge in New Jersey, he moved to New York City and worked as a busboy at some diner when he was only 18 years old.
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He was struggling to land some entry-level acting jobs because, well, New York just has too much competition going on. Because of that, he then decided to fly out to Los Angeles and it was there that he was able to sign with an agency. He got minor roles at first but went on to star in Risky Business in 1983 which made him skyrocket into fame and he was just 21 years old.
At The Top
Cruise’s talent for acting was definitely evident in all of the work he does. Just a few years after his debut as an actor, he rose to be one of the highest-paid actors in the history of Hollywood in the 1990s alone. It was also around the same time he joined the Church of Scientology.
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With regards to Cruise’s personal life, he married Mimi Rogers, his first wife in 1987. Rogers was a Scientology church auditor and was actually the one who introduced him to the new religion. However, their divorce was finalized in 1990 and was thought to be due to the fact that the church no longer allowed the marriage and split the couple up so Cruise could marry Nicole Kidman. It was even said that the church was the one who served Rogers their divorce papers.
Root Of The Problem
When the media caught wind of the separation and ultimately the divorce, it was all over the news and was a very hot issue among celebrities. Rogers was hounded by dozen paparazzies and interviews to answer the whole world’s questions on their divorce.
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In one of her interviews, Rogers expressed that their relationship was meant to be doomed in the first place because they were already having troubles. It mainly stemmed from his belief that he was better of becoming a monk instead – which is obviously not good if you’re already in a committed marriage.
High Thetan Level
Unfortunately, this was not the first time that he had considered changing his career path. Prior to pursuing a career in acting, when Cruise was a teenage, he took a year of seminary and seriously considered becoming a priest. Thankfully, he made up his mind.
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However, with his dedication to the Scientology religion, there is speculation that he is now on Operating Thetan Level 8, which is the highest auditing level in Scientology. 15 years ago, he was Level 7 to the public’s knowledge. This means that the whole truth of existence has been revealed to him or however you look at it.
Net Worth
Regardless of whatever levels of Scientology there are and what level he’s in, it is a no-brainer that achieving these levels require thousands of dollars. You can basically say it’s somewhat of an investment for the member, a seriously expensive one.
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Cruise is able to jump from levels to another because of his net worth. It is an estimated $600 million and he has expressed countless of times that his success is all thanks to Scientology. So however he chooses to spend his money, trust that it is definitely some thing well worth it for him.
The Color Of Money
Cruise is always dedicated to the work he does and tries to do stunts all by himself whenever necessary. And it is no surprise that he goes to lengths in order to learn whatever sport or activities he needs to for his role. And that is exactly what he did for his role in The Color Of Money.
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His role in the movie heavily involved playing billiards. He trained and learned the sport for this so once filming began, he was able to perform the task without any help from a stunt double or being told what to do in order to achieve the results the directors wanted.
Losing Purpose
As many would imagine, selling a house that has been of value to you for sentimental reasons is always hard. Cruise’s Telluride house has been with him for years already and him deciding to sell it was a huge step. A listing agent for the property told Wall Street Journal in 2014 that Cruise reckons that the house was losing its purpose.
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Cruise originally built the house as a safe haven for him to get away from the demands of his Hollywood celebrity life. But now, because of how busy he is and how he’s no longer using the property enough, he has decided to sell it. And seeing how he’s even more involved in the church, he knew he needed to let it go.
The View Is Important
Cruise is adamant that he relocate all the way to Clearwater, where the headquarters is for the church of Scientology in the US. So, with that being said, it was only natural that he needed his own space in the city that’s being built for Scientology members of the church.
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It is said that Cruise purchased a two-floor penthouse loft in a new 10-storey condominium in Clearwater that was called Skyview. And Skyview is owned by a property developer with ties to one of Scientology’s largest donors, Moises Agami, according to Tampa Bay Times.
Joining The Band
When Cruise moved to Clearwater, it was beginning to get clearer to his fans that his dedication to his church was becoming something that he already takes too seriously. And it is evident that the religion he’s chosen is slowly dominating the city.
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Scientology now owns almost every nook and cranny of the city. Most of the commercial properties on every block within walking distance of the waterfront, is owned by the church and its members. In Tambay Bay area alone, there are about 15,000 Scientologists according to their own Scientology magazine called Freedom.
Booming Market
Back in Telluride, homes are becoming to get pretty hefty in prices. What was once a very quiet and secluded town, is now the ideal scenic place to be if you want to enjoy snow-capped mountains and ski resorts. Not to mention, the obvious cold temperatures.
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The average price of a typical home in the area values at about $1.1 million. And that’s not saying that the house has great views or bigger area outside. Cruise’s home is a different story altogether. His Telluride home is a dozen times more expensive as the price-per-square-foot is about $3,431.
Three-Door Garage
The features of Cruise’s Telluride house was only revealed to the public when he attempted to sell the house for the second time, which is an effort to completely move to Clearwater and be one with the church and his other Scientology buddies.
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Because of his love for cars, he proposed a three-door garage for the house. And it did come into good use because he’s got a lot of vehicles to his collection. He’s always been known to own more cars than you can count. And these aren’t just regular cars, they’re usually luxury sports cars.
One With The Church
Around the same time that he sold his Beverly Hills mansion, he also decided to sell his Telluride home, too. But, it didn’t stop there. Cruise also sold a $5 million mansion just 30 miles south of London back in 2017.
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Given all the selling he’s doing to his properties in order to move to Clearwater and his lockdown escapade at Saint Hill Manor in West Sussex, England, it is now becoming really obvious how he wants to make the church an even bigger part of his life. Though he hasn’t mastered superpowers just yet, we’re not holding our breaths for it.