Source

The Sun, quoting sources close to the couple, said that the "intense friendship" between the two men had doomed Holmes's hopes of a normal life with her husband from the start.

The paper named Miscavige as the third person in the marriage and said he was mockingly known as Cruise's "manwife".

		Miscavige is somehow connected to the "disappearance" of his wife, Shelly

"Tom really values his opinion and Katie often felt like she came in second place," the paper was told by an insider. "When it became clear how much influence he had over her husband she knew she had to get away."

Miscavige, 52, was best man at Cruise's wedding and even joined the couple on their honeymoon.

He heads the Church of Scientology and its affiliated organisations, and sees it as his job to protect L. Ron Hubbard's legacy and defend Scientology.

He has been accused of personally authorising illegal and unethical practices, including the sustained harassment of critics of the church, the separation of family members and the humiliation and physical beating of church members, all of which he has vigourously denied.

disturbing accusation

Perhaps the most disturbing accusation is that Miscavige is somehow connected to the "disappearance" of his wife, Shelly, who has reportedly not been seen in public since 2006.

Shelly is believed to have played matchmaker for Cruise and Holmes in 2005. According to Pulitzer-winning writer Lawrence Wright, Shelley's current whereabouts is unknown.

"According to Rinder and Brousseau, in June, 2006, while Miscavige was away from the Gold Base, his wife, Shelly, filled several job vacancies without her husband’s permission. Soon afterward, she disappeared. Her current status is unknown. Tommy Davis told me, 'I definitely know where she is,' but he won’t disclose where that is," Wright wrote in the New Yorker last year.

The activist group Why We Protest has launched high-profile campaign to find her whereabouts.

Some have claimed that she's in hiding while others have said she died from cancer. The most sensational and sinister rumour is that she was sent away to an undisclosed location for behavioural correction.

This world in which Cruise is so heavily involved threatens to destroy his carefully nurtured image of a regular guy who has a whole lot of charm.

his "dark Scientology" side

Cruise rarely lets fans see his "dark Scientology" side but when he does it is chilling.

Such instances include when Cruise snapped at a fan after he was shot with a water pistol at a film premiere and his infamous interview with Peter Overton on 60 Minutes.

Cruise snapped after Overton, who is a personal friend of Cruise's ex-wife Nicole Kidman, lobbed the star a difficult question.

"You're stepping over a line now," Cruise said. "You're stepping over a line, you know you are. I'm just telling you right now - put your manners back in."

That interview in 2005, and his blast at women who took anti-depressants for post-natal depression, weirdly complemented his couch-jumping antics on Oprah the same year.

Cruise's manic declaration of love for Holmes, was widely ridiculed and made fans realise that Cruise was far from a regular guy