Aside from his insane stunts, Tom Cruise is most well known for being an immortal vampire, incapable of aging. Seriously; go back and look at him in Top Gun (1986) and compare the actor’s face to how he appears in Top Gun: Maverick (2022). He’s practically still the same man despite being 60 years old!
At this rate, the Edge of Tomorrow star will outlive all of us; it will be him and Paul Rudd at the end of the universe. All jokes aside, could the reason behind Cruise’s refusal to age be more surgical than mystical? Understandably, the question comes up frequently as people wonder how exactly the actor appears to be standing still as time passes around him.
In fact, the question was posed to him back in 2012 in an interview with Playboy, which just goes to show how long people have been trying to figure out the actor’s secrets. However, Cruise confirmed at the time that he had never had surgery, and that it was something he would never do. So maybe he really is a vampire, or perhaps Scientology holds the key. Maybe they’ve found the fountain of youth. Who knows, but something is definitely up, as the actor barely looks 40.
That interview was a long time ago, though, so it’s definitely possible that Cruise could have changed his mind since then. The Mission: Impossible star made an appearance at a baseball game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the San Francisco Giants at the end of 2021, and his appearance once again raised questions. His face appeared quite puffy and swollen, causing everyone from fans, to news sites, armchair surgeons to actual surgeons to weigh in on whether they believed that the actor had gone back on his word and decided to have surgery.
Whilst the general belief was that he had indeed had some form of facial surgery, most likely fillers, the actor himself has never confirmed nor denied this, so who’s to say whether he has or not. It could just be a fluctuation in weight or a different diet. Nonetheless, the actor was back with his usual chiseled jawline and slim facial features a few weeks later, possibly indicating that it could have been swelling from a surgical procedure.
It’s likely that Cruise will never really confirm whether or not he actually has had surgery. He’s done a great job at holding onto his youth so far, and he’s still taking lots of physically-demanding roles, enduring as living proof that you’re only as old as you feel.
You can catch Cruise in theaters this year and try to make your own mind up on the surgery debate, as he’s starring in Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One, that releases on July 14.