Tom Cruise has become one of Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s most unexpected new confidants, and insiders say the pairing is proving profitable in Hollywood terms, according to a new report by entertainment industry journalist Rob Shuter.
Cruise, 64, is deep into a press tour for Digger, his first film not tied to the Top Gun or Mission: Impossible franchises since 2017’s American Made. So every appearance next to pop culture’s biggest superstar gives Cruise’s new movie a dose of attention it might not otherwise get.
The Cruise-Swift connection isn’t completely new. Cruise attended an Eras Tour stop in London back in June 2024, according to ESPN, and the two traded friendship bracelets that night.
Tom Cruise’s Arrowhead Stadium Appearance
Cruise sat beside Swift inside Travis Kelce’s suite at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium on Sept. 14 for the Chiefs’ 31-10 season-opening win over the Denver Broncos, marking Kelce’s first NFL game since he married Swift on July 3 at Madison Square Garden. Cruise attended that wedding too, on his own 64th birthday. Swift’s father and Kelce’s mother, Donna, also watched the game from the suite, according to Good Morning America.
“That was the most fun I’ve ever had at a football game,” Cruise said on the Sept. 18 episode of the “New Heights” podcast, hosted by Travis and Jason Kelce. Cruise said it was his first NFL game in person since before the COVID-19 pandemic.
Cruise said Swift spent the night walking him through the action, calling out penalties and explaining formations before officials made the calls themselves.
“She was schooling me on football, for real,” Cruise said on the podcast. “First of all, she’s a genius. I’ve been following her since she was a kid.” He added that Swift, Kelce and the rest of the group in the suite were “a beautiful couple and magical in their own right.”
Cruise also recalled learning that Swift knew little about football before she started dating Kelce in 2023, and that she leaned on her now-husband’s patience to catch up.
“She knew nothing about football when she met Travis,” Cruise said on the podcast. “I told Travis, he was very patient. She said, ‘You know, he’s so patient.'”
Tom Cruise’s ‘Digger’ Promotion And The Business Angle
Cruise brought up the night in Kansas City days later on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, repeating that Swift had “schooled” him and calling her a “brilliant writer” and “brilliant musician” with a sharp sense of humor.
But insiders describe the friendship as calculated on both sides, according to Shuter.
“Tom knows exactly what he’s doing,” one insider told Shuter for his Monday report. “Taylor is the center of popular culture. Being in her orbit instantly puts Tom in front of a younger generation that knows his name but may not necessarily buy a ticket to his movies.”
The same source said Swift isn’t naive about the arrangement, either.
“She knows Tom benefits enormously from being photographed with her,” the insider told Shuter, adding that Cruise “doesn’t accidentally end up in the most photographed box in America.”
Cruise had more praise for the night on the same podcast. “Mahomes is back, the team is just fantastic,” he told the Kelce brothers, adding that experiencing the Arrowhead crowd in person topped anything he’d heard about it beforehand.
Digger opens in theaters Oct. 2, leaving Cruise a few remaining weeks to keep the highest-wattage friendship of his press tour working in the film’s favor.
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