Tom Cruise and Penélope Cruz's Relationship Timeline: A Look Back

After meeting on the set of the film Vanilla Sky in 2000, action star Tom Cruise and Oscar-winning actress Penélope Cruz eventually went on to date for three years. The couple was understandably coy with the media, considering the many false reports that followed their relationship.

For instance, in 2003, Cruz sued Australian-based New Idea magazine after they ran an article insinuating she'd had an affair with a Spanish actor. She was vindicated in court months later, per Variety, and awarded a $3,200 settlement paid to her preferred charity.

However, despite their desire to keep their romance low-key, early signs of Cruise's infamous couch-jumping tendencies were all over this relationship, leading us to wonder if Cruise's enthusiasm was too much of a good thing. 

"As a person and on film, she invites you in, and she's incredibly romantic, and yet, real, you know?" he told Vanity Fair in January 2002. "I thought, My God, I'm your boyfriend. You're my girlfriend! … Cruise and Cruz!"

Here's a look back at Tom Cruise and Penélope Cruz's relationship.

2000: Tom Cruise and Penélope Cruz first meet

The actor couple met in 2000 on the set of Cameron Crowe's Vanilla Sky when Cruise and Cruz were 38 and 26, respectively. Although the Mission Impossible star was married to ex-wife Nicole Kidman when shooting began (and not when it ended), he and Cruz have long maintained that their relationship began after the film wrapped. 

"I've never fallen in love with someone I'm working with. It's always been afterwards," Cruz told The Telegraph in 2008.

July 2001: Tom Cruise and Penélope Cruz are first spotted together

In July 2001, about six months after Entertainment Weekly reported that Cruise filed for divorce, he and Cruz made it official. 

"Tom Cruise invited Penélope Cruz to his 39th birthday party on July 6, and they've had a few dates since," Cruise's longtime publicist Pat Kingsley told reporters at the time, per The Guardian.

2003: Tom Cruise and Penélope Cruz discuss their relationship

Though they were fairly private, Cruise and Cruz were always incredibly sweet when they did open up about their relationship in the press. During a press conference for Vanilla Sky, Cruz praised Cruise for his "generosity," adding, "He cares about everyone that is around him." 

In 2003, Cruise told Marie Claire about the "different things" he liked to surprise Cruz with. 

"She'll come home, and I'll have her favorite kind of food made, have a bath drawn. I like doing stuff like that," Cruise said. "She likes my food, so I cook for her. It's always the little things I like in a relationship."

January 2004: Tom Cruise and Penélope Cruz break up

Although People confirmed the news of Cruz and Cruise's split in March 2004, the pair broke up in late January 2004. Cruise's publicist assured reporters that the breakup was "amicable," and Cruz’s rep said, "They remain good friends and still talk often," noting, "There is no other person involved." 

A source told People, "The relationship just ran its course, and they decided not to be girlfriend and boyfriend anymore. Through most of the relationship they were both shooting movies in separate parts of the world."

Though Cruz's rep maintained that Cruise's involvement with the Church of Scientology was not a factor in the breakup, a 2012 exposé later provided a conflicting report. According to Vanity Fair's Maureen Orth, Cruz "ran afoul of [church leader David Miscavige]" due to her unwillingness to "forsake her Buddhist beliefs."

In 2006, Cruz defended Scientology (and Cruise) in an interview with The Guardian. 

"I would feel bad with myself if I didn't say that I was grateful to [Scientology] because of what I've learned about it," she explained to the outlet. 

Cruz insisted she and Cruise were still on friendly terms, saying, "Tom is a very good man, and I am close to his whole family, his children. I love his children, and his mum, and all of his family, and he's a great man. The people who have been good to me, they are untouchable. I am very loyal to the people who have meant something to me and have been good to me, very, very loyal."

Whatever the cause for the split, the actors have seemingly remained on good terms through the years. Though Page Six reported the exes shared an "awkward" run-in at a party in 2009, the two were later spotted at dinner in London together in 2015 along with Salma Hayek, per E! News.