Smart Move

IF, and that's a big if, Katie Holmes really was feeling pressured by both her husband and his church to live a life that is not a good fit for either herself or her child, it was a totally smart move to relocate and file for divorce, then let the media spread the stories that "it's the Scientology thing" at the core of the divorce. The media has done a great job in creating Scientology as monstrous, controlling, demanding, insufferable; well, sort of all the same adjectives ascribed to Tom Cruise and his past marriages.

IF Tom refutes it's the Scientology thing, he has to let Katie stand on her own and live with the decisions she's made; if, however, he insists that he owns her, bought her and paid for her, including the Scientology loyalty thing, then the world's sympathy goes to Katie and Cruise loses big in every way possible, including both his credibility and his pocketbook, as well as confirming it's the Church of Scientology thing.

Cruise is caught between a rock (Scientology) and a hard spot (Katie and Suri moving on), and it's going to be challenging for him to turn this into anything vaguely resembling a win/win unless he's willing to accept that what's done is done, and they are finished. Giving in graciously may allow him to continue his life with dignity and take some of the negativity off Scientology.