Tom Cruise Confronts Rumors About Silent Birth

April 13, 2006 — -- Tom Cruise was just 19 years old when he starred in "Risky Business." The fresh-faced kid from upstate New York was paid about $75,000 for his breakout role. Twenty-three years later, Cruise is one of Hollywood's biggest stars. In his latest film, he's reprising his role in "Mission: Impossible 3."

He is also half of one of the most talked-about couples in America. His sudden, and very public, romance with Katie Holmes took the world by surprise a year ago, and now Cruise and the 27-year-old actress are expecting a baby -- due any minute now.

And every day it seems, a new headline tells a different story -- they are breaking up; her parents, a Catholic family from Toledo, Ohio, don't like Scientology; the saga of the "silent birth" rituals; even that the baby isn't really his.

In an exclusive interview with Diane Sawyer on "Primetime," Cruise confronts those rumors -- telling Sawyer that he and Holmes are happy and in love, and they are looking forward to getting married after the baby is born.

"We were just talking about it last night," Cruise said. "She has this beautiful belly, this glowing woman....We were walking up to bed, and I just, I can't wait till we get married. I can't wait till I can call and say, 'Hey, you know, put my wife on the phone.'"

The 43-year-old actor is no stranger to the rumor mill, but he is determined not to let the gossip get to him.

"We're just a couple that are gonna have a baby and very excited about it, about this new life," Cruise said.

But of course, they are not just any couple. One area of his life that Cruise has become more open about is his belief in the controversial Church of Scientology.

Scientology, he says, gives people "tools to help better your life. That's what Scientology is. It helps you to improve your life."

But many of the church's tenets seem strange to non-believers. For example, Holmes will follow the Scientology practice of "silent birth." The philosophy behind silent birthing, according to Scientology, is that if children hear negativity while they are being born, it can cause permanent psychic scars.