(Photo credit: Mike Marsland/WireImage)

For the first time since Katie Holmes filed for divorce last summer, Tom Cruise is opening up about the split, admitting, "I did not expect that."

"Life is a tragicomedy," he told the German TV network ProSieben. "You need to have a sense of humor."

The actor, who is currently promoting his film "Oblivion" in Europe, turned 50 just days after his wife of six years filed paperwork to end their marriage. The timing, he says, was significant.

"I had an unbelievable amount of time to think about it," he says.

"To be 50 and to have experiences and to think you have a grip on everything and then it hits you: This is it, what life can do to you," he continues, adding that he believes "life is a challenge."