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Tom Cruise is single again after the Hollywood actor ended his relationship with Russian socialite Elsina Khayrova. Reports have suggested that Khayrova backed out of a their seemingly healthy arrangement after Cruise proposed, effectively scaring her off. Now, In Touch has exclusively learned that Cruise is on the lookout for someone new. In fact, he seems to have set his sights on his Top Gun: Maverick co-star, 33-year-old Monica Barbaro.
Cruise Thinks Barbaro is “Stunningly Beautiful”
“Tom thinks she’s stunningly beautiful,” a source says of the 33-year-old. “He’d like to explore a relationship with her.”
Cruise has already played God in Barbaro’s life, the source confirms, after he used his connections to get her cast as singer Joan Baez in the Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown, directed by James Mangold, who worked on Knight and Day with Cruise back in 2010.
“Tom’s mentored younger actors before — men and women,” says the source. “It’s a very rewarding process for him. People around Tom believe they’re a great match, but he genuinely wants her to succeed.”
Monica Barbaro communicated that she’s “flattered” by the attention, says the insider. “But she wants to prove that she’s deserving of the role.”
Cruise and Barbaro recently worked together on Top Gun: Maverick, which saw Cruise reprise his role as Pete “Maverick” Mitchell from the 1986 prequel. Barbaro took on the role of LT Natasha “Phoenix” Trace, a fellow pilot and one of the hopefuls looking to impress Maverick as one of several elite Top Gun graduates.
Opposites Attract For Cruise and Barbaro
Barbaro only recently burst onto the acting scene in 2013 with her debut role as Eva in Bullish. She has since appeared in episodes of Hawaii Five-0 and Chicago P.D. It wasn’t until 2017 that she snagged one of the lead parts as Assistant State’s Attorney Anna Valdez in Chicago Justice.
From there, she found success with two more main roles in comedy-drama series The Good Cop and action-comedy series FUBAR. For A Complete Unknown, she will be sharing the limelight with Timothée Chalet of Wonka fame.
Tom Cruise and Monica Barbaro couldn’t be more opposite, especially in regards to their love lives. Barbaro seems to have been very reserved regarding her love interests, if any, whereas Cruise has been the subject of publicity surrounding frequent marriages and divorces for decades.
Before his short stint with Elsina Khayrova, Cruise was married to Dawson’s Creek actress Katie Holmes. The couple share a daughter, Suri, but Holmes filed for divorce in 2012 after six years of marriage. Cruise shares his only son, Connor Cruise, and eldest daughter, Isabella ‘Bella’ Cruise with his other ex-wife, Nicole Kidman.