'They were very close': Tom Cruise was a devoted son to wheelchair-bound mom Mary Lee till her death
CLEARWATER, FLORIDA: Tom Cruise is a celebrated movie star who is now unanimously agreed to be Hollywood royalty. He has been a mainstay in the industry for many decades and has also managed to work his way towards becoming the biggest action star of all time - but life was not always simple for this forever heartthrob, whose abusive and alcoholic father left him at a young age, leaving his mother to work three jobs to make ends meet. Cruise’s mother Mary Lee Pfeiffer did everything she could to make sure her son had a good life, and Cruise paid it back tenfold as he stayed by her side until she died in 2017.
Cruise was a devoted son ever since his childhood, what with him also working a job to provide for his family financially as a young man. He also made sure to give his mother massages and check in on her as often as he could. Cruise also had three sisters named Lee Anne, Marian and Catherine. His parents’ divorce left Cruise feeling “a lot of hidden anger” and not being able to understand why his father had opted to leave them.
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The perfect mother-son relationship
Upon Cruise parents’ divorce, his mother went on to remarry John South, who became his stepfather. She also took on more part-time jobs to make ends meet and feed her children. To appreciate his mother’s devotion towards her children, Cruise would wash her feet every evening after she came back from work or give her a foot massage to help ease her nerves. The family had food stamps, but Pfeiffer having so many jobs kept the family from being able to receive welfare benefits. Eventually, it seems as though the added workload took its toll on Pfeiffer as she suffered from a slipped disc in her back.
The injury kept her in a long rest period of eight months, during which Cruise had to grow out of his childhood quickly to support his family. His mother’s injury saw him take up many jobs - cleaning out neighbour’s yards, delivering newspapers and mowing lawns. "No job was too dirty or difficult for Tommy, as long as it paid money to help his mom out,” a friend had said of the actor, according to Amomama.
Cruise’ success and his mother’s constant support
While he was intent on giving up on his acting dreams to help his mother out, she encouraged Cruise to audition for a school play, where he had done so well that he was cast as the lead. He was then encouraged to move to New York to try his luck in the acting business by his mother and stepfather. He asked for ten years to his parents to prove himself, to which they heartily agreed. The rest is history, as Cruise went on to debut in ‘Endless Love’ and star in ‘Top Gun,’ making him a household name across the world - and through it all, his mother stood by him.
Eventually, Mary’s age and declining health got to her as she stopped accompanying her son to red carpet events. She was last seen with him in public in 2009. However, Mary was spotted sans her son in 2016, when she had spent time with her grandson Connor Cruise on a Mother’s Day boating trip. She was very sick then, and needed assistance to get into the boat with a tube attached as well.
In her last days, Cruise’s mother was confined to a wheelchair and the superstar actor took good care of her. They may have been well off in her last days, but he insisted on helping his mother whenever he could. She passed away in 2017 from a prolonged illness, with her devoted son by her side. "Tom has been rocked by the loss of his mother. They were very close, and he will miss her dearly,” a source said then.