Rob Lowe claims that Tom Cruise deprived him of two roles he was keen to land: Top Gun and Jerry Maguire. Lowe chose the term "dastardly" to explain the competition. He made it clear there is no personal bad feeling between the pair.
Nicole Kidman, Cruise's former wife, has said she almost gave up acting because of him. Both of these remarks place him at the centre of major career turning points for the people in his orbit during the 1980s and 1990s.