TOM CRUISE - AUTHOR CLAIMS CRUISE WAS TOLD TO DITCH KIDMAN

A new biography of TOM CRUISE claims he was encouraged to end his marriage to NICOLE KIDMAN by Scientology bosses. Andrew Morton's controversial new book alleges the church soured towards Kidman after she gave an interview in 1998 describing herself as "a catholic girl", and steered Cruise into ending their union. Morton alleges that in 1999 Cruise took a course that would identify "those in his life who create problems and difficulties". Kidman was identified as such. The author writes, "Shortly after Kidman's Newsweek interview, senior Scientology leaders discussed their strategy to keep Tom in the fold. The fear was that a lukewarm Nicole could fatally compromise Tom's commitment to his faith." Morton also claims when the marriage ended in January 2001, Kidman was informed through a lawyer's letter. Morton writes, "She was told she would never make another movie." He claims Kidman discovered she was pregnant shortly after the split. When she suffered a miscarriage, Cruise sent flowers but never visited, the book alleges. The actor's lawyer Bert Fields has dismissed the biography as "a bunch of lies".