After years of battling a long illness, Mary Lee South, mother of the Hollywood super star Tom Cruise, passed away in her sleep. Her service was attended by the actor and his siblings at her local Church of Scientology. She had reportedly been struggling with her health for years as she was seen with oxygen tubes attached to her.
The 54 year old actor together with her sisters Lee Ann DeVette, Cass Mapother and Marian Henry attended their mother's funeral service as reported by TMZ. Mary Lee was last seen in Clearwater Florida where she moved from Los Angeles last year. She looked thinner than usual and doesn't make anymore public appearances unlike the previous years.
Before, Mary Lee worked as a special education instructor before meeting Cruise's father, Thomas Cruise Mapother III who was once an electrical engineer. Their wedding was a great roller-coaster of emotions which Cruise admitted saying that his father was a bully and a coward. Eventually Mary Lee ended their wedding in 1974.
According to Daily Mail,Cruise share a close relationship with his mother and Mary Lee was the source of his passion for acting. Cruise was in love with sports back then and he has a wrestling varsity career back in high school. However, it was cut short by a knee injury and that is where Mary Lee convinced Cruise to try out for a high school production of 'Guys and Dolls'.
After the play, Cruise asked his mother if he can have 10 years to try out the show business saying that acting is what he wants to do in life. Mary Lee and her husband then, John South agreed and gave their blessing to the young upstart. He waited tables in New York City before breaking in to Hollywood with the movie "Endless Love".
The close mother-son relationship continued as Cruise became a box-office star often accompanying the actor during movie premiers. Cruise's last film was "Jack Reacher: Never Go Back" with Cobie Smulders. We will see more of the actor in the upcoming "The Mummy" reboot, "American Made" as well as the "Mission Impossible 6".
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
