By Tomika Anderson, Special to CNN
(CNN) — Six years of marriage has not diminished the love Tom Cruise feels for his famous wife.
In Playboy’s June issue, the “Mission: Impossible” star says he loves Katie Holmes as much now as he did when they got hitched in 2006 – even though naysayers were placing bets on how long their union would last.
“She is an extraordinary person, and if you spent five minutes with her, you’d see it,” said the 49-year-old actor, who stars in the upcoming film “Rock of Ages.”
“Everything she does, she does with this beautiful creativity,” he went on. “When she becomes interested in something, she doesn’t talk about it – she does it.”
Case in point: Holmes’ continual willingness to try new things.
“One week I said to her, ‘You’ve been up in the middle of the night. Is everything okay?'” Cruise recalled. “She smiled and then threw this thing on my desk and said, ‘I wrote this script.’ She wanted to try it, and she did. She wanted to try designing clothes, and now her line is wonderful and, to me, an example of how she just creates beautiful things in her life. She has a voice and warmth as an artist, as a mother.”
If you can’t tell, “I’m a romantic,” Cruise said. “I like doing things like creating romantic dinners, and she enjoys that … I’m just happy, and I have been since the moment I met her. What we have is very special.”
Cruise would rather spend time with his 33-year-old wife and their daughter, Suri, than anything else, but that doesn’t mean he slacks on perfecting his craft.
“I needed to find out if I could really sing!” he told W magazine of rehearsals for “Rock of Ages,” in which he plays Stacee Jaxx, an aging, long-haired, tattooed rockstar.
“[Axl] Rose’s former vocal coach [Ron Anderson] came in and worked with me,” he said. “And then I had to learn how to play guitar. I’m very good at air guitar–and air drums–but I had never played an actual guitar.”
After spending weeks working on “Stacee’s technical skills, I was thinking about the character, and I said, “You know what? I need a monkey,” Cruise said, referring to his character’s animal bestie in the musical-turned-movie. “The baboon’s name has to be Hey Man. Stacee Jaxx doesn’t work without Hey Man.”
“Rock of Ages” hits theaters June 15.
