WHY TOM REALLY SKIPPED THE OSCARS

Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman's 22-year feud explodes after he avoids. a very public run-in with her

It's the question everyone wanted to know on Oscars night: Where was Tom Cruise? Just weeks before the March 12 Academy Awards telecast - where his blockbuster film Top Gun: Maverick was up for six awards, including best picture Tom was the star attendee at the Oscar nominees luncheon in LA, where iconic filmmaker Steven Spielberg gushed that Tom had "saved Hollywood's ass" and just "might have saved the entire theatrical industry." Yet when Hollywood's biggest night rolled around, he was a no-show. "We don't know where Tom Cruise was," Oscars host Jimmy Kimmel admitted days later, adding, "We heard [it was] production issues."

Soon after, a rep for the actor explained that the star was busy filming the eighth Mission: Impossible movie. But Hollywood insiders are buzzing that the real reason Tom, 60, skipped the Oscars is because he knew his ex-wife Nicole Kidman, 55, was going to be there and he wanted to avoid a run-in 22 years after their divorce. Says one source, "Tom was given a head's up that Nicole would be there with her husband [Keith Urban, 55], and that's why he didn't go. Word is he couldn't bear to be at the ceremony with her." Even after all this time, Tom - who two days after the Oscars was on hand to celebrate Michael Caine's 90th birthday in London (below) - "is still heartbroken and angry about their breakup."

A TANGLED WEB

Of course, Tom is the one who initiated his divorce from Nicole shortly after they celebrated their 10th wedding anniversary. But deep down he didn't want it to end, maintains the source. "Tom was being pressured by people close to him to end it with Nicole."