Even the people Tom Cruise hires and fires—and then rehires—make headlines. In 2004 Cruise fired his 14-year powerhouse publicist, Pat Kingsley, choosing his own sister and fellow Scientology follower, Lee Anne DeVette, to lead his PR team. That family working relationship didn’t last long—and included one famous couch jumping and a startlingly aggressive interview with Matt Lauer—before Cruise turned to well-known publicist Paul Bloch just over a year later. But it was within DeVette’s time that Cruise’s public image took a massive hit with the tabloids obsessively covering his failed relationship with Cruz, his growing romance with Katie Holmes (which many questioned as a PR stunt) and his Scientology practice. Cruise dropped Bloch in 2010 and opted to put his image in the hands of Amanda Lundberg, who was once part of Kingsley’s team.
Tom Cruise at 50: Where Does the Newly Single Star Go From Here?
Cruise celebrates his 50th birthday on July 3 — just days after his third wife, Katie Holmes, filed for divorce. TIME looks back at all the blockbuster movies, love interests, couch-jumping and Scientology videos that have shaped his career