Tom Cruise's mother Mary Lee South, 78, has been "missing" since April.

Where is Mary Lee South?

There is speculation that Tom Cruise‘s mother is missing or dead.

Mary Lee South, 78, hasn’t been seen since April, when she attended an Easter brunch at the Scientology Center in Los Angeles with her 53-year-old son.

Radar reports that public records indicate South moved to an assisted living community, Belmont Village, near the Scientology Center last November, but that her apartment there is now empty.

When it concerns Cruise, talk immediately turns to Scientology conspiracies, which seems a bit tenuous in this case. Nevertheless, comparisons are being drawn between South’s unexplained absence and the disappearance of Shelley Miscavige, the wife of Scientology head David Miscavige, who hasn’t been seen in public since 2007.

Before she made the move to Belmont Village, South had been living with her son in his Beverly Hills mansion.

Radar thoughtfully checked public records for a death certificate for South, but none was found.

Cruise’s stepfather, John South, who was married to Mary Lee South for 32 years before their 2010 divorce, died in August, but neither Mary Lee South nor Cruise attended the funeral.

Cruise has previously described his stepfather in glowing terms, as a “wise and smart man” who took him and his siblings on as teenagers and had a much greater influence on his life than his biological father.

The Mirror reports that Mary Lee South turned her back on her husband in favour of Scientology.

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