Inside Tom Cruise's lifelong obsession with heights

Tom Cruise was seemingly just a fearless four-year-old leaping off rooftops in the name of adventure.

In a candid reflection shared with Empire magazine, the Mission: Impossible star revealed that his appetite for adrenaline was evident even in early childhood. 

“One of my first stunts was jumping off the roof of my house when I was about four years old, with new sheets and ropes tied around me," Tom Cruise recounted.

"I jumped off the roof. Luckily, it had rained that morning, and I hit this mud puddle, and as my head slammed between both my legs, I’ll literally never forget it. I knocked myself out, and I thought, right before I went unconscious, 'My mom’s gonna kill me.' So even as a little kid, I was very physical,” he shared.

Decades later, that same daring spirit continues to define his career, albeit on a much more dangerous scale. 

During the filming of his high-altitude airplane stunts for Mission: Impossible, Cruise revealed the extreme toll it took on his body.

“When you stick your face out [of an airplane], going over 120 to 130 miles an hour, you’re not getting oxygen,” he explained. “So I had to train myself how to breathe,” he said, adding, “There were times I would pass out physically; I was unable to get back into the cockpit.”

Even for seasoned professionals around him, the stakes felt overwhelming. Director Christopher McQuarrie, who returns for Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning, admitted the intensity was nearly too much to bear. 

“There are stunts in this movie that will melt your brain,” he teased. “There would be a day in Africa — any day in Africa — where Tom would go out and do something that topped… I wanted to puke from the stress.”

These accounts show that Tom Cruise’s commitment to pushing the limits of physical performance remains as relentless as ever. And if the past is any indication, the future of action cinema is in for more gravity-defying surprises.