Hayley Atwell finally shut down years-long dating rumors surrounding her and “Mission: Impossible” co-star Tom Cruise.
The actress told the “Independent” Saturday that she views him and director Chris McQuarrie as “sort of two uncles” rather than love interests.
Atwell, 41, noted over the weekend that the “weird [romance] rumors” felt “dirty” and “grubby.”
She explained, “It’s not what I’m about. … Why are things being assumed or projected onto me about my relationship with my work colleague and boss?”
Atwell – who got engaged to composer Ned Wolfgang Kelly in April – slammed the rumors as “upsetting” and “invasive” because “it’s involving people in my actual life, my personal life, who have to be on the receiving end of that.”
Luckily for the “Agent Carter” star, she leaned on Cruise, who who advised her to ignore the headlines.
“When I’ve talked to him about it, he’d be like, ‘You know exactly who you are. You know what you’re about. And that is the only thing that matters. It doesn’t matter what people think of you, if you are in integrity with yourself, if you know what your value system is,'” Atwell recalled.
She and the 61-year-old first sparked romance rumors in late 2020 when a source told The Sun they “hit it off from day one” filming “Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One.”
While the pair kept a low profile amid chatter, they got people talking again when they attended the Wimbledon finals together in July of the following year.
Speculation kicked up again as they promoted “Mission: Impossible Dead Reckoning Part Two” over the last few months.
Atwell even gushed to Entertainment Tonight in June about the “Top Gun” actor surprising her grandmother with a ride in a “helicopter on Christmas Eve and … a tour of London.”
“I didn’t tell her it was coming, because I knew that she wouldn’t — there’s no way she would get into a helicopter,” she told the outlet last month.
Atwell gushed that her grandmother had the “most wonderful time” with the “charming” and “kind” Cruise.
Two months prior, Atwell got engaged on an April vacation in Venice. Cruise, for his part, recently sparked romance rumors with Shakira.
The “Rain Man” actor was spotted hanging with the “Hips Don’t Lie” songstress at the Formula 1 Grand Prix in Miami in May, with a source telling Pvnew at the time that Cruise was “extremely interested in pursuing her.”
Cruise shares 17-year-old daughter Suri with his ex-wife Katie Holmes, whom he was married to from 2006 to 2012. He also adopted daughter Isabella, 30, and son Connor, 28, while married to Nicole Kidman.
