You need a certain sense of humor to get through life, the actor muses

Apr 11, 2013 10:21 GMT  ·  By

For several weeks now, Tom Cruise has been busily promoting his brand new film, the post-apocalyptic “Oblivion,” in which he plays a drone repair man on frequent missions to a now-devastated Earth. While in Germany, Cruise finally broke his silence on his divorce from Katie Holmes.

Speaking with ProSieben about the film, Tom also talked a bit about hitting another important milestone in his life – turning 50 – and how that changed his perspective.

More importantly, for the first time ever, he opened up about the divorce. It seems the media and fans weren’t the only ones shocked that Katie filed the papers.

“I did not expect that,” Cruise says, as cited by Us Weekly.

“[I've had] an incredible amount of time to reflect. Life is a challenge,” he adds.

Life, he muses, is also best enjoyed if you have a healthy sense of humor.

“To be 50 and have experiences and think you have everything under control, and then it hits you — that's what life is… Life is tragicomic. You need a certain sense of humor,” he explains.

Tom and Katie were married for 5 years before she filed for divorce in the summer of 2012. Reports at the time said she’d arranged things in such a way that Tom didn’t even know of her intentions until he got served.

This would explain his “I did not expect that” comment.

However, a rep for the actor insists that the entire quote from Us Weekly is pulled out of context and twisted.

“Contrary to quotes circulating online attributed to the interview, Cruise didn't talk about his divorce last year from Katie Holmes or muse about life being ‘tragicomic’,” People magazine writes.

“A rep for the actor maintains those quotes were fabricated or taken out of context, and the interviewer, Steven Gaetjen, says he never asked Cruise about Holmes or the divorce,” adds the same celebrity publication.