If you ever find yourself struck down with a mysterious illness while stranded on an island, your first port of call would most probably be a doctor. For Rebecca Ferguson, it was Tom Cruise.<\/p>\n
The Dune actor, who stars in new thriller Mercy, befriended Cruise while acting alongside him in the Mission: Impossible franchise, and called upon him for assistance when she found herself in a tight scrape in the Maldives.<\/p>\n
\u201cI called him once when I was in the Maldives when I had a really bad stomach,\u201d she told The Independent in a new interview. \u201cI was like, \u2018Can I get a helicopter?\u2019 It was quite a funny thing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rebecca Ferguson in new thriller ‘Mercy’ (Sony Pictures Releasing International)Ferguson said she became sick with a stomach bug, which she \u201cthought was a big worm\u201d, and wondered who could help fly her out of the island. \u201cMy husband [Rory St Clair Gainer] was like, \u2018Tom can get a helicopter.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI actually had gastroenteritis,\u201d she continued, adding: \u201cI\u2019m giving you too much information.\u201d<\/p>\n
Swedish star Ferguson, 42, first appeared as MI6 agent Ilsa Faust in the 2015 Mission: Impossible film Rogue Nation (2015), and reprised the role in Fallout (2018) and Dead Reckoning (2023).<\/p>\n
Her other credits include both Dune and Dune: Part Two (2021 and 24), as well as Life (2017), Doctor Sleep (2019) and Netflix\u2019s political thriller A House of Dynamite (2025).<\/p>\n
Since 2023, Ferguson has starred in the Apple TV+ series Silo, about a subterranean city with 144 floors whose residents unquestioningly lock themselves away from the outside world under the belief they will die if they leave.<\/p>\n
Rebecca Ferguson called Tom Cruise to get her out of a scrape in the Maldives (Getty)She isn\u2019t the only Mission: Impossible cast member to have struck up a camaraderie with Cruise: in 2023, Ted Lasso actor Hannah Waddingham, who appeared in the 2025 film The Final Reckoning, defended the star from criticism during an appearance on ITV series James Martin\u2019s Saturday Morning.<\/p>\n
After recalling how she spent \u201cfive intense days\u201d with Cruise on the USS George HW Bush fighter carrier, Waddingham told TV chef Martin: \u201cI have to say, I have a real problem with anybody that goes at him now.\u201d<\/p>\n
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She continued: \u201cHe is without doubt one of the loveliest and encouraging, positive and inspiring human beings I have ever met. Isn\u2019t he gorgeous? I have no time for anyone saying anything about him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ferguson and Cruise attend the London premiere of \u2018Mission: Impossible \u2013 Dead Reckoning Part One\u2019 in 2023 (Getty)While Cruise remains one of the most bankable stars in Hollywood, he is also known for his outlandish off-screen behaviour and is often the subject of intense media speculation. <\/p>\n
In 2005, he made headlines after jumping on a sofa during an appearance on Oprah Winfrey\u2019s chat show to declare his love for then-girlfriend Katie Holmes and, that same year, quarrelled with Matt Lauer about the practice of psychiatry, which Cruise called a \u201cpseudo-science\u201d.<\/p>\n
Most of Cruise\u2019s controversy, though, surrounds his association with the Church of Scientology. In 2008, a leaked promotional video showed the actor discussing the benefits of the controversial religion, which bewildered his fans.<\/p>\n
Ferguson\u2019s new film Mercy, co-starring Chris Pratt, is released on 23 January. The full interview with Ferguson and Pratt is being released tomorrow.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
If you ever find yourself struck down with a mysterious illness while stranded on an island, your first port of call would most probably be a doctor. For Rebecca Ferguson, it was Tom Cruise. The Dune actor, who stars in new thriller Mercy, befriended Cruise while acting alongside him in the Mission: Impossible franchise, and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5320,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[173],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5319","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n