The Alarming Thing That Happened To Tom Cruise In A Billionaire's Car
We've all had awkward moments and accidents while staying around a friend's place, but the chances are your "oops, sorry!" moments have ranged from spilling a drink on the mild end to accidentally breaking something like a vase or a television on the extreme end. In a demonstration of how the other half lives, it recently emerged that Tom Cruise may have destroyed a billionaire acquaintance's car while spending time on said billionaire's private island.
While fans may be used to seeing Cruise wreck cars on film, he has had some close calls in real life. In 2010, the "Top Gun: Maverick" star almost rolled a reasonably priced "Top Gear" car while completing his lap (via The Telegraph). Like fellow actor Michael Gambon, who the turn was subsequently named after, Cruise clipped the edge of the last corner while taking it at speed. As a result, the American spent a brief amount of time on two wheels as he headed over the finish line. The near-accident caused Jeremy Clarkson, the "Top Gear" host at the time, to respond with "what if we'd actually killed you?" Describing the incident, Cruise said: "I felt the wind come underneath and I was feathering the throttle. I was like this is like a kite here you know, on two wheels."
Cruise's recklessness seemed to pay off, as he posted a time of 1:44.2 — placing him at the top of the Star in a Reasonably Priced Car leaderboard at the time. One vehicle you're unlikely to see Tom Cruise totaling any time soon is a Bugatti. The Italian hypercar manufacturer refuses to deal with the celebrity following an incident at the "Mission Impossible 3" premiere. The incident in question wasn't anywhere near as serious as a car wreck but was slightly embarrassing for both Cruise and Bugatti.
Who is Larry Ellison?
According to Forbes, Larry Ellison is currently the ninth richest man in the world with a net worth of close to $94 billion. Ellison cofounded software giant Oracle and currently serves as the company's chairman and chief technology officer. Oracle, which started in 1977, was the third-largest software company in the world in 2022. The company spent most of its life in Silicon Valley but joined Tesla in becoming one of the major tech names to leave the area in recent years. Oracle is currently based in Texas. Ellison's other business interests include Tesla, where he gained a position on the board following his purchase of 3 million shares in 2018.
Ellison's main base of operations is on the Hawaiian island of Lanai, which the billionaire essentially owns. He spent around $300 million buying the majority of the island's land from fellow billionaire David Murdock back in 2012. Bloomberg Businessweek reports that Ellison owns 98% of the 90,000-acre Pacific island. Despite owning most of the land, Ellison and his family aren't the only residents — a total of 3,000 people also live there. A significant number of the island's residents are employed by one of Ellison's businesses which include the two Four Seasons Resorts on Lanai. The Bloomberg article described Ellison's position on the island as equivalent to "a modern American king — incomprehensibly wealthy and powerful."
Tom Cruise is connected to Larry Ellison through Ellison's son, David, who produced a number of Cruise's movies including the recent "Top Gun: Maverick." Cruise's visit to the island and the crash are alleged to have taken place shortly after the billionaire bought Lanai in 2012. Other famous figures who have visited the island include the world's richest man Elon Musk and former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
How Tom Cruise wrote off Ellison's Toyota Land Cruiser
According to several sources interviewed by Bloomberg Businessweek, Cruise managed to destroy one of Ellis' cars during his visit to Lanai. Some of the island's residents, who spoke anonymously because they feared reprisals, said the actor flipped the vehicle, a Toyota Land Cruiser, while driving on one of Lanai's many unpaved roads. One of the people making the allegation claimed Pulama workers along with a tow truck owned by Ellis arrived to clear the wreck and ship off the scrap for recycling.
Bloomberg reports that, because the alleged accident occurred on "private land," there is no police record of the incident. The crash does not seem to have resulted in any injuries, but all accounts claim that the Land Cruiser that Cruise allegedly rolled was destroyed. The witnesses' fear of reprisals for disclosing the incident may be justified. One Four Seasons employee claims to have been suspended for even mentioning Cruise had paid a visit to Lanai.
It is unknown exactly what version of the Toyota Land Cruiser the actor reportedly crashed, but the Japanese company has been making the SUVs since 1951, so there are plenty of possibilities. The vehicle has been described as "large, comfortable, and extremely capable off-road," so it may have been well suited to the dirt track conditions it was subjected to on the Hawaiian island. What the incident, if it did happen, says about Cruise's driving abilities is open to interpretation. The Four Seasons, Tom Cruise, and Larry Ellison have yet to comment on the alleged crash.