Hayley Atwell has admitted she has found speculation about a potential romance between herself and her Mission: Impossible co-star Tom Cruise “upsetting”.
The two actors share the screen in the latest instalment in the action franchise, Dead Reckoning Part One, with Hayley revealing that she came to see both Tom and the film’s director, Chris McQuarrie, as “sort of two uncles”.
Speaking to The Independent, Hayley – who is engaged to music producer Ned Wolfgang Kelly – explained: “I would be like, ’Ooh, there’s some weird rumours, and it feels base, it feels a little dirty, it feels grubby, 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?”
She added that she found the speculation to be particularly difficult because it involved “people in my actual life… who have to be on the receiving end of that”.
“It becomes invasive,” she said.
Hayley also shared the advice Tom gave her to help deal with rumours surrounding her private life, telling the newspaper: “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’.”
The three-time Olivier nominee also told The Telegraph she found the speculation to be “disappointing”, albeit unsurprising.
Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One has so far received largely positive reviews, becoming the franchise’s most popular instalment since the original came out 27 years ago.
The film sees Tom and Hayley joined by returning stars Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Vanessa Kirby and Rebecca Ferguson.