Tom Cruise Believes Scientology Helped Him Overcome Dyslexia

According to Madrid (AFP), an interview conducted by "XL Semanal," a weekly magazine supplement of daily Spanish newspaper ABC, Cruise stated that he was diagnosed with the learning disability at the age of 7. Having dyslexia can make it difficult to read, spell, write and even pronounce words.

Cruise confesses, "I asked myself if I was normal or an idiot. I would try to concentrate but I felt anxiety, frustration, boredom. When I graduated from high school in 1980 I was functionally illiterate."

He continues, "Nobody gave me a solution and I wanted to know why the system had failed. Finally, as an adult I learned to read perfectly through the method of [Scientology's late founder] L. Ron Hubbard."

The 46-year-old star became involved in Scientology in 1990 through his first wife, actress Mimi Rogers. He has since then been an outspoken advocate of the Church of Scientology, which was founded in 1954 and currently has 10 million members around the world.

During the making of Cruise's film, Valkyrie, German authorities were reluctant to allow the filming crew to be on German military sites because the German government doesn't recognize Scientology as a church. They feel that the organization masquerades as religion in order to make money, which Scientology leaders strongly deny.