https://www.google.com/amp/www.nyda...80-article-1.2971529?client=ms-android-google Tom Cruise has lost his mother — and biggest fan. Mary Lee South died last week. She was 80 years old. South died peacefully in her sleep and was given a memorial service at her local Church of Scientology over the weekend, People reported on Monday. Cruise, 54, was accompanied by sisters Lee Ann DeVette, 57, Cass Mapother, 55, and Marian Henry, 52, at the service. South reportedly was battling several health issues, though the cause of her death was not reported. South was a special education teacher when she married Cruise’s father, electrical engineer Thomas Cruise Mapother III. The family resided in Syracuse, N.Y., where Cruise was raised and developed his love for acting — a career he said his mother inspired. Cruise’s parents split in 1974; in a 2006 interview with People, the mega star described his father as “a bully.” She married Jack South in 1978, when Cruise was a teenager, and the family moved to Glen Ridge, N.J. Cruise and his mother reportedly shared a close relationship over the years. She once said she was her son’s “greatest audience.”
