Tom Cruise has never been what you’d call low key. He is physiologically and psychologically incapable of handling most tasks in a normal manner. So it’s really no surprise that Tom has gone into “Mission Impossible” mode after receiving death threats.

Tom and Katie now travel in “bomb-proof” vehicles according to the Daily Mail – though Katie sure does a lot of walking and “out and about” photo opportunities in Manhattan, so I’m not quite sure how that fits into Tom’s over-protective plan. He’s also built a top of the line underground bunker at their Colorado home, just in case the world ends or the anti-Scientology group Anonymous decides to wear those masks around him and he gets too scared.

Actor Tom Cruise and his wife Katie Holmes are living in fear after receiving death threats. Sources close to the star, a leading Scientologist, say the threats are believed to have come from groups opposed to the religious organisation.

The Mail on Sunday can reveal that security has been stepped up around Cruise, 46, Holmes, 30, and their two-year-old daughter Suri. The couple now live at separate locations and move around in bomb-proof vehicles.

Other protesters have been angered by Cruise’s portrayal of Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg – who was at the centre of the 1944 plot by Nazi officers to assassinate Adolf Hitler – in the film Valkyrie. Last week Cruise attended the Los Angeles premiere of the movie, which was targeted by protesters from the anti-Scientology group Anonymous. He has been forced to increase security around his family since then.

‘The threats are perceived to be so great that the FBI has been alerted,’ said a source.

Cruise is due to fly to London for the UK premiere on January 21. ‘Tom is terrified. He doesn’t feel safe anywhere,’ the source added. Cruise has spent £5million on an underground bunker in the grounds of his estate in Colorado. In August, threats were made to place anthrax in the air vents of his Los Angeles office.

[From the Daily Mail]

To be clear, the Mail doesn’t actually claim that anyone from Anonymous or any of the “Valkyrie” protestors have made death threats against Tom or Katie. They just say that he has received some, and then list groups that are known to hate him.

Anonymous has been almost classy in their Cruise protests, if there is such a thing. They don’t get overly dramatic like PETA, but they certainly get attention – not just because of their famous target but also for their creativity. They placed several members – wearing those creepy, faceless masks – at events the paparazzi photographed before anyone had ever heard of the group. That got a lot of buzz going with people wondering who they were and what they were doing. It was genius advertising. They just don’t seem like the death threat sort of group to me.

Tom and Katie live at separate locations not out of safety but because she’s in New York starring in a Broadway play and he’s still working in Hollywood. Tom seems like the extreme sort, and he’s also overprotective. I’d really like to know exactly what this “death threat” said. It definitely could be legitimate, and if so it’s good he’s taking precautions and notifying the right people.

But I can’t help but wonder if the threat was something like, “We will steal all of your shoes and dump them in the ocean you crazy little man.” Which to Tom would be the absolute end of the world.

Here are Katie and Suri on their way to see “Bolt” in Manhattan yesterday. Neither seem to be wearing any bomb proof clothing. Images thanks to Splash.