Tom Cruise’s former bodyguard reveals blunder that made him put Penélope Cruz in a headlock

Next time you have a bad day at work, just remember that at least you didn’t put Penélope Cruz in a headlock.

That’s what Tom Cruise’s former bodyguard did, admitting he struggled to keep up with the Mission: Impossible star’s love life and who his girlfriend actually was.

Appearing on The One Show tonight, Billy Billingham reminisced on his career as a security guard for some of Hollywood’s biggest stars, including Tom and Angelina Jolie.

Known for putting people through their paces on SAS: Who Dares Wins, the ex-SAS leader takes no nonsense, which was also the case when his main role was protecting celebrities from crazed fans and crowds.

Billy talks about his career as a bodyguard in his upcoming series, with Clara Amfo asking him: ‘What goes through your mind when looking after people of that stature?’

Billy replied: ‘Know your client. See what their threats are, because as much as you think everybody likes you, they don’t. Find out who doesn’t like you, if there’s a certain group of people, and then you’re looking out for those people being around.

Billy Billingham previously worked as a bodyguard to several A-listers (Picture: BBC)

The One Show hosts Clara Amfo and Alex Jones were stunned by his anecdotes (Picture: BBC)

He stars in a new series, SAS: Catching The Criminals (Picture: BBC/Double Act Productions Limited/Gerard McHugh)

‘Or you think about a celebrity, people have come for a reason, because they generally like them, so if you’re looking at a crowd of people, you’re expecting everybody to be smiling.

‘As you look through the crowd, the person who ain’t smiling, with a different demeanour, that’s where the problem is. It’s about identifying that and then either scooting around it or doing something about it.’

Billy was then asked about his stint as Tom’s personal bodyguard, which saw him mistake the Top Gun actor’s girlfriend for an obsessive stalker.

‘I didn’t struggle to keep up, I dragged it along with me!’, he joked.

‘I looked after Tom one time out in Rome. I went and met him, didn’t know a lot about who he was with, I asked him what the situation was.

‘There was a massive crowd outside the hotel so I said, “Stay close to me. Whatever happens, let me deal with it.”

Billy demonstrated how he once got both Tom Cruise and his girlfriend in a headlock (Picture: BBC)

He had no idea the pair were dating! (Picture: Ron Galella/Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images)

‘We’re walking in through the crowd to the front of the hotel and a situation happened where I didn’t have time to turn or do anything about it, so I grabbed Tom, tried to get him around the shoulder but ended in a headlock, stepping into the front door of the hotel and something blue came from the right, I didn’t know what it was.’

Revealing what the mysterious something ‘attacking’ Tom was, Billy continued: ‘So, I grabbed this other head, I’m now going into the hotel with two heads.’

Gesticulating the headlock he had the pair in, he said: ‘One was Tom Cruise and then he tells me, “Oh, Billy. Meet Penélope, my girlfriend”.’ Oops!

When asked by Alex Jones whether Penélope, 50, ‘forgave’ Billy, he smiled: ‘Eventually she did.’

There’s no denying that Tom has a colourful history when it comes to romance, with high-profile relationships including his three marriages: Mimi Rogers (1987–1990), Nicole Kidman (1990–2001), and Katie Holmes (2006–2012).

We entered the Cruise/Cruise era, however, in 2001, when the action star dated Penélope Cruz until 2004 after meeting on set for Vanilla Sky in 2000, when Tom was still with actress Nicole.

Tom Cruise was married to Nicole Kidman from 1990 until 2001 (Picture: Getty Images)

Tom dated Penélope for three years in the early 2000s (Picture: Vince Bucci/Getty Images)

They always insisted nothing happened until long after filming wrapped, with Tom telling The Telegraph in 2008: ‘I’ve never fallen in love with someone I’m working with. It’s always been afterwards.’

While the A-listers were famously private with their relationship, in one 2003 interview with Marie Claire, Tom said of Penélope: ‘She’ll come home, and I’ll have her favorite kind of food made, have a bath drawn. I like doing stuff like that. She likes my food, so I cook for her. It’s always the little things I like in a relationship.’

Alas, the pair split after three years of dating and Tom’s representatives insisted their breakup was ‘amicable’.

The One Show airs weeknights at 7pm on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.

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