Tom Cruise fell in love with Katie Holmes at first sight and rushed off to buy an engagement ring after their first date, imdb.com reports.

The actors’ relationship has been subjected to much scrutiny by the public and media critics who have speculated their union was arranged and their romance is a farce.

But Cruise insists their marriage is the real deal and he has been in love with Holmes since he first set eyes on her.

“I knew I wanted to marry Kate when I met her,” Cruise tells the Dec. 7 issue of the New York Times Style Magazine.

He admits he proposed in a hurry in 2005, because he feared Holmes would ask him first.

“At one point, I thought she was going to ask me to marry her first and I put her off by changing the subject. I wanted to ask her.”

The couple married in November 2006.