Weight gain or plastic surgery? Tom Cruise’s chubbier cheeks cause a commotion

Tom Cruise recently attended a baseball game with his son Connor – but it was his “swollen” face and not the relatively rare sight of dad and son together than had everyone talking.

The Mission: Impossible star and 26-year-old Connor were spotted at Oracle Park watching the San Francisco Giants take on the LA Dodgers in a baseball game on Saturday.

In pictures and videos posted online, the 59-year-old actor can be seen exchanging fist bumps with fans, laughing with attendees and beaming broadly when he was shown on the stadium’s big screens.

Although it was a rare public appearance for both the actor and his son, it was Tom’s plump face that sent the internet into a spin.

“What’s up with the bloated chipmunk cheeks?” one person tweeted.

“@TomCruise What have you done to your gorgeous face?! I was soooo disappointed when I saw you in the stands at the Dodgers game! Stop putting crap into your face please!” another person tweeted.

“What the hell is going on with his face?? Is he having an allergic reaction??” a third person added.

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Other fans quickly jumped to his defence.

“Tom Cruise putting some weight on in his face because he's prob not filming a movie requiring him to be in not-human shape, and getting memed all over for it feels awfully yucky to me,” said one person.

“At first I felt a little bad that everyone was making fun of Tom Cruise's face because it honestly looks like some sort of side effect to me,” another added.

Tom Cruise during the filming of Mission: Impossible 7 last year. (PHOTO: Gallo Images/Getty Images)

Dr Alice Henshaw, owner and practitioner of Harley Street Injectables, told The Sun that the Top Gun actor possibly had been under the knife – but she didn’t rule out weight gain.

“Tom definitely looks swollen and puffy, which could be due to filler, post-procedure swelling or weight gain,” she says.

“I believe he's had fillers under his eyes and around his mouth and nose in the past, but this time it’s different.

“A side profile view of him shows his neck is also quite swollen. Filler wouldn’t be placed in this area, which signifies it wouldn’t be filler but rather swelling or weight gain.

“Often a surgical procedure such as a platysmaplasty, or neck lift, combined with a mid-facelift could create this type of swelling in these areas, and scars are easily disguised.”

Despite Tom’s appearance having changed over the year from having a chiselled jaw to a more rounded face, the American actor previously said he’d always shun plastic surgery.

"I haven't [gone under the knife] and never would,” Tom said during a 2012 interview with Playboy, following rumours that he’d had a nose job.

Tom adopted Connor and daughter Isabella (28) with his ex-wife Nicole Kidman and both children are involved in the Church of Scientology alongside their dad.

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There have long been rumours that Nicole is estranged from her kids because she shunned the church but she denied this in a 2019 interview.

“They have made choices to be Scientologists,” she said. “It’s our job as a parent to always offer unconditional love.”

Connor now spends most of his time in Florida where he regularly goes deep sea fishing. The 26-year-old is also a food influencer and frequently posts pictures of his delicious grills.

Isabella lives a quieter life in London with her husband, Max Parker, who she married in 2015.

Sources: Page Six, Daily Mail, News.com.au, The Sun, Hello