For Cruise the flap over his fledgling romance is just the latest distraction in a period that has been as packed with challenges as any high-wire movie stunt. Nearly six months after announcing his sudden split from Kidman, he finds himself juggling roles as Hollywood's most powerful leading man, a newly single father and a combatant in a high-stakes divorce battle. "I don't think for a moment he's not feeling pain about (the split) -- I know he is," says actor-director Sydney Pollack, Cruise's friend and Eyes Wide Shut costar. "He is not going around complaining to magazines and talking to people about it. Tom is a very disciplined guy. He's getting on with his life -- being a professional and being the best father he can be under the circumstances."

In fact, Cruise will spend most of August with Isabella, 8, and Connor, 6, including time at his estate in Telluride, Colo. "My kids are the most important thing in the world to me," Cruise recently told PEOPLE. "They always have been and they always will. There is nothing else in the world that matters to me right now."

Nevertheless, the Cruise-Cruz connection complicates what some observers say is Cruise's struggle to play catch-up in a public relations battle with his estranged wife. While Kidman spoke guardedly about the split during the international publicity blitz for her film Moulin Rouge -- "All I will say is, it's been awful, one of those things where you just say, 'I cannot believe this is happening to me,' " she told Oprah Winfrey in May -- Cruise has remained mum, save for his cryptic, studiously analyzed comment that "Nic knows exactly why we're getting a divorce." "Lots of people have urged him to speak out, and he just says he's not going to do that," says Bert Fields, his business lawyer. "He's primarily moved by the kids and not wanting to make this a public debate."

Privately the debate is just getting started. The marriage could be formally ended by Aug. 7 if the L.A. superior court grants a motion for bifurcation -- a fast-tracking process that allows a marriage to be dissolved before division of assets and custody is settled-which Cruise has filed. Meanwhile, Cruise and Kidman have agreed to work with a private mediator -- the first session, at which both are expected to appear, is scheduled for the end of this month -- to begin the process of resolving their differences to avoid a public showdown in court. The two have each requested joint legal custody of Isabella and Connor, allowing them to make decisions together for the children, whom they adopted as babies. Kidman is seeking primary physical custody, while Cruise has requested shared physical custody. Coming to terms over money could prove particularly difficult. With a personal fortune estimated at $100 million, about half of Cruise's, Kidman, under California law, is entitled to half the couple's community property-assets acquired during the marriage. But settling on a dollar figure, given their complicated finances, could be problematic. Kidman is also asking for family support payments until Connor turns 19. "In terms of assets and money, (Kidman) asked for what I believe is way, way more than any court would give," Cruise's divorce lawyer Dennis Wasser tells PEOPLE. Responds Kidman's spokeswoman: "Nicole believes it's undignified and inappropriate to comment on any aspect of the divorce proceedings."