Los Angeles, Mar 5 (IANS): Hollywood actor Tom Cruise, 50, wanted to be a Catholic priest when he was a teenager, but he recalls how he was asked to leave St. Francis Seminary at Cincinnati University as he was caught stealing alcohol.

"We found few bottles of liquor and kept it near the woods. The priests did not find it until few other boys got to know about our plan. They went inside the woods and got drunk. They were caught red-handed and forced to confess," contactmusic.com quoted Cruise's school friend Shane Dempler as saying.

"The school wrote a letter to our parents saying that they liked us, but didn't want us to return. So we were not kicked out, just preferred not to go," said Dempler.

He added that he and Cruise were :really interested" in priesthood, but later realised that it was too early to make a decision about their career.

"We used to attend Mass, spend time in the chapel and enjoy hearing stories from the priests. We thought the priests had a great lifestyle and we were really interested in priesthood," said Dempler.