One of the internet's favorite conspiracy theories has just been put to bed. Or did it just get more interesting? Either way, Tom Cruise has officially responded to the rumors that he wore a fake butt prosthetic in the 2008 war movie, Valkyrie. According to the actor himself, the butt that everyone online seems to think is fake is 100 percent, totally authentic. That is pure Tom Cruise posterior.

Tom Cruise is currently promoting his latest movie, American Made, which is set to arrive in theaters this weekend. While speaking with Screen Rant about the upcoming Doug Liman-directed biopic, Cruise was finally asked about the fake butt rumors point blank. Not only did he deny that he was wearing some kind of butt padding or prosthetic in Valkyrie, but he wasn't even aware of the rumors. Here's what he had to say about it.

"I have no idea. There was no prosthetic in Valkyrie. No."

In case you aren't familiar with this whole Tom Cruise fake butt thing, it all started earlier this year. Well, actually, it started with Bryan Singer's 2008 movie Valkyrie, which tells the story of a failed attempt to assassinate Hitler. But this year, a Twitter user with the handle @ilovebutts247 noticed that at the 5:12 mark in Valkyrie, there's a very distinct shot. We see Tom Cruise's butt absolutely bulging in his pants in a way that looks completely unreal. And that's where this fake butt theory started. Ever since, Tom Cruise's butt has been at the center of a whole lot of online chatter.

Now, Tom Cruise has settled the debate. Or has he? Tom Cruise is an unquestionably great movie star, but he has been the subject of quite a few strange stories over the years. His constant connections to Scientology and his bizarre Katie Holmes rant, just to name a couple. So is he just denying this whole fake butt thing for some deeper, possibly very vain reason? Probably not, but the Tom Cruise fake butt conspiracy theorists may beg to differ. In any case, he later talked with Screen Rant about showing his real butt in American Made. There's a running gag in the movie where he moons his family and, according to Cruise, that is all him.

"It's me. It's not CGI, it's me. I do my own mooning in films. So let it be known, I do my own mooning."

For what it's worth, frequent Tom Cruise collaborator and Valkyrie writer Christopher McQuarrie has declined to open up about the fake butt theory. At the end of the day, if Cruise is being true to his word, this shot of his butt is just a bit of inexplicable cinematic magic that will long be remembered and questioned. In truth, if that really is Tom Cruise's butt, that makes it even more impressive and confusing. That is a whole lot of butt for us to have never noticed in his very prolific career.