katie holmes interview tom cruise

Katie Holmes Talks Tom Cruise Split and Moving to New York with Suri

"That time was intense. It was a lot of attention..."

• Following her divorce from Cruise, Holmes dated Jamie Foxx until 2019.
• In a new interview, Holmes has opened up about life following her split from the Mission Impossible star.

Katie Holmes is currently enjoying a prolific period of work, with the release of movies Brahms: The Boy II and The Secret: Dare to Dream , and as she prepares to direct Rare Objects .

Amid her recent success, Holmes reflected on past challenges during a new interview with InStyle . In particular, the former Dawson's Creek star spoke about what it was like moving to New York with daughter Suri in 2012, right around the time she also filed for divorce from Tom Cruise. Holmes explained, "That time was intense. It was a lot of attention, and I had a little child on top of it. We had some funny moments out and about in public."

But as she's gotten older, the actress has come to terms with life in the public eye, and sounds more at peace with herself than ever.

She told InStyle , "Obviously, as a public person, I've gotten a lot of attention at different periods in my life. And when you have a lot of attention, sometimes you don't want to leave the house because it's just too much."

She continued, "You can get consumed by what people think, but suddenly you just decide to do things on your own terms. I feel like I'm finally figuring that out. I'm getting the projects I want made and just relaxing a little. I've been around for a long time, and I'm still here! I can't believe it."

But we can believe it, and we can't wait to see what Katie does next.

22 Irish Films to Watch on St. Patrick's Day

Amy Mackelden is a freelance writer, editor, and disability activist. Her bylines include Harper's BAZAAR, Nicki Swift, Cosmopolitan, Marie Claire, ELLE, The Independent, Bustle, Healthline, and HelloGiggles. She co-edited The Emma Press Anthology of Illness , and previously spent all of her money on Kylie Cosmetics.

Celebrity News

Katie Holmes Layers a Slipdress Over a Tank Again

Selena Gomez Posts Ring Photo With Benny Blanco

Jennifer Lopez Blends In With Parisians

Duchess Meghan Wore a Backless Gown in Nigeria

Prince Harry + Meghan Markle's Romance Timeline

Duchess Meghan Gives Rare Insight on Archie & Lili

Rihanna Brightens Up Her Look With a Chanel Bag

All the Photos of Harry and Meghan in Nigeria

Duchess Meghan and Prince Harry Arrive in Nigeria

Hailey & Justin’s Celeb Friends React to Baby News

The Full Relationship Timeline of the Biebers

Katie Holmes says daughter Suri Cruise singing on her films was 'meaningful': 'She's my heart'

Katie Holmes is shining a spotlight on her love for daughter Suri Cruise .

Holmes, who shares the 16-year-old with ex-husband Tom Cruise , gushed about collaborating with her teen daughter in her cinematic work  in an interview with Glamour magazine published Wednesday. Suri lent her vocals to songs featured in two of Holmes’ recent films, the 2022 romantic drama "Alone Together" and the upcoming "Rare Objects," both of which Holmes directed.

"I hope she always does something on my films. I always ask her," Holmes told the magazine. "But both of those experiences came out of the same sense of what I love about our industry, which is, you have these projects and you become a family with people."

Holmes added: "So it comes out of love for me to include someone who I love dearly. That’s how I like to work. I like to have that kind of feeling. It was very meaningful to me to have her there, because she’s my heart."

See Katie Holmes' rare photos of look-alike Suri,  her daughter with ex-husband Tom Cruise

Need a break? Play the USA TODAY Daily Crossword Puzzle.

Holmes, who is famously private about her daughter, also spoke about her protectiveness as a mother.

"What has been really important for me with my daughter, because she was so visible at a young age, is I really like to protect her," Holmes said. "I’m very grateful to be a parent, to be her parent. She’s an incredible person."

'I love you': Katie Holmes and Emilio Vitolo Jr. go Instagram official on her birthday

In 2021, Holmes shared a trio of rare photos of Suri taken throughout the years on Instagram to mark her 15th birthday. Holmes also opened up about bonding with Suri during the coronavirus pandemic in a November 2020 cover story for Vogue Australia.

"Hobbies such as sewing, painting and writing became new hallmarks of satisfaction and having had time at home to just be," Holmes wrote at the time. "To listen. To live for a moment in time without the pressure of results and instead appreciate the natural rhythms of mother and daughter was the most precious gift."

From 2019: Katie Holmes shares rare photo with her mini-me daughter Suri Cruise

'Our ages fit': Katie Holmes is 'happy' to have become a mom to Suri Cruise in her 20s

Contributing: Charles Trepany

Katie Holmes and Tom Cruise were together for almost a decade — here's a timeline of their relationship

Katie Holmes and Tom Cruise were once one of Hollywood's most iconic couples. The pair's relationship was a bit of whirlwind, from a quick engagement to a seemingly shocking divorce. 

Here's a timeline of Katie Holmes and Tom Cruise's relationship. 

2001: Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman got divorced.

After almost a decade, the couple divorced . The pair had previously adopted two children, Connor and Isabella, who later joined the church of Scientology . 

Read More: Nicole Kidman opens up about loving her adopted children with ex-husband Tom Cruise despite them not talking to her

July 2004: Katie Holmes told a Seventeen reporter about her crush on Tom Cruise.

"I used to think that I was going to marry Tom Cruise," Holmes told a reporter for Seventeen magazine, who later wrote about the interview  and its possible significance in a Huffington Post op-ed. 

During this time, Katie Holmes was engaged to actor Chris Klein. 

March 2005: Holmes and Klein split.

According to People, Holmes and her then-fiancé Chris Klein ended their five-year relationship in 2005. 

April 2005: Holmes and Cruise stepped out as a couple for the first time.

A month after Holmes and Klein split, Holmes and Cruise make their first public appearance as a couple.

The two were photographed together in Rome where Cruise was receiving a David di Donatello Award for lifetime achievement. A source told People the pair had "been dating a couple of weeks." 

May 23, 2005: Cruise declared his love for Holmes during an appearance on "The Oprah Winfrey Show."

About a month after the two started dating, Cruise filmed one of his most well-known interviews ever. While on "Oprah,"  he jumped on the set's couch  to gush about Holmes.

Cruise said, "I'm in love. I'm in love and it's one of those things where you want to be cool, like, ‘Yeah I like her' … that's not how I feel." He added, "I wanted to meet this person and I met her and she's extraordinary."

June 13, 2005: Holmes said she's converting to Scientology.

At the "Batman Begins" premiere, Holmes told reporters that she was going to convert to Scientology .

In a separate interview with "W," she spoke a bit  about the process , saying, "You know, it's really exciting. I just started auditing and I'm taking some courses and I really like it. I feel like it's really helping."

June 16, 2005: Holmes and Cruise announced their engagement.

A few months after they began dating, the two got engaged . Cruise said he proposed with a teardrop-shaped ring at the Eiffel Tower in Paris. He announced their engagement the next day at a press conference for "War of the Worlds."

At the conference, a fairly quiet Holmes said the two planned to have children. 

October 6, 2005: The couple announced they were expecting.

A spokesperson for Cruise told People that Holmes was pregnant with the couple's first child together and the couple was "very excited."

April 18, 2006: Holmes gave birth to a baby girl.

Cruise's spokesperson announced that Holmes had given birth to a baby girl named Suri who was seven pounds and 20 inches long.

October 2006: Suri made her public debut.

Cruise and Holmes showed Suri off to the world on the cover of Vanity Fair magazine. The couple also shared details about their daughter's name. 

"We had the name before we found out [the gender of the baby] because we both thought the baby would be a girl," Cruise told Vanity Fair. He  said their daughter's name meant "red rose."

November 18, 2006: The couple got married in Italy.

Holmes and Cruise sealed the deal with a very lavish wedding in the 15th-century Odescalchi Castle in Bracciano, Italy. Holmes wore a Giorgio Armani gown and the two had a "double ring" Scientology wedding , as per People's report. 

January 2008: Cruise's Scientology indoctrination video went viral.

According to Gawker, a  Scientology indoctrination video featuring Cruise had leaked and spread across media outlets. The outlet described the video as "scary." 

He said, among other things, "When you're a Scientologist, and you drive by an accident, you know you have to do something about it, because you know you're the only one who can really help … We are the way to happiness. We can bring peace and unite cultures."

May 2010: Holmes put on a show for Cruise at a Hollywood benefit.

During the benefit, Holmes performed a seductive dance to the song "Whatever Lola Wants" from the musical "Damn Yankees." She danced around her husband while he did some of his own moves.

September 2010: Holmes gushed about Cruise in an interview and talked about future children.

In an interview with Marie Claire, Holmes described being married to Cruise as "really fun," saying, "It's an amazing life, but we always remind ourselves of how incredibly lucky we are."

When asked about the possibility of having more kids, she said "maybe in a couple of years," adding that she really just wanted to focus on Suri at the moment.

May 2012: Cruise raved about Holmes in an interview with Playboy.

In a "Playboy" interview, Cruise called Holmes "an extraordinary person," saying "if you spent five minutes with her, you'd see it." He added, "I'm just happy, and I have been since the moment I met her. What we have is very special."

June 2012: Cruise promoted "Rock of Ages" without Holmes by his side.

Many noticed when Holmes didn't appear next to her husband on the red carpet while he promoted his new film.

June 29, 2012: Holmes filed for divorce from Cruise.

In June, Holmes' team made a statement to People about how she was divorcing Cruise , who said he wasn't expecting it at all.

Holmes' attorney said, "This is a personal and private matter for Katie and her family. Katie's primary concern remains, as it always has been, her daughter's best interest."

Cruise's rep said, "Kate has filed for divorce and Tom is deeply saddened and is concentrating on his three children. Please allow them their privacy."

Holmes reportedly made calls about the divorce on a disposable cellphone and hired three law firms in three states, according to the Los Angeles Times. 

July 11, 2012: Lawyers for Cruise and Holmes announced they had reached a settlement on custody of Suri.

According to People, lawyers reached a very quick settlement only 11 days after the divorce was filed.  Holmes received primary custody of 6-year-old Suri and Cruise was granted visitation rights.

April 2013: Cruise admitted he had never expected the divorce.

During an interview with German TV network ProSieben, Cruise said he didn't expect Holmes to divorce him .

He described that time of his life as a "tragicomedy," and said, "To be 50 and to have experiences and to think you have a grip on everything ... and then it hits you: This is it, what life can do to you."

Visit   INSIDER's homepage   for more.

Follow INSIDER on Facebook .

• Main content

• Search Please fill out this field.
• Newsletters
• Sweepstakes

Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes's Relationship Timeline: A Look Back

Katie Holmes and Tom Cruise were married for nearly six years before they called it quits.

Krista Carter is a writer and editor with nearly a decade of experience working in beauty and fashion.

Has anyone ever been more in love than couch-jumping Tom Cruise and  Katie Holmes ? We'll wait. Beginning in 2005, the actress and  fashion icon  (not just anyone can  pull off socks over sweatpants , alright?) engaged in a whirlwind romance with PDA-filled red carpet appearances that solidified their public image as TomKat. Within a year of meeting, they were engaged and welcomed a child together. A few months later, they tied the knot (Holmes's first marriage and Cruise's third). While many believed that the union wouldn't last — and it ultimately didn't — the pair still went on to share nearly six years together as husband and wife.

Since their 2012 divorce, we're remembering the Hollywood couple that once gave every teenager a glimmer of hope that it was possible — although highly unlikely — that maybe, just maybe, the dream of marrying their celebrity crush could become a reality.

Here's a look back at Katie Holmes and Tom Cruise's relationship.

April 2005: Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes first meet and are spotted together

As the story goes, after Cruise divorced  Nicole Kidman  and subsequently  split from then-girlfriend Penelope Cruz , the  Mission: Impossible  actor's beloved Church of Scientology set out to find him a worthy (and malleable) wife. After reportedly courting (and ultimately scaring off) famous women like  Sofía Vergara  and  Scarlett Johansson , the task proved more difficult than expected.

Eventually, church officials' prayers were answered through a  Seventeen  article,  per HuffPost . In October 2004, Holmes (then  engaged to Chris Klein ) told the teen magazine, "I used to think that I was going to marry Tom Cruise." 

Six months later, Klein and Holmes announced their breakup, and on April 27, 2005, Cruise and Holmes were first spotted together in Rome. TomKat made their red carpet debut as a couple two days later on April 29 at the David di Donatello Awards. Coincidence? We may never truly know.

"When I met Tom, I was completely in love, and, yes, I admired him growing up — he's Tom Cruise!" she reportedly told  T: The New York Times Style Magazine  ( via  People ).

May 23, 2005: Tom Cruise declares his love for Katie Holmes on The Oprah Winfrey Show

Cruise jolted daytime television when he appeared on  The Oprah Winfrey Show  and ecstatically jumped on her couch while professing love for his new girlfriend (who he subsequently brought out from backstage). The appearance went viral, with many questioning Cruise's sanity, as well as the relationship's authenticity.

June 16, 2005: Tom Cruise announces engagement to Katie Holmes

Gregg DeGuire / WireImage / Getty Images

Shortly after going public with their relationship, Cruise announced at a press conference for  War of the Worlds  that he and Holmes were engaged. According to  The Hollywood Reporter , Cruise, then 43, proposed to Holmes, then 26, with a five-carat yellow diamond ring at a restaurant atop the Eiffel Tower.

"Today is a magnificent day for me; I'm engaged to a magnificent woman," he said, per  People . 

April 18, 2006: Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes welcome their first child together

Holmes gave birth to a baby girl, Suri, in Santa Monica, California, in April 2006. Their newborn daughter made her public debut on the October 2006 cover of  Vanity Fair. 

The  Dawson's Creek  alum  told the magazine , " The moment the doctor handed me Suri, I was just ready. The feeling is indescribable. All I can say is the moment I looked in her eyes, I felt like ... Mom." 

Since then, the celeb offspring and fashionista has inspired one of our favorite pop culture artifacts of all time:  Suri's Burn Book . 

November 18, 2006: Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes get married

Robert Evans / Handout via Getty Images

In November 2006, the  Batman Begins  actress's schoolgirl fantasy of marrying Cruise came true. Their wedding was marked by an extravagant ceremony and reception at an Italian castle that cost more than $3 million, according to E! Online .

The star-studded guest list included couples  Jennifer Lopez  and Marc Anthony, John Travolta and the late Kelly Preston, and  David Beckham  and  Victoria Beckham , among others. As for the bridal party, Holmes had her sister Nancy Blaylock as maid of honor, while Cruise chose Scientology leader David Miscavige as his best man.

June 2012: Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes divorce

John Shearer / WireImage / Getty Images

Interestingly, after Cruise gave a  Playboy  interview in which he praised Holmes, she filed for divorce. Although the  Top Gun  star admitted that he "didn't expect" the divorce —  per CBS News  — the legal proceedings ran smoothly, and a settlement was reached in just 11 days.

Cruise and Holmes have rarely spoken on the record in regard to their split, but it's rumored that Holmes's motivation was to free her daughter from the unique constraints of Scientology. During his deposition against Bauer Media Cruise (whose tabloids claimed he'd abandoned Suri), Cruise was asked if Holmes left him "in part to protect Suri from Scientology." 

Insulted, he said, "There is no need to protect my daughter from my religion." 

However,  according to ABC News , when prodded again, specifically as to whether Holmes had mentioned that she was leaving in an effort to protect Suri from Scientology, Cruise responded, "Did she say that? That was one of the assertions, yes."

Holmes was granted primary custody of Suri in their divorce. Though Cruise was afforded ample visitation, it was widely reported that he rarely saw his daughter. In 2016,  InTouch Weekly  asserted  that the actor hadn't seen or spoken to his youngest child in over 1,000 days (or two-and-a-half years).

Related Articles

• Share full article

My Impossible Mission to Find Tom Cruise

The action star has gone to great lengths to avoid the press for more than a decade. But maybe our writer could track him down anyway?

Credit... Illustration by Kelsey Dake

Supported by

By Caity Weaver

• Published July 17, 2023 Updated July 31, 2023

In an interview with Playboy in 2012, Tom Cruise described Katie Holmes as “an extraordinary person” with a “wonderful” clothing line, and someone for whom he was fond of “doing things like creating romantic dinners” — behavior that, he confided, “she enjoys.” It would prove to be his last major interview with a reporter to date. Despite what may be recalled through the penumbra of memory, this sudden silence was not directly preceded by either of Cruise’s infamous appearances on television: not by his NBC’s “Today” show interview (in which he labeled host Matt Lauer both “glib” and “Matt — MattMattMattMatt”), nor even by his appearance on “The Oprah Winfrey Show” (in which he reverse-catapulted himself onto Winfrey’s fawn-colored couch multiple times in a demonstration of his enthusiasm for Holmes). Those incidents occurred seven years earlier, in 2005; Cruise emerged from the hex of public bewilderment unscathed. In fact, Cruise gave no indication that the interview, pegged to the musical-comedy bomb “Rock of Ages,” was intended to serve as a farewell address to journalists. At the time he sat for it, another life milestone was hurtling toward him: The month after the article was published, Holmes filed for divorce.

Listen to This Article

In the decade since, the amount of verified information we have gleaned about Cruise’s real life could fit on a single flashcard, though it’s unclear why anyone would need to memorize it, since the details mainly consist of anecdotal trifles shared by other celebrities in interviews of their own: From James Corden, we know Cruise once asked to land a helicopter in James Corden’s yard . From Brooke Shields, we know Brooke Shields no longer receives the (by all accounts delectable) white chocolate coconut Bundt cake that Cruise famously sends to many beloved stars each holiday season. From Kyra Sedgwick, we know that there was a panic button under a fireplace mantle in one of Cruise’s homes . (She pressed it out of curiosity, summoning the police.) From Matt Damon, we know that during production of the fourth “Mission: Impossible” movie, Cruise had “a safety guy” replaced because he deemed a proposed stunt (in which Cruise scampers over the Burj Khalifa) “too dangerous.” Tom Cruise, Kate Hudson informs us, loves skydiving.

These facts sketch a portrait of a daredevil with a finite budget for cakes, but hardly a recluse. Cruise’s spurning of interviews makes him unique among his cohort — A-list, pathologically charismatic, wrest-butts-into-seats-type movie stars — whose success, it has long been assumed, derives from their ability to appear likable to mortals. They demonstrate this skill, traditionally, by exhibiting their personality in interviews. Every time Cruise turns down an interview request (through his representative, Cruise declined to be interviewed for this article), he makes a bet that just his being Tom Cruise, offering no further details about what that might entail, is enticement enough for people to watch his movies. Lately, more often than not, he has been right.

To see this clearly, perhaps it’s helpful to contrast Cruise’s career with that of Brad Pitt, his co-star in “Interview With the Vampire” (1994) and fellow member of a declining species: Hollywood leading men. Pitt has continued appearing in the kind of films (thrillers, comedies, romances, psychodramas, historical epics, etc.) that he and Cruise starred in throughout the 1990s and 2000s. In the past decade, audiences could find Pitt endeavoring to disappear into roles ranging from abolitionist to astronaut. In the same period, Cruise has starred solely in action films, which have depicted him fighting aliens, terrorists, fellow spies, a mummy and sundry other enemies of the United States. Rather than vanishing into roles, Cruise remakes them in his image. So fully has he melded his offscreen persona with that of the skydiving, cliff-jumping, motorcycle-parachuting pilots he portrays, these characters become mere receptacles of Tom Cruiseness. Cruise’s films tend to perform better than Pitt’s at the box office; his most recent endeavor, “Top Gun: Maverick,” outearned Pitt’s latest by about $1.4 billion. This summer, Tom Cruise will run, drive and jump at top speeds in “Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One,” and Brad Pitt will star in nothing.

Cruise still takes part in promotional junkets and convivial late-night-talk-show chats, but his refusal to participate in the sort of in-depth journalistic interviews that (in theory, anyway) reveal some aspect of his true self has coincided, somewhat paradoxically, with an incredible surge in his commitment to infusing cinematic fantasies with reality. For unknown reasons it could be interesting to explore in an interview, reality has become very important to Cruise, who reveres it as a force more powerful than magic. It is vital to Cruise that the audience of “Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One” have the opportunity to witness not a C.G.I. production of a feat, or even a seasoned stunt performer executing a dangerous act, but real footage of him, Tom Cruise, the 61-year-old father of three from Syracuse, N.Y., riding a motorcycle off a cliff.

This fetish for reality has become a keystone of Cruise’s persona, to the extent that many of his public appearances now take place in flying vehicles. Rather than accept an MTV Movie & TV Award in person in May, Cruise filmed his acceptance speech from the cockpit of a fighter aircraft as he piloted it through clouds, politely shouting, “I love entertaining you!” over the engine’s roar. Delivering “a special message from the set of @MissionImpossible” to his followers on Instagram, Cruise screamed while dangling backward off the side of an aircraft, “It truly is the honor of a lifetime!”

But reality does not exist only in movies. What is missing from Cruise’s fervid documentation of ultrarisky, inconceivably expensive, meticulously planned real-life events are any details about the parts of his real life that do not involve, for example, filming stunts for “Mission: Impossible” movies. My own mission, then, was simple: I was to travel to the ends of the Earth to see if it was possible to locate the terrestrial Cruise, out of context — to catch a glimpse, to politely shout one question at him, or at least to ascertain one new piece of intelligence about his current existence — in order to reintegrate him into our shared reality.

Having lately made an effort to scrutinize any article that cast Tom Cruise as its subject, one of the few things that I can say for certain he has done since 2021, besides film two “Mission: Impossible” movies, is order chicken tikka masala from a restaurant in Birmingham, England, and then “as soon as he had finished” (per a tweet from the restaurant ) order the exact same chicken tikka masala “all over again.”

These days, Tom Cruise is hardly ever photographed in any situation other than shooting and promoting his films. (He was filming in Birmingham.) The paucity of paparazzi photos of the apparently chicken-loving actor can be at least partly attributed to his spending much time removed from America’s twin celebrity-entertainment control rooms: New York (where his ex-wife, Holmes, lives with their daughter) and Los Angeles (where, in 2015 and 2016, he reportedly sold multiple homes for a combined total just over $50 million). Years of speculation that Cruise lives or was planning to live in a penthouse apartment a five-minute walk from the “spiritual headquarters” of the Church of Scientology, of which he is a big fan, in Clearwater, Fla., appear never to have been realized, apart from an unsourced assertion published in The Hollywood Reporter in 2018, which mentioned that the audition process for co-stars in Cruise’s “Top Gun: Maverick” “involved flying down to Cruise’s home in Clearwater. ”

To learn more about the possible activities of Tom Cruise, I turned to the person who, after Cruise himself, his family, his friends, his employees, his co-workers and anyone who has ever met — or, at least, interacted with — him, knows him best: a Brazilian woman who is quite possibly his most dedicated fan in the world. She spoke to me on two conditions: first, that I grant her anonymity; second, that I not identify by name, or characterize too specifically, the publicly available online repository of Cruise-related information she has maintained for over 20 years. Her concerns are both practical and legal: Practically, she isn’t sure if the operation, which may or may not play host to more than 132,000 images of Cruise, could withstand a large influx of traffic; legally, she did not wish to invite the scrutiny and possible copyright claims the attention might draw.

She started the operation when she was 18. Today she is in her early 40s and works as a librarian. More than two decades into the endeavor, a nostalgic melancholy permeates the fan’s reflections. Ten years ago, she said, she was often the first to widely disseminate the latest images of Cruise. Now, because of the superabundance of photo-sharing social media accounts, she must settle for merely having the most complete repository. New additions trickle in sporadically. She’s partial to the theory that paparazzi rarely capture photographs of Cruise in part because he is a real-life “master of disguise,” whom people fail to recognize on the street. Despite years of remote observation, of scrutinizing nearly every single image captured of the man, even she could not say definitively where Cruise lives. She did observe, however, that he appears to spend “most of the time” in Britain.

In fact, there is a strange rumor that Cruise bought a home in a tiny town called Biggin Hill, on the farthest fringes of London — the site of a small private airport that he has been known to use when filming in the region. The legend appears to trace back to an article published in the British tabloid The Sun in July 2021 about the actor’s 59th-birthday celebration. An anonymous source declared that Cruise had “only recently moved to” a house in Biggin Hill (average home price: £590,000), “which feels like it’s practically in the countryside.” The claim would accrue scant new details as it was repeated in British papers numerous times over the following year, apart from one: that Cruise’s residence “is set in 140 acres of stunning rural parkland,” inside a posh gated community near the airport.

Cruise, who has filmed parts of the three most recent installments of “Mission: Impossible” in Britain, has never publicly commented on the rumors. He did, however, confirm that he spends “a lot of time in Britain” in an exceedingly rare interview that appeared, inexplicably, in the September 2022 issue of Derbyshire Life magazine. “I guess I am an Anglophile,” Cruise told Derbyshire Life. “I love being in Britain because everyone is pleasant and will give you a nod or say hello without crowding you too much.” Elsewhere in the interview, Cruise expressed additional enthusiasm for auxiliary British topics, including politeness (“Being friendly doesn’t cost a bean, and I enjoy it”) and Derbyshire, which is, for the record, actually a considerable distance from Biggin Hill (“Wow! Derbyshire — what a fantastic place!”).

To determine if anyone who did not work in the British newspaper or chicken-tikka-masala industries had ever encountered Cruise on English soil, I sifted through Facebook posts, typing any permutation of “saw Tom Cruise” I could think of into the search bars of neighborhood groups for all of the Hobbit-ily named localities surrounding Biggin Hill (“Orpington”; “West Wickham”). I joined groups like “Westerham and Biggin Hill News friends Community fun views gossip” and pored over hundreds of responses to posts like “Think I just saw Tom Cruise driving down jail lane that’s impossible.” The flashes of Cruise that winked from the replies were tantalizing — “I’ve seen him blue Ferrari…jail lane…”; “Lives up Cudham drives blue Ferrari” — but there was no way to tell who was reporting accurate details about the comings and goings of Tom Cruise, who was mistaken and who was merely lying for fun. The only way to find out was to do what Cruise himself would do: grab onto the nearest plane and go, for real.

Next to the Biggin Hill Airport, there is a pocket-size hotel built to serve the crews and engineers of the private planes that fly in and out. The hotel, its website boasts, offers “great views towards London” — something just about any place on Earth could offer with the right window arrangement, assuming it was not already in London. The description of the property’s sleek teal-and-toffee-colored restaurant turned out to be even more specifically accurate: The view of the runway at Biggin Hill Airport was without parallel. At the bar, I pulled up a leather stool and ordered (not in these exact words) the worst Shirley Temple of my life, which cost $11. My fellow patrons had long since familiarized themselves with the contours of the small dinner menu; they had been stranded at Biggin Hill for some time, because the private jet of the billionaire for whom they were working had received — you hate to hear this — an estimated $10 million worth of hail damage. I asked a maintenance technician if he thought Tom Cruise really did have a house in Biggin Hill. He replied with unflinching confidence: “I know he does.”

In the same venue, a man so young he might have been a teenager, who at one time worked inside the airport, revealed to me that Cruise had a parking spot there, though it was unclear if he meant for a car or a helicopter. Most of the good people of Biggin Hill, when grilled about Cruise’s living arrangements, seemed genuinely to have no idea what I was talking about. These were the two camps into which, without fail, every respondent fell: Either they had never so much as heard the rumor that Cruise walked among them, or they were 100 percent certain that he did.

Upon reaching Keston Park, the only gated community in the area matching The Sun’s description, I discovered two things: first, that there appeared to be an illegally locked gate obstructing public access to the footpath that cuts through the neighborhood — whether the gate is impenetrable is a matter of ongoing dispute among the Bromley borough council, myself and many other aspiring path-takers who have submitted complaints about the locked gate to the borough website — and, second, that the biggest movie star in the world did not live there. That was evident through holes that carpenter bees had bored into the barbed-wire-topped fences protecting Keston Park from the wider world. The stately houses faced one another too directly. Their trees could drop acorns into another’s gardens. There was nowhere to conveniently land a helicopter.

Oh, well. These were Keston Park’s problems — not mine and probably not Tom Cruise’s. Tom Cruise, as he and I both now knew, was most likely secretly living at another estate I had turned up in my research — one that was even closer to the airport.

The distance between any two points within the general environs of Biggin Hill is insignificant by car, which is probably why I was unable to persuade any taxi driver to transport me between them. It is less insignificant by foot, and even longer, though much more scenic, if one attempts to traverse it by way of the aforementioned footpaths. These meandering trails tended to be spectacularly beautiful, bursting with a vernal lushness that was nearly pornographic. House-high frozen fountains of eensy white hawthorn blossoms shaded dusty walkways. Wild roses as pink as Country Time lemonade exploded from leafy hedges. Fragile sapphire speedwells, fat purple clover tops and buttercups strewn like gold confetti — these were merely the things it was impossible not to step on. The fluorescent green of the meadows recalled the grasses of another royal province — Super Mario’s Mushroom Kingdom. Poppies and toadflax sprang out obscenely from stone walls. Tom Cruise would be crazy not to live here , I thought as I stroked the soft, sun-warmed mane of a little white donkey. Let’s all live here .

Except, upon my arrival at the end of an idyllic woodland stroll, I discovered that Cruise did not live there either. There was, in the front yard of this residence, a garden gnome lugging buckets on a yoke, which didn’t seem like Cruise’s style, and the gnome was overturned, lying on its side — definitely not his style. I righted the gnome and ambled on, in search of another public footpath that would, I hoped, lead me to where Cruise actually lived. Instead, I accidentally wandered into what (I learned through being yelled this information) was not a public right of way but a field privately owned by a woman who berated me until I ran into traffic on a nearby road.

That night, with half my allotted exploratory mission time used up, I lay awake in the hotel built for the flight attendants of billionaires’ jets, miserable and panicked at my failure to do anything but incur thousands of dollars in expenses for airfare and one Shirley Temple. Surely this wasn’t all for naught; surely some meaning could possibly be derived from an interaction between a movie star and a magazine journalist — even a brief one, even one in which the movie star had already said (through his publicist) he did not wish to participate, even one in which the star was not present, since some understanding of some dimension of his life could doubtless be gleaned through a study of his surroundings. But what if Cruise has been so successful in removing himself from our world that I would never find any trace of him? What if Cruise had evanesced into a high-octane mist of pure entertainment? Did I have time to just go to every single house in England and check if Cruise was home? How big was this nation? Why was the sun rising now, in the middle of the night? What time was it?! Had I accidentally not gone to sleep all night?

I had one more idea.

On my first day in town, I had stopped at a pub for lunch. I was told that there was a funeral going on and that there was an hour wait for food, but that if I ordered something simple like a sandwich, the wait would be less, so I ordered a sandwich, which actually took 90 minutes to arrive and was so, no offense, disgusting-tasting that I turned around and asked a middle-aged man sitting at the picnic table behind mine if he would like half a sandwich (no) and if it always took so long to receive a sandwich at this pub (unclear) and if it was true that Tom Cruise really lived nearby. “He’s here,” the man said to me.

“Do you know?” I asked. “Or are you guessing?”

“He’s definitely around here, that’s for sure,” he said. “I know where he is.”

At first, with the cagey pride of one who knows the favored hovering spot of an actual ghost, who acts as self-appointed doorman of the thin place between worlds, the man made a show of not telling me where. But then, on his way out, he materialized at my elbow and proffered three “clues” (his word).

“It’s within two miles of the airport,” he said. “Look for the biggest house. And I mean — ” his voice dropped to a whisper, “ — the biggest .”

“It’s a very famous house,” he said. “The anti-establishment of slavery started there.”

I was aware of this property from my earlier research. It was a colossal butter-colored manor once owned by a prime minister, William Pitt the Younger. I had eliminated it from contention as a possible Cruise residence because it was sold in 2018 (£8.5 million) to a used-car magnate who, at least judging by an article from 2020 that I read in Car Dealer magazine, appeared to be quite comfortably ensconced in it. But it was only a few miles away. On foot, the journey could be completed in just over an hour.

How, exactly, I ended up on the edge of that woman’s privately owned field again, I have no idea. The expedition to that point had seemed to take me through brand-new areas. All of a sudden, I noticed that the path had dissipated into dense forest. This is just like what happened yesterday, when I trespassed in that woman’s field, I thought, then looked up and spotted her house in the distance.

I panicked. I frightened a badger — likewise, babe! — and bolted through the forest as quickly as I could in a new, randomly chosen direction. This deposited me into a vast, previously unencountered field. On all previous paths, vigorously growing cow parsley had stood on slender stems, about shin high. Here, upright hordes of it grazed my shoulders, while fallen comrades entangled my ankles. Needles of true panic pricked my nape under sweaty hair. Statistically speaking, I assured myself, it was unlikely I would be trapped in this field so long that I would die there.

Although — wouldn’t it serve that woman right if I did die in this field, so close to her own, where I was not allowed? “That would teach her a lesson,” I said into the audio recorder I had brought in case I encountered Tom Cruise. Have to “find some way to notify her,” I explained. (Of my death.) Hopefully she would see my picture in a — newspaper! That would be another good thing about dying out here, I told the recorder. It would “serve” the editor who recklessly assigned me this article — who had irresponsibly approved my travel budget — “right.” It would probably ruin his life, or at least his work life. God, would he be fired? Certainly, at the very least, he would get in trouble. You should never have sent her to a small English town . Would our boss tell him not to blame himself? Hopefully not — I am dead because of him! I didn’t want to die, of course — but if it did happen, at least I would die doing what I loved: making people feel bad and be in trouble deservedly. I had yet to clearly develop a mental image of my widowed husband’s second wife when I realized that I had stumbled, midfield, upon a dirt path leading into a neighborhood. I ran down it — in, I was shocked to discover, the exact direction of the used-car dealer’s palatial estate.

The public footpath alongside the property — which, if a man drinking outside a pub at 2 p.m. is to be believed, is inhabited by Tom Cruise — looked like the aisle down which a fairy princess would glide at her wedding. Actually, no, even nicer: It was like the flower-strewn tunnel of light she would pass through following her death (from being viciously yelled at for walking in a private field BY ACCIDENT) on her journey to eternity. It wound beneath protective arches of graceful branches trailing heaps of white and pink blossoms. A gentle, constant wind rippled the flowers just enough to allow dappled sunlight to illuminate a trail through their lovely shade. So vast were the grounds, so lush the foliage, that the home itself was not visible from any vantage point. I listened for the distant throaty cry of a blue Ferrari, but heard only bird song.

The recorded owner of the estate made no response to my later attempts to contact him, to ask if, perchance, Tom Cruise (possibly in elaborate disguise) could be living in his house. Even if Cruise has no connection to the residence, this absolute lack of response serves to further obscure his existence. Not only is it impossible to determine where he lives — it isn’t even possible to determine where he does not live. The distance between Cruise and the average human remains unshrinkable. At a time when social media renders movie stars ever-present in the public field of vision — accessible to some extent through whatever scrupulously vetted personal information they share, but also broadly trackable via webs of celebrity-watching accounts that widely disseminate photos and rumors — Cruise has distinguished himself by becoming a comet. When, between protracted absences, his inscrutable orbit brings him back into Earth’s visible realm, he briefly commands the simultaneous attention of all its peoples: “Thank you to the people of Abu Dhabi,” read a June post on his Instagram account, alongside a photo of him greeting a crowd at a “Dead Reckoning Part One” premiere. (Also appreciated and acknowledged by their servant-sovereign for their attendance at other “Dead Reckoning Part One” premieres: “the people” of Rome; “everyone” in Seoul.)

At the conclusion of this promotional cycle, after Cruise has thanked everyone for allowing him to create world-class summer cinema, he will almost certainly disappear, not to be heard from again until next year, at which point his re-emergence will proclaim the arrival of “Dead Reckoning Part Two.” This vanishing, while perhaps rooted in avoidance of a press corps that asks questions he doesn’t want to answer, is massaged into something like a sacrificial duty to audiences. In disappearing the moment his work is through — always, like Santa Claus, with the promise of return — Cruise retains the mystique that so many Hollywood stars have lost this century. He goes away so that audiences may experience the thrill of his reappearance, and delight in the promise of movie magic he heralds.

Of course, it is possible that Tom Cruise does not even know that the gargantuan house in the quiet English village exists. But if we assume, perhaps foolishly, that he does live there, I did ascertain one new detail about his reality: He was in the process of having the long private driveway that weaves through the woods and stretches to the unseen manor beyond redone. It looks awesome.

Caity Weaver is a staff writer for the magazine. She last wrote about going on a package trip for youngish people.

An earlier version of this article referred imprecisely to the plane from which Tom Cruise accepted an MTV Movie & TV Award. It was a fighter aircraft, not a fighter jet.

How we handle corrections

Explore The New York Times Magazine

The Retirement Issue : For many relationships, life after work brings  an unexpected set of challenges.

When Yanks Came for Soccer : American investors are gobbling up the storied teams of the English Premier League — and changing the stadium experience  in ways that soccer fans resent.

Brittney Griner Is Ready to Talk : In an interview, the basketball star reveals her humiliation  — and friendships — in Russian prison, and her path to recovery.

‘Where Is the Palestinian Gandhi?’ : Issa Amro, who has been arrested and beaten for simple acts  of defiance, is trying to pursue nonviolent resistance in the West Bank at a time when violence has become inescapable.

‘History and Tradition’ Rulings : A new legal standard is gaining traction  among conservative judges — one that might turn back the clock on drag shows, gun restrictions and more.

Advertisement

Why Tom Cruise Changed Everything For Katie Holmes

The world was introduced to Katie Holmes as the quintessential girl next door on the hit teen drama Dawson 's Creek in the early '90s. It only takes watching one monologue to realize the girl had potential, and she lived up to it as the show became a bona fide hit. In addition to the star-making gig in Capeside, Holmes led teen thrillers, including  Teaching Mrs.Tingle alongside Helen Mirren and indie films, including  Pieces Of April .

Then, Holmes met Tom Cruise in 2005, and to say it changed her life is an understatement. Suddenly, Holmes' name disappeared from credits altogether and she went from being down-to-earth, relatable, and private to one-half of a spectacular couple...literally. Cruise and Holmes made many public spectacles. But the instant A-List boost didn't translate to Holmes' career. We're sad to report that Cruise probably played a big part in why — although Holmes has always been talented — she's never quite reached the full potential she gave us glimpses of on Dawson's Creek . 

Let's examine why Tom Cruise changed everything for Katie Holmes.

Katie Holmes' rise to stardom

Katie Holmes burst onto the scene as Joey Potter on Dawson's Creek , but she nearly lost the role of everyone's favorite girl next door. She told Jimmy Fallon on The Tonight Show in 2018 that she came close to losing the role. She got a lead role in her high school's production of Damn Yankees and took her commitment so seriously that she didn't want to miss the opening night. Dawson's Creek creator Kevin Williamson liked her performance so much that he waited for her, but the story gets even better. Williamson later told Holmes that he actually only saw half of her audition (her mom played Dawson) because her sister's volleyball game was taped over the other half.

Lucky for the world, Holmes was so good it didn't matter. "I love our whole cast from 'Dawson's Creek," the actress told InStyle in 2020. "And I think that it's...for all of us...unbelievable that people are still watching it and talking about it." Holmes' role made her the go-to girl for teen movies in the late '90s like Abandon  and Disturbing Behavior .

When her time in Capeside ended, Holmes immediately went on to star as Rachel Dawes in Batman Begins opposite Christian Bale. She turned down an offer to reprise the role in 2008's The Dark Knight . "It was a decision that I made at that time and it was right for me at that moment, so I don't have any regrets," she told Business Insider .

Pre-Tom Cruise, Katie Holmes' love life was pretty quiet

Katie Holmes fell in love on and off-screen during her time in Capeside. While filming the first season of Dawson's Creek , she became romantically involved IRL with co-star Joshua Jackson. The relationship was short-lived, but they remained close enough to tell Joey and Pacey's love story on the show. "I'm just going to say that I met somebody last year. I fell in love, I had my first love, and it was something so incredible and indescribable that I will treasure it always," Holmes said of Jackson in a 1998  Rolling Stone  interview. She added, "I feel so fortunate because he's now one of my best friends."

Holmes moved on from Jackson with Chris Klein, to whom she got engaged in 2003 before the couple ended things in 2005. Holmes was famously mum about her private life when the engagement was announced . But Klein opened up about the relationship in 2012 when he spoke to People . "We were like the prom king and queen. We had a similar upbringing and we were going through the same experience [in Hollywood]," the American Pie actor said. He said their relationship ended amicably when the "teenage craze" ended and their careers started to slow down. He also admitted that his drinking habits probably complicated matters, and refuted any notion that there was overlap in his and Tom Cruise's respective relationships with Holmes. 

A romance worth jumping about

Katie Holmes has a track record of making pretty big dreams come true rather quickly, from starting her acting career right out of high school to picking her husband straight off of a poster on her bedroom wall. "I think every little girl dreams about [her wedding]. I used to think I was going to marry Tom Cruise," Holmes infamously told Seventeen in October 2004 (via  The Hollywood Reporter ). THR reports that the soon-to-be couple met just six months later, apparently to discuss a role for Holmes in Mission Impossible 3 . Cruise and Holmes made their first public appearance together in Rome, Italy, (shown above) where Cruise was receiving a lifetime achievement award.

One month later, Cruise appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show and the couch-jumping incident was forever seared into our minds. "I'm in love," he told Winfrey, later coaxing a reluctant Holmes from the backstage area to the soundstage for some PDA. And so, TomKat was born.

Having Tom Cruise's baby changed everything for Katie Holmes

Tom Cruise proposed to Katie Holmes in Paris in June 2005, and then immediately announced it at a press conference for his movie, War Of The Worlds . "Yes, I proposed to her...It was early this morning at the Eiffel Tower, so I haven't slept at all,"  People reported Cruise saying. "Today is a magnificent day for me, I'm engaged to a magnificent woman." Holmes' movie,  Batman Begins, was also released around the time of the engagement. People reported that while Holmes said in a private interview that the couple planned to have children, she didn't speak at the conference. Holmes' silence wasn't as surprising as the fact that the public displays were happening at all, since she had been so private about her relationships in the past. 

In October 2005, the couple announced that  Holmes was pregnant . Suri Cruise was born on April 18, 2006, and, perhaps unsurprisingly, motherhood had an effect on Holmes' career. 2008's Mad Money marked Holmes return to the big screen after a three year hiatus, which she later explain to  Dujour . "I totally admire women who go back to work six weeks after giving birth," Holmes said, "but when [Suri] was little, I was not ready. I was a very nervous mother — like, sleeping next to her crib — and I was in that mode for a long time." 

Katie Holmes' dream wedding included some odd details

Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes married at Odescalchi Castle in Bracciano, Italy on Nov. 18, 2006.  E! reported that the royal affair cost about $3 million. Guests included Brooke Shields, Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony, David and Victoria Bekham, and then-Scientologist Leah Remini.

Holmes and Cruise got married in a "double ring" Scientology ceremony. People reported their vows included promises to "to never close their eyes in sleep on a disagreement or an upset." Scientology leader David Miscavige was Cruise's best man. Holmes wore two Georgio Armani dresses throughout the day, and at the party, guests danced to music spun by producer Mark Ronson and enjoyed a five-tier wedding cake.

It sounds like a standard celebrity affair, but according to Remini's book Troublemaker: Surviving Hollywood and Scientology , incidents in the days leading up to the celebration were downright stange. Remini claims she found seven-month-old Suri on a restaurant bathroom floor, her parents nowhere to be found. She said three women were "looking at her like they thought she was [Scientology founder] L. Ron Hubbard incarnate," and speaking to her in an inappropriate tone. Remini said she went to the restaurant kitchen, warmed up a bottle, and instructed the women to soothe the crying baby. Remini also revealed (via ET ) that Holmes wrote her up in a Scientology report for "disrupting the party" and being a "poor example to others." Holmes later vaguely apologized to Remini .

Tom Cruise's wives vs Scientology

Days before getting engaged to Tom Cruise, Katie Holmes converted from Catholicism to Scientology . Little has been reported regarding Holmes' personal reasons for joining the church beyond the fact that she was in love with perhaps its most famous member. And the only widely-reported observations about Holmes involvement with the church revolve around the aforementioned anecdotes from Scientology whistleblower Leah Remini .

But there are reliable reports, including one from Vanity Fair , that describes the lengths the Church of Scientology goes to keep Cruise close . The outlet spoke to former high-ranking Scientologists who claimed church leader David Miscavige "was integral" in fracturing Cruise's marriages to both Nicole Kidman (above left) and Mimi Rogers (above right), who had been deemed hostile to Scientology.

Holmes' family was reportedly wary of Scientology because of the reputation it has for distancing people from their relatives. She got pregnant with Suri before they could take drastic action to make her choose between Cruise and them, sources close to the situation told Vanity Fair . During their marriage, Cruise and Holmes also reportedly lived with "handlers" who reported their behavior back to Miscavige when needed. At a Vanity Fair event two years before the report, its writer Maureen Orth shared a table with Holmes and noticed all of the attention she was getting. Orth asked Holmes how she dealt with public attention if it was this bad privately, to which she answered, "Oh, we don't go outside very much."

TomKat's happy years

Despite reportedly being very controlled by the Church Of Scientology, there was a time that Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes' marriage seemed (dare we say it?) typical. Nearly two years before filing for divorce from Cruise, Holmes described being with him as "exciting" to  Marie Claire   in 2010. "Tom's as big at home as he is on the movie screen. He's so passionate about everything, whatever he's doing," she said. "When he's being a dad, he's right there; he's giving it his all. It's inspiring and it's fun. It's an amazing life, but we always remind ourselves of how incredibly lucky we are." They were also big fans of Scrabble.

Holmes had, however, previously admitted to Glamour  in 2009 that she had to make some sacrifices for Cruise, but it was nothing she couldn't handle. "From an early age I knew that I wanted to be in this business. So I did everything I could to get here, and when I met Tom, I knew in an instant that we were going to be together, that we were going to get married," she said. "He does have a very big life. And you know, we just do it. And, as a woman, you make that transition from being single to [being] a partner. I have a teammate, and it's like, we're going to make this work."

Divorce or mission impossible?

Katie Holmes filed for divorce from Tom Cruise in June 2012, and as is expected, she had one main focus in mind. "Katie's primary concern remains, as it always has been, her daughter's best interest," her attorney told  People at the time. Because of the control that the Church of Scientology — and possibly Cruise — had over Katie, she had to make calculated moves and enlist the help of her father, Martin Holmes, an attorney. Before Tom and Katie were even married, Martin made sure Katie had an iron-clad prenup. As reported by Vanity Fair , that's why the divorce was settled in 11 days. On top of that, in order to keep her plans secret before she filed paperwork, Katie reportedly used a burner phone bought by a friend to communicate with lawyers in three different states, according to the Los Angeles Times . Why? She needed time to make a covert plan to leave such a public figure who is so involved in Scientology, an organization that teaches children to distance themselves from parents who leave the church. 

Katie was awarded sole custody and the power to choose how Suri would be educated. Katie moved to Manhattan with Suri, which also probably helped distance her from Scientology. It was a tough time, but years later, Holmes seemed free of any such stress. "I feel like I can be more creative and have more time, have my voice," told InStyle in 2020. Perhaps it took her so long to find it because someone took it from her. 

Keeping her private life private again

After her split from Tom Cruise, Katie Holmes went back to keeping her private life as private as she could. In other words, we'll never see her jumping on a talk show host declaring devotion to a new love, though she's had a couple. In 2013, Holmes began dating fellow actor Jamie Foxx . They kept their relationship so private that basically the only other detail we know about it is that the couple broke up in 2019 .

After slyly dating Foxx on the DL, Holmes was spotted out in New York City with chef Emilio Vitolo Jr. , who ownscelebrity hot-spot, Emilio's Ballato. His restaurant has hosted the likes of Barack Obama, Whoopi Goldberg, Rihanna, and Bradley Cooper, just to name a few patrons.  Elle also reported that Vitolo is an actor who had "a six-episode arc [on]  Royal Pains . Vitolo is also close friends with celebrity couple Joe Jonas and Sophie Turner, per his Instagram account . But, we don't expect Holmes and Vitolo will be making anything Instagram official any time soon.

Katie Holmes has blossomed since leaving Tom Cruise

It would be misleading to say that Katie Holmes didn't work at all throughout her relationship with Tom Cruise. She did choose her projects carefully, however, appearing on the TV series  Eli Stone and even playing Jackie Kennedy in the Reelz mini series The Kennedys . But it's fair to say she has a new creative spirit, as she expressed while speaking to InStyle about her 2020 projects,  The Secret: Dare To Dream  and  Rare Objects , which will mark her second directorial effort. 2016's All We Had was her directorial debut.

Rare Objects  has been in the making for four or five years," Holmes told InStyle . "But whenever someone tells me no, I keep going. I'm not going to not do it." She appreciates her father's view that the struggles to see a project through make the victories sweeter. Plus, with age comes confidence for Holmes. "I have seen things. I have experienced things. I know what I'm talking about, and I know that my feelings and my insights are worthy," she said, adding, "I'm going to listen to myself instead of deferring to someone else. That's a big step as a human. It takes time."

We're so happy Holmes has found her strength. Perhaps Cruise did change everything for the twenty-something actress he met in 2005. Change can take you to unexpected destinations. But it's growing and learning on the journey that matters.

• Today's news
• Reviews and deals
• Climate change
• 2024 election
• Fall allergies
• Health news
• Mental health
• Sexual health
• Family health
• So mini ways
• Unapologetically
• Buying guides

Entertainment

• How to Watch
• My watchlist
• Stock market
• Biden economy
• Personal finance
• Stocks: most active
• Stocks: gainers
• Stocks: losers
• Trending tickers
• World indices
• US Treasury bonds
• Top mutual funds
• Highest open interest
• Highest implied volatility
• Currency converter
• Basic materials
• Communication services
• Consumer cyclical
• Consumer defensive
• Financial services
• Industrials
• Real estate
• Mutual funds
• Credit cards
• Balance transfer cards
• Cash back cards
• Rewards cards
• Travel cards
• Online checking
• High-yield savings
• Money market
• Home equity loan
• Personal loans
• Student loans
• Options pit
• Fantasy football
• Pro Pick 'Em
• College Pick 'Em
• Fantasy baseball
• Fantasy hockey
• Fantasy basketball
• Download the app
• Daily fantasy
• Scores and schedules
• GameChannel
• World Baseball Classic
• Premier League
• CONCACAF League
• Champions League
• Motorsports
• Horse racing
• Newsletters

New on Yahoo

• Privacy Dashboard

Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes’s Relationship Timeline: The Way They Were

• Oops! Something went wrong. Please try again later. More content below

Out of the spotlight. Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes ' marriage — and subsequent split — has been a major topic of conversation over the years. The couple first sparked dating speculation after they were seen on a trip to Europe together in 2005. Following a whirlwind romance, Cruise and Holmes got engaged later that year before welcoming their daughter in 2006. During their courtship, the Abandon star confirmed that she was going to convert to Scientology. "You know, it's really exciting," Holmes told W Magazine in 2005 about the controversial religion. "I just started auditing and I'm taking some courses and I really like it. I feel like it's really helping." The Dawson's Creek alum exchanged vows with the Top Gun: Maverick star in 2006, shortly after they expanded their family. Cruise and Holmes shocked fans when they announced their separation in June 2012 after five years of marriage. At the time, a source exclusively told Us Weekly that the Batman Begins actress was "very happy" that she could "move on and finally live her life." Less than one year later, the Oscar nominee noted in an interview that that he "didn't expect" his ex to file for divorce in 2012. Holmes, for her part, opened up about making plans to return to her acting career. "Even early on, when I was a young actor and all of a sudden people knew who I was, my dad told me, 'Don't let that change how you live your life.' I've always sort of approached it that way," she detailed to DuJour magazine in 2014. "You have to continue to do the things you want to do and not let outside forces dictate." The New York native continued: "I think I've gotten more comfortable with acting over time. Early on, I could never get out of my head. I'd be thinking, 'I have to get the job.' And even when I had the job, I was afraid that I was going to get fired, or I just had the mentality of, 'I need to be good enough.'" Holmes said she was looked forward to getting to explore her passion again, saying, "But the more projects you do, the older you get, the more life experience you get, you start to understand storytelling better. So you're a little bit more confident going in. You're not afraid of getting fired: You just want to contribute." The Miss Meadows star clarified that she didn't blame her marriage for her career hiatus. "It's the life of an actor. We don't really have a lot of choice in the matter. You have dry spells, and then you have times when there is a lot of opportunity," she concluded. Nearly a decade after ending her marriage, Holmes opened up about the challenges of being a single mother. "That time was intense," she recalled to InStyle in April 2020. "It was a lot of attention, and I had a little child on top of it. [We] had some funny moments out and about in public. ... I feel like I can be more creative and have more time, have my voice." Holmes dated Jamie Foxx from 2013 to 2019. She was later linked to chef Emilio Vitolo and Bobby Wooten III. Cruise, for his part, previously sparked romance rumors with Hayley Atwell but has remained tight-lipped about his personal life.Sign up for Us Weekly's free, daily newsletter and never miss breaking news or exclusive stories about your favorite celebrities, TV shows and more! Scroll down to relive Cruise and Holmes' relationship:

Recommended Stories

Former mlb infielder, little league world series star sean burroughs dies at 43.

The seven-year major leaguer collapsed while coaching his son's Little League game on Thursday.

The best RBs for 2024 fantasy football, according to our experts

The Yahoo Fantasy football analysts reveal their first running back rankings for the 2024 NFL season.

Juan Soto’s unapologetic intensity and showmanship are captivating the Bronx and rubbing off on teammates: ‘Literally every pitch is theater’

The 2024 Yankees have rediscovered their bravado and hold the second-best record in the AL, thanks in large part to the superstar outfielder.

The FDIC change that leaves wealthy bank depositors with less protection

Affluent Americans may want to double-check how much of their bank deposits are protected by government-backed insurance. The rules governing trust accounts just changed.

Which pickup trucks get the best fuel economy? Here are the tops for gas mileage (or diesel)

Trucks aren't known for being fuel efficient, though times are changing. These are the trucks with the best gas mileage in various segments.

How rich homebuyers are avoiding high mortgage rates

Homebuyers with means are turning to an old strategy to get around a new crop of high mortgage rates: all-cash deals.

Timberwolves coach Chris Finch calls Jamal Murray's heat-pack toss on court 'inexcusable and dangerous'

Murray made a bad night on the court worse during a moment of frustration on the bench.

Dolphins owner Stephen Ross reportedly declined $10 billion for team, stadium and F1 race

The value of the Dolphins and Formula One racing is enormous.

Tight end rankings for fantasy football 2024

The Yahoo Fantasy football analysts reveal their first tight end rankings for the 2024 NFL season.

Golf’s moment of truth is here, and the sport is badly flailing

Nonexistent negotiations and missed opportunities for reconciliation between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf have the sport stuck in place.

Inside Tom Cruise's Relationship With Katie Holmes

Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes were Hollywood's golden couple in the '00s. Though the pair, who share and daughter, had a star-studded wedding in Italy, their inevitable separation is one of the most speculated about celebrity relationship splits in Tinseltown. And while they've not been married for nearly a decade, their relationship came with much drama and eye-catching headlines.

In fact,  Vanity Fair notes that when many people talk about Cruise and Holmes' relationship now, Scientology is often brought into the conversation in some capacity. Nine years after their divorce, the Daily Star writes that fans are still asking questions about what went wrong, what role the Church of Scientology played in their relationship, and what kind of relationship do Cruise and Holmes really have now amid co-parenting Suri.

In an April 2020 interview, Holmes told InStyle, "You can get consumed by what people think, but suddenly you just decide to do things on your own terms. I feel like I'm finally figuring that out. I'm getting the projects I want made and just relaxing a little. I've been around for a long time, and I'm still here! I can't believe it."

Insider outlines that following their split, a lot of focus went into how the couple could separate while also looking after their daughter and taking her needs into account. While they were only married for six years, Holmes and Cruise's relationship has gone down in celebrity history.

Tom and Katie's union was a whirlwind romance

When you were growing up you had stars that you spent hours daydreaming you'd one day marry, right? Well, for Katie Holmes, that star was Tom Cruise, who is 17 years her senior. Reportedly, during a 2004 interview with Seventeen magazine, Holmes gushed, "I used to think that I was going to marry Tom Cruise."

The Daily Star reports that Cruise and Holmes didn't start dating until April 2005 following the end of his 11-year marriage to Nicole Kidman. However, after they started dating things started to move pretty quickly. Insider reports that just a couple of months after they'd started dating, Cruise gave an interview with Oprah Winfrey which has gone down in pop culture history as he jumped on the sofa and declared his love. Holmes also told W Magazine that she was converting to Scientology.

By June 2005, the couple announced their engagement, per The Hollywood Reporter . It's reported that he proposed at the Eiffel Tower in Paris. In October of the same year, they announced they were expecting their first child. In April 2006, Suri was born. In November of that year, the proud parents tied the knot in a star-studded ceremony in the 15th century Odescalchi Castle in Bracciano, Italy. People reported the event included the 20-minute "double ring" Scientology ceremony and the traditional Scientology wedding pledge.

Tom never expected to get divorced

During their six-year marriage, Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes shared a lot of their lives in the press. In a 2010 interview with Marie Clare , Holmes spoke openly about her marriage. "It's an amazing life," the actress said, "but we always remind ourselves of how incredibly lucky we are." Holmes also revealed that the couple may have more children in the future.

So, when it was announced that Holmes had filed for divorce in 2012, it came as a shock to some fans. Cruise's publicist Amanda Lundberg told E! News, "Kate has filed for divorce and Tom is deeply saddened and is concentrating on his three children. Please allow them their privacy." As many know, Tom shares two children with ex-wife Nicole Kidman. 

Around that time,  Vanity Fair  conducted an investigation into the involvement of the Church of Scientology in Cruise's love life. The outlet reported that there was almost an audition process for people to become Cruise's partner before he was with Holmes. After she filed for divorce, Goalcast writes that the Church of Scientology wanted to keep proceedings internal but that isn't what Holmes opted for.

According to the LA Times, Holmes hired three law firms in three states and made calls about the divorce on a disposable cellphone. Fans followed proceedings closely and People reported that the divorce was settled in just 11 days with Holmes getting primary custody of Suri.

What's Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes' relationship like now?

Following their separation, Katie Holmes and Tom Cruise have kept their private lives just that – to themselves. According to  InStyle , there were rumors that part of the couple's divorce settlement included Holmes not dating publicly for five years following their separation, however, there are no reports to substantiate this claim.

Harper's Bazaar reports that Holmes dated Jamie Foxx for six years before they split in May 2019. In September 2020 the Daily Mail reports that she'd moved on with chef Emilio Vitolo Jr.

By December of that year, the Sun speculated that Cruise had started to date his "Mission Impossible" co-star Hayley Atwell after they were pictured together holding hands. This is one of the first times that the press has speculated about Cruise's love life since his separation from Holmes.

While Holmes and Cruise have rarely spoken about their separation since their divorce, Holmes told InStyle, "People say you don't really know yourself until you're 40. I'm 41. I have seen things. I have experienced things. I know what I'm talking about, and I know that my feelings and my insights are worthy. I'm going to listen to myself instead of deferring to someone else. That's a big step as a human. It takes time."

Katie Holmes Takes Control

Whether producing her newest film, battling Tom in Scrabble, or making Suri do her chores, this style icon is a woman in charge.Plus: Go behind the scenes of her Marie Claire cover shoot and see all the exclusive photos from her sexy spread.

Katie Holmes doesn't really walk; she glides. Wearing blue jeans and a white V-neck T-shirt, she effortlessly navigates her way through the busy lobby of Hollywood's Sunset Tower Hotel, slides into a corner booth, and apologizes for being late — barely 10 minutes. "I drove myself and I'm a slow driver," she confesses. She is radiant — not a stitch of makeup, her famously bobbed brown hair now grown out with bangs she frequently brushes to the side. I find myself getting distracted by her cheekbones and her soft but determined voice. This is the face TV audiences fell in love with 12 years ago on  Dawson's Creek  and the same one that had Tom Cruise jumping on couches. After spending time with Holmes, I can't blame him. Honest, self-effacing, and funny, Holmes at 31 seems comfortable and confident in her role as an actress, wife, and mother.

Which is refreshing, because for those of us who loved Joey, her apple-cheeked, perky-but-vulnerable character on  Dawson's Creek , there was a moment a few years ago when it seemed as though Holmes might have been swallowed up by the Hollywood media machine. But the Holmes we know and love is back — if not exactly the teen sweetheart who peered out from behind a tire swing on the cover of  Rolling Stone  in 1998, then a chic, grown-up version, in control of her life and at peace with her place in the Hollywood firmament. She not only stars in her new film,  The Romantics , but also served as an executive producer, and according to producer Jennifer Todd, "She really was a producer. It wasn't just a credit given to her. She's been relentless in trying to help get this film out. She has a real love of cinema and a real passion for seeing a project through from start to finish."

Based on the novel of the same name by Galt Niederhoffer, who also wrote and directed the film,  The Romantics  takes place over the course of a weekend and centers around a close group of friends from college who have all gathered to celebrate the wedding of Lila (Anna Paquin) and Tom (Josh Duhamel), who was the college boyfriend of Laura (Holmes). "I just look for characters I can relate to. I loved this role because it felt like these are things that people go through," Holmes tells me. "It has friendship, it has heartbreak, it has the past coming back into your life. I also liked the friendship between Lila and Laura because it's tricky between women — you are either a friend to women or you are not." Holmes continues, "That stuff for me is very real. I have three sisters, I went to an all-girls academy. I feel like I know girls and know how we fight, and Galt really nailed it. I just thought the movie felt very true."

The film was something of a sensation at Sundance last January, and Holmes' performance was universally praised. "The enthusiasm that existed around this project was just awesome," she says. "We all get together now and do dinners. We really did become great friends, and that's rare — to continue those friendships." Niederhoffer agrees. "We very quickly decided we trusted and liked each other and proceeded to act like a family or group of dear friends," she says. "Katie was an essential part of this magical experience. Whether she was bringing coffee and cupcakes to the cast and crew or thanking the teamsters on her way home from set, she believes and behaves as though every interaction, every person in life, should be treated with importance and care."

Kind of amazing for an actress who was seemingly shot out of a cannon a few years ago — from being just a famous actress to One of the Biggest Celebrities in the World. So ... what's it like being Mrs. Cruise? Holmes laughs. "It's really exciting. Tom's as big at home as he is on the movie screen. He's so passionate about everything, whatever he's doing. When he's being a dad, he's right there; he's giving it his all. It's inspiring and it's fun. It's an amazing life, but we always remind ourselves of how incredibly lucky we are." They visit each other on set when they can — Holmes is currently working in Toronto — and they do manage to have date nights, usually screening a current movie in their Beverly Hills home, followed by "probably a two-hour discussion about what we thought." They also play a lot of Scrabble. Holmes, always the straight-A student, is a formidable opponent. "But Tom's really good at it," she admits. "It's all strategy. I think when I'm back in Toronto, I'm going to bring my dictionary and study."

Despite their hectic schedules, they've never spent more than a week-and-a-half without seeing each other. At this point they have no plans to have more children. "Maybe in a couple of years, but right now I want to make sure I'm really there for Suri. I'm the youngest in my family — my closest sister is five years older than me, and the next one is nine years ahead of me, so I was a bit of an only child, and I liked it! I liked having all of my mom's attention, and sometimes I think I still do."

Holmes grew up the youngest of five in a traditional Catholic household in Toledo, Ohio. Her father was an attorney, her mother a homemaker who was also an expert seamstress. (Katie made a lot of Suri's baby clothes, and in 2009 started a clothing line with stylist Jeanne Yang called Holmes & Yang.) I ask what part of her upbringing she hopes to pass along to Suri, who often comes to work with her mother and is homeschooled.

Stay In The Know

Marie Claire email subscribers get intel on fashion and beauty trends, hot-off-the-press celebrity news, and more. Sign up here.

"We travel a lot, and so for me, it's keeping a daily schedule for Suri that never changes," Holmes tells me. "We wake up, and we do the same thing. She does her chores. I think it's very important. If she doesn't get her chores done, I notice she's not really herself. She has to make her bed, she has to take her dishes to the sink, she has to put her clothes in the laundry — you know, that basic stuff. I try to do what my mom did for me ... just spending time with her, making doll clothes and planting in the garden ... When Suri comes to the set, we have art projects, and I just try to keep her busy and inspired."

Read the rest of  Marie Claire 's exclusive interview with the star in our October 2010 issue, on newsstands September 14.

Want more? Check out  Katie Holmes' hair evolution through the years !

She looks ready for the sun in a side-slit, cutout dress.

By Halie LeSavage Published 11 May 24

“Charles loves his sons, but he also loves his wife.”

By Danielle Campoamor Published 11 May 24

Tour outfit number two is already here.

By Halie LeSavage Published 10 May 24

The 'Modern Family' stars reunited for the 'Pitch Perfect' spinoff series.

By Brooke Knappenberger Published 23 November 22

Honestly, we're impressed.

By Charlotte Chilton Published 26 October 22

From childhood snapshots to portraits as a young princess, beautiful and rare photos of the late Queen Elizabeth as a young woman.

By Mehera Bonner Published 8 September 22

With the passing of Queen Elizabeth II, Charles has ascended to the throne as king.

By The Editors Published 8 September 22

And yes—Harry and Archie are still in the line of succession.

By Andrea Park Published 8 September 22

AOC's husband-to-be is an "easygoing redhead" who lives with her in D.C.

By Katherine J. Igoe Published 19 May 22

And we mean fully nude—as in, not a shred of clothing.

By Bianca Rodriguez Published 1 March 22

"The easiest yes!" Simone wrote about the couple's engagement.

By The Editors Published 15 February 22

• Contact Future's experts
• Advertise Online
• Terms and conditions
• Privacy policy
• Cookies policy

Marie Claire is part of Future plc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Visit our corporate site . © Future US, Inc. Full 7th Floor, 130 West 42nd Street, New York, NY 10036.

• Entertainment
• Royal Family
• Food & Drink
• Mental Health
• Sex & Relationships
• Documentaries
• I'm a Celebrity

To make sure you never miss out on your favourite NEW stories , we're happy to send you some reminders

Click ' OK ' then ' Allow ' to enable notifications

Katie Holmes gives rare interview about 16-year-old daughter Suri Cruise

Katie holmes has started working with her daughter on film projects.

After years of being plagued by paparazzi Katie Holmes decided to keep her daughter, Suri Cruise, out of the spotlight.

But now that her daughter is 16 and starting to come into her own, Katie is slowly starting to speak about Suri in interviews again - and even enlisting her help in her film projects.

The Dawson's Creek star welcomed Suri with Tom Cruise back in 2006, but the couple parted ways just six years later.

Speaking about how protective she feels over her daughter, Katie told Glamour: "What has been really important for me with my daughter, because she was so visible at a young age, is I really like to protect her.

"I'm very grateful to be a parent, to be her parent. She's an incredible person."

Katie also spoke about how Suri has slowly started getting involved in her mum's work.

For example, in the 2022 film Alone Together , which Katie wrote, directed and starred in, she asked her daughter to sing a cover of the song 'Blue Moon' for the opening credits.

Next, she'll sing for Katie's upcoming movie Rare Objects .

"I hope she always does something on my films. I always ask her," Katie shared.

She explained that asking Suri to sing in her films 'came out of the same sense of what [she loves] about the industry' - the fact that the people you work with on-set become a family, and that it can be a 'safe, beautiful, creative space'.

"So it comes out of love for me to include someone who I love dearly," she continued.

"I like to have that kind of feeling. It was very meaningful to me to have her there, because she's my heart."

Last month, Katie also briefly mentioned her teen daughter in an interview with Variety, revealing that she had finally shown Suri Dawson's Creek.

"She has seen Dawson's Creek, and I think it's probably weird since she's a teenager," Katie said at the time.

"I'm not like, 'You need to watch Mommy's work'. But during the pandemic, we had a good laugh about it."

She noted that it was pretty 'wild' to have a daughter who was 'almost the same age' as she was when she started her acting career.

Katie made her first film debut in 1997, when she was 19 years old, in The Ice Storm .

Within a year, she had landed the role of Joey Potter on Dawson's Creek.

Topics:  Celebrity , Parenting

Ali is a journalist for LADbible Group, writing on all things film, music, and entertainment across Tyla, LADbible and UNILAD. You can contact Ali at [email protected] .

@ alicondon

Choose your content:

Love Island star Camilla Thurlow announces birth of third child and reveals adorable name

Huge congratulations to camilla and jamie.

Hailey Bieber previously admitted being 'scared' about starting a family with Justin

Hailey bieber wasn't expecting this twist.

Justin Bieber fans all make same prediction after he announces he’s having a baby with wife Hailey

We're about to be hearing a whole lot more of a certain throwback tune.

People left baffled after ‘trad wife’ Nara Smith makes bubblegum from scratch

Nara smith's cooking antics just got more strange.

• Fans slam Katie Price over ‘disturbing’ World Book Day costume for nine-year-old daughter Bunny
• Zayn Malik reveals rare update about daughter Khai as he gives insight into life on his farm
• Joe Wicks defends removing five-year-old daughter Indie from school
• Katie Price says nine-year-old son Jett hasn't attended school in nine months

The Exclusive Interview

WATCH OWN APP

Download the Watch OWN app and access OWN anytime, anywhere. Watch full episodes and live stream OWN whenever and wherever you want. The Watch OWN app is free and available to you as part of your OWN subscription through a participating TV provider.

NEWSLETTERS

SIGN UP FOR NEWSLETTERS TODAY AND ENJOY THE BENEFITS.

• Stay up to date with the latest trends that matter to you most.
• Have top-notch advice and tips delivered directly to you.
• Be in the know on current and upcoming trends.

OPRAH IS A REGISTERED TRADEMARK OF HARPO, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © 2024 HARPO PRODUCTIONS, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. OWN: OPRAH WINFREY NETWORK

Tom Cruise jumped on Oprah's couch 16 years ago and it hasn't aged well

In May 2005, Tom Cruise momentarily lost the run of himself and trampled all over Oprah's couch as he proclaimed his love for Katie Holmes during an interview.

After months of speculation that the pair were together, Tom finally spoke of their relationship on Oprah's chat show and sent the host and viewers in the studio into the frenzy with his antics.

A month before this, Tom and Katie -- known as TomKat for a period -- made their first public appearance together in Rome, making them the most talked-about Hollywood couple of the time.

So, you can only imagine the mileage fans, haters, and the media all got out that *that* Oprah interview.

The actor , then 42, wasn't appearing on the show to lep about, and shout his love for the Dawson's Creek star , then 26, but instead to talk about his upcoming movie War of the Worlds also starring 11-year-old Dakota Fanning.

The interview was happening as Oprah's talk show was at the height of its popularity and audience members were regularly leaving with cars and a feeling of having been in the presence of royalty.

With the excitement in the studio already high, Oprah introduced Tom to the crowd, and, well, it all went downhill from there.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQgXEkL3NV4

At the time, some called it sweet watching Tom talk about his new romance, however, I never felt it right to categorise it as 'sweet' but rather cringe-inducing.

'You're gone,' Oprah said of Tom's first pumping and victory laps of the studio -- a fairly appropriate and presumingly unintentionally Irish way of describing the moment.

As the frenzy in the studio began to die down with Tom's ongoing victory lap, Oprah took the reigns and prompted Tom to create another headline moment.

'Get Katie out here,' the host told Tom as the actor headed for backstage to push -- literally -- his new girlfriend out in front of the cameras and the hysterical viewers.

A reluctant Katie joined Tom and embraced Oprah as audience members continued to exert themselves at the sight of the pair together.

The moment was all over celebrity blogs and made his relationship with Katie the only celebrity love story worth talking about for the foreseeable.

Within months, Katie and Tom announced they were expecting their first child and a year later, the couple was married in a Scientologist ceremony in front of many A-lister pals.

Some 16 years later, with Katie and Tom long divorced and their daughter Suri now celebrating her 15th birthday, looking back at this iconic TV moment feels totally removed from where we are now.

The moment continues to be a pop culture reference for many who will think of Tom when gushing about a new love or testing out a new sofa.

10 celebrity couples that you probably never knew dated

Tom cruise does the splits on the dancefloor at victoria beckham's 50th birthday, katie holmes rocks grey roots with a messy side-swept braid for a chanel event in nyc, 'i haven't got my top gun slippers on: 'prince william jokes with wingman tom cruise at fundraiser, check out these five new arrivals on sky this february.

Jess Redden is the epitome of summer elegance as she acts as bridesmaid for friend's destination wedding

Loreen wants to duet with Johnny Logan after 'very beautiful' Eurovision performance

'The one thing that stands out with Patrick Kielty...' the verdict is in on Late Late Show host's first season

Gin lovers! We've found an unforgettable afternoon tea experience for your next day out

'We're a family of five!' Camilla Thurlow and Jamie Jewitt welcome third child

Irish designer Claire Garvey surprised and delighted that Bambie Thug chose her designs For Eurovision

Ryan Gosling Vs Ryan Reynolds: Test your knowledge in our quiz

Prince William gives an update on Kate's cancer treatment

Oprah apologises for being 'major contributor' to diet culture as she admits she took diet pills

Jennifer Zamparelli looks set for a radio show revamp

More: trending.

• Search Please fill out this field.
• Manage Your Subscription
• Give a Gift Subscription
• Newsletters
• Sweepstakes

Brooke Shields Reveals the 'Perfect' Wedding Gift She Gave Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes

Shields recalled that Holmes asked her to get "something old" as a gift for her wedding to Cruise, which sent the actress shopping at "antique places"

Dominik Bindl/Getty; John Sciulli/Getty

Brooke Shields says knew the perfect gift to get Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes for their 2006 nuptials.

The Mother of the Bride star, 58, shared in an interview with Entertainment Weekly that she couldn’t turn down going to the former couple’s invitation to their elaborate wedding in Italy.

"Of course I was gonna say yes to that," Shields told EW . "I was like, 'Yes. I will [come] — as long as I'm not the something old!'"

She shared that her little quip prompted the Dawson’s Creek actress, 45, to request some help in that department to keep in line with the popular wedding tradition.  

"[Holmes] goes, 'Oh, will you?' And I said, 'What? Bring myself as the something old?,' ” Shields recalled. “And she goes, ‘No, will you get the something old?’ ” 

The Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields star said she had no other choice but to help out the bride. "I had to, like, hunt antique places to find the perfect, you know, gift to give her,” she said.

“Do we get to know what it was?,” Shield’s Mother of the Bride costar Benjamin Bratt then asked. 

Never miss a story — sign up for  PEOPLE's free daily newsletter  to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

"It was a little compact that you put a ring. It was Victorian, and it was really beautiful," the actress described the gift. "And so [they’re] supposed to be able to look at their reflection in it and have it around their finger."

She added that the gift was “really beautiful." 

Despite the couple appearing to have kept in line with wedding superstitions, they eventually split in June 2012 .

Shields has had her own bumpy friendship with the Top Gun star, 61, after he criticized her antidepressant use on the Today show in 2006. The pair eventually mended things , with the actress noting that he had gone over to her house and offered “a heartfelt apology.”

In 2023, during an interview with PEOPLE, she also revealed that she used to receive coconut Christmas cakes from Cruise — who is known to send the sweet treat to his famous friends during the holidays — though she eventually fell off his list. 

"I was on the list for a while. I had a good 10-year run, and I got the coconut cake every year, which I was very happy [about]," she said. “... And then the cake stopped." She added that she hoped to get back on the recipient list eventually. 

Related Articles

• Entertainment
• Celebrities
• Ticket Sales
• Promoted: What to Watch on Prime Video

trending now in Entertainment

Prince Harry 'in tears' after King Charles bestows military honor...

High-powered NBC exec reveals what she really thinks about Meghan...

Justin Timberlake 'retired' by fans, amid poor album, concert...

Prince William shares update on cancer battle after bystander...

Mary J. Blige’s alimony ‘pissed’ her off — so she created...

'Sopranos' star Drea de Matteo, 52, credits OnlyFans for paying...

Irish Eurovision contestant cries after Israel makes finals of...

Kate Middleton will only see Prince Harry in London on 1...

Brooke shields accepted tom cruise, katie holmes’ 2006 wedding invite on 1 condition year after public feud.

• View Author Archive
• Get author RSS feed

Thanks for contacting us. We've received your submission.

Brooke Shields “of course” was always going to attend Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes’ 2006 wedding — but initially joked why she would have skipped.

“I was gonna say yes to that,” Shields, 58, told Entertainment Weekly . “I was like, ‘Yes. I will — as long as I’m not the something old!'”

The “Dawson’s Creek” alum, 45, then made a special request before walking down the aisle.

“She goes, ‘Oh, will you?’ And I said, ‘What? Bring myself as the something old?'”

“I had to, like, hunt antique places,” Shields went on, “to find the perfect, you know, gift to give her.”

Luckily, the “Mother of the Bride” actress found a Victorian present for Holmes.

“It was a little compact that you put a ring … So you’re supposed to be able to look at their reflection in it and have it around their finger,” she explained to EW. “It was really beautiful.”

In 2006, Shields and Cruise got into a public spat when Cruise shamed her for taking medication to address her postpartum depression. “It was so ridiculous to me,” Shields said in her 2023 Hulu documentary, “Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields.”

“It’s not about the moral thing, or the right thing, or the good thing. It’s about who has more power.”

Cruise gave his take on Today with now-former co-host Matt Lauer. “There is no such thing as a chemical imbalance. The thing that I’m saying about Brooke is that there’s misinformation. She doesn’t understand the history of psychiatry,” he said at the time. Despite the feud, Shields ultimately got a wedding invite.

Holmes and Cruise, 61, meanwhile, welcomed daughter Suri that same year.

Last month, Suri — who is still estranged from Cruise — turned 18. Suri has mainly grown up in Manhattan and has been shielded from Cruise’s Church of Scientology since the exes split in 2012.

Last year, Holmes told Glamour magazine that she likes to “protect” Suri from the public eye “because she was so visible at a young age.”

She added: “I’m very grateful to be a parent, to be her parent. She’s an incredible person. She’s my heart.”

Cruise, for his part, is also dad to two adopted children, Bella, now 31, and Connor, now 29, with ex-wife Nicole Kidman. Earlier this month, a photograph he took with Bella and Connor in December 2023 went viral. It was the first image of the three together shown in public since 2009.

“My whole life I always wanted to be a father,” the “Top Gun: Maverick” actor told Vanity Fair in 2006.

“I always said to myself that my children would be able to depend on me and I would always be there for them and love them — that I’d never make a promise to my kids that I couldn’t keep.”

He went on: “I’m not one of those people who believe you can spoil a child with too much love. You can never give a child too much love. There’s just no way.”

Share this article:

Advertisement

An A-List Guest Just Spilled a New Detail About Tom Cruise & Katie Holmes' 2006 Wedding

Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes may be divorced for over 12 years but their brief marriage is still one of Hollywood's most high-profile pairings. Given the public fascination, its no surprise that some A-listers are still dropping information about their 2006 Italian wedding.

Brooke Shields is the latest to weigh in with a never-before-heard detail, though actress Leah Remini is who we've come to expect these tidbits from ! Shields dropped new information in an interview with Entertainment Weekly ahead of her new movie Mother of the Bride.

Shields revealed just couldn't turn down an invite to the high-profile wedding, which came after Cruise apologized for publicly criticizing the Pretty Baby star after she bravely revealed she took anti-depressants to treat her postpartum depression.

"Of course, I was gonna say yes to that," Shields told Entertainment Weekly . "I was like, ‘Yes. I will - as long as I'm not the something old!'"

The star revealed that Holmes rather hilariously agreed and asked her to be in charge of bringing a gift to fit the "something old" tradition. "She goes, ‘Oh, will you?' And I said, ‘What? Bring myself as the something old?'"

"I had to, like, hunt antique places," Shields said, "to find the perfect, you know, gift to give her." The actress eventually settled on what sounds like a beautiful gift!

"It was a little compact that you put a ring…, " Shields said. "So you're supposed to be able to look at their reflection in it and have it around their finger."

While were not sure when exactly this invite was extended, Shields did reveal i n a September 2006 interview (just two months before the wedding) that Cruise came to her house in person to apologize after he advanced Scientology's stance against anti-depressants.

"He came over to my house, and he gave me a heartfelt apology," Shields said during an appearance on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno . "And he apologized for bringing me into the whole thing and for everything that happened."

"And through it all, I was so impressed with how heartfelt it was. And I didn't feel at any time that I had to defend myself, nor did I feel that he was trying to convince me of anything other than the fact that he was deeply sorry. And I accepted it."

Cruise and Holmes married in an elaborate ceremony in an Italian castle in an event that reportedly cost over 3 million dollars. In addition to Shields, other celebrity guests included Jennifer Lopez, David and Victoria Beckham, Will and Jada Pinkett-Smith, and more.

Holmes filed for divorce six years later, in a filing that is largely suspected to have been an attempt to save the couple's daughter, Suri Cruise , from being swept up in Scientology, the controversial church that Cruise is famously a member of.

Before you go, click here to see Tom Cruise & Katie Holmes entire relationship timeline:

More from SheKnows

• Brooke Shields Reveals the Sentimental Tattoo She Got With Daughter Grier on Her 18th Birthday