Suri Cruise, 18, has shunned dad Tom for years after being gifted millions in spoilt childhood… can they ever heal rift?
AT the age of three, she was named “Hollywood’s Hottest Tot” by Forbes and had a designer wardrobe worth £2 million, complete with sparkly kitten heels.
But Suri Cruise, who turns 18 today, couldn’t have a more different life now after she shunned her father Tom, 61, and the limelight, following his divorce from Katie Holmes, 45, when she was just five years old.
Katie gained sole custody of Suri after the 2012 split, along with a generous settlement which saw Tom paying a reported £325,000 a year for his daughter’s care.
As rumours swirled about the cause of the split — with the finger pointed firmly at Tom’s association with the religion Scientology — Suri and Katie went off radar for years, rebuilding their lives in New York, 2,400 miles away from Los Angeles-based Tom.
Under the watchful eye of her protective mum, she hasn’t spoken to or seen her movie-star dad since Christmas 2013.
But with any deal made between Katie and Tom expiring today as Suri turns 18, will she finally break her silence on their estranged relationship?
Whirlwind romance
When Tom and Katie first got engaged in June 2005, after an eight-week whirlwind romance where he flew her off for dinner dates in his private jet, it seemed like a dream romance for both stars.
Tom famously jumped up and down on Oprah Winfrey’s sofa declaring his love for Katie that year.
And Katie, while previously engaged to actor Chris Klein in the early 2000s, had even told Seventeen magazine: “I think every girl dreams about her wedding. I used to think I was going to marry Tom Cruise.”
Suri was born seven months before their lavish wedding in 2006, which took place at a castle in Rome, costing over $3million, in front of celebrity pals including Jennifer Lopez, Will Smith and Jim Carrey.
The young tot quickly became the most famous child in Hollywood, making her debut on the cover of Vanity Fair just a few months later and being constantly photographed.
While many kids grow up sharing a room with their siblings, Suri had an entire wing of her parents’ Los Angeles mansion to herself, decked out with a state-of-the-art music system and home cinema – and a personal chef on call at all times.
For her second birthday, Suri’s sole wish was to “wear a butterfly dress”.
Her parents took her typical childlike request much further, splashing out £60,000 on a birthday party for just 24 guests, which included a four-tier birthday cake and the casual release of hundreds of live butterflies.
By the age of three, Suri had no official bedtime – and a wardrobe estimated at £2million which included sparkly kitten heels.
In 2009, she was seen on a five-hour shopping spree with her mum and an entourage of bodyguards, buying clothes and toys costing just under £6,000.
But shortly after Suri turned five, TomKat and Suri’s seemingly perfect life came crashing down, as Katie left Tom – with reports claiming she wanted to take her daughter away from Scientology.
What is Scientology?
THROUGHOUT the world, there are roughly 4,200 religions and among them is Scientology, founded in the 1950s by the late Dr. Lafayette Ronald Hubbard.
By definition, Scientology is, “the study and handling of the spirit in relationship to itself, universes and other life.”
Like Christianity, Scientology is another religion but instead of focusing on a God, those who practice focus on the science of the mind with the goal of spiritual enlightenment and freedom.
Those who believe in Scientology are known as Scientologists – they believe in an immortal spirit and in improving their spirit while on Earth.
The religion does not focus on a Heaven or Hell, instead it focuses on the spirit and mind.
When the first Scientology church was open in 1954, it was met with backlash in regard to its legitimacy as those in the medical community have long challenged the ideas behind it.
Despite its reputation, CNN reported that the religion has over 10,000 churches, missions and groups that operate out of 167 countries.
In 2017, at least 4.4 million people were signing up every year.
Actress Leah Remini was also known for practicing the religion but in 2013, she announced that she had left the church and later released a book and documentary series about her experiences.
Like Remini, actress Laura Prepon had also practiced the religion until she revealed in August 2021 that she quit.
Tom was filming in Iceland in 2012 when Katie phoned to say she wanted a divorce and would be taking their daughter away from LA and the Scientology Celebrity Centre, a hotel-style complex, where they lived.
The terms of their divorce settlement are ultra secret but documents show Tom agreed to pay Katie £325,000 a year until Suri turned 18, as well as all of his daughter’s expenses, including college fees.
Katie is also reportedly believed to have signed multiple non-disclosure documents that prevent her from ever talking about her marriage to Tom and her time inside Scientology.
However, unlike her mother, Suri, a now legally-declared adult by the state of New York, is in theory allowed to speak freely about her father and his beliefs.
A source previously told MailOnline: “Suri does not know her father anymore and she has not spent time with him in a decade.
“She does not go to see his movies and he has no part in her life.”
Tom is still close to his older children – Isabella, 31, who lives a quiet life in London, and son Connor, 29, a fishing guide in Florida – who are both believed to be involved in Scientology.
He adopted them with second wife, actress Nicole Kidman, 56, who filed for divorce in 2001 after 11 years of marriage and has reportedly not spoken to Tom for more than 20 years.
Like Katie and Suri, she cut all ties with the actor.
However, despite neither Isabella or Connor having been seen in public with Nicole in recent years, it does seem like there is some communication between them, as Isabella has ‘liked’ her mum’s recent Instagram posts.
Suri’s new life
Meanwhile, Suri’s life couldn’t be more different now.
A far cry from being “Hollywood’s Hottest Tot,” Suri has rarely been seen in public since she moved away from Hollywood to Manhattan, New York, and had a much more down-to-earth upbringing.
As soon as her parents’ divorce was finalised – and Katie had got custody – she gave Suri’s life an overhaul, putting a stop to the luxury clothes, even “returning unsolicited gifts and loans from designers”.
Before they split, Suri was often pictured wearing nail varnish and lipstick, but that was also stopped by Katie once they’d moved away from Tom.
A source told Vogue: “All that inappropriate dress-up and makeup was down to Tom.”
[Suri] has to make her bed, she has to take her dishes to the sink, she has to put her clothes in the laundry
Katie Holmes
Katie once revealed that they have a very structured schedule at home, complete with a list of chores Suri must do.
’’She has to make her bed, she has to take her dishes to the sink, she has to put her clothes in the laundry,” she told Marie Claire.
After being homeschooled at first, Suri was sent to a Catholic school, instead of attending a Scientology school like her older half-siblings. Her school was high on discipline, including attending mass every Thursday.
In a bid to keep her feet on the ground, Katie has ensured Suri has also spent plenty of time in her own hometown of Ohio, surrounded by her grandparents and aunts.
“They are a close-knit family and have done everything they can to be there for her and to help with her upbringing,” a source told US magazine.
Katie and Suri have even given back, volunteering together in a refugee camp, in Greece, in 2019.
At the time, Katie said: “I enjoy volunteering with my daughter and hearing her point of view and listening to her suggestions on how we can help.”
Suri – who is celebrating her 18th birthday in New York while her dad films an upcoming Mission Impossible movie in London – is now thinking about her future.
She is said to be thinking about going to fashion college in New York, “leaning towards” Fordham University – with Katie heavily involved in helping her daughter with the application.
A source told the Mail: “Suri is applying to schools all over the place. [Katie] really does want her to stay in New York so they can be close to each other.
“Katie takes great pride in her but is also extremely overprotective.”