His is one of the most recognizable smiles on the planet — not to mention that defined jawline and striking profile. So when Tom Cruise’s daughter, Suri, stepped out last weekend in New York on her 18th birthday, it was truly surprising to see just how much she looked like her famous father. Yet while his daughter with actress Katie Holmes celebrated, her A-list father was 3,500 miles away, filming in London.
You might imagine most fathers would endeavour to mark such a landmark date in person with their daughter. But the last time Cruise was pictured in Suri’s company was nearly 12 years ago, in July 2012, when she was just six
Suri — dressed as the Little Mermaid — clutched her father’s hand. Many people — some of them Cruise’s former friends — claim he hasn’t seen his daughter in person since then. Could this possibly be true? The question of what sort of relationship Cruise has with Suri — he also has two older children, Bella and Connor, adopted during his marriage to Nicole Kidman — is a riddle wrapped in an enigma and there is no clear answer.
Calls and emails to Amanda Lundberg, his publicist, and to his lawyer, asking whether he has seen Suri, go unanswered. It’s all the more perplexing because Cruise was so effusive about the importance of spending time with his daughter. Just think back to the 22-page portfolio in Vanity Fair in 2006, which pictured Suri for the first time. ‘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,’ he said at the time.
During a deposition in their bitter divorce battle, Cruise admitted he had not seen his youngest child, Suri, in over 100 days. He claimed it was due to his filming schedule and that they spoke on the phone frequently. However, some ex-friends of Cruise’s have suggested he is too controlling to allow Holmes near their children.
The issue of control over his children became a key point in his acrimonious divorce from Holmes, which was settled out of court in 2012. The pair had been married for just under six years and share two sons, Connor, now 23, and Bella, now 26.
Before the split, Cruise had spoken publicly about his desire to have more children with Holmes. But the divorce saw him become estranged from her family, including her sister, who he reportedly refused to speak to for years after the split.
In 2013, Cruise’s lawyers successfully sued Life & Style magazine over a story suggesting that he had abandoned Suri and Connor during his custody battle with Holmes. The article was later retracted and the publisher apologized to Cruise for any ‘distress caused’.
The issue of Suri’s relationship with her father became more prominent in 2013 when Cruise took legal action against two magazines which reported he had not seen his daughter in over 100 days. The actor claimed the articles were a ‘misrepresentation’ and that they spoke on the phone regularly.
However, some ex-friends of Cruise’s have suggested he is too controlling to allow Holmes near their children. In 2013, one source told People magazine: ‘Tom has always been very strict about who Suri sees and doesn’t see. It’s like she’s a prisoner in her own home.’
He has also been romantically linked to actress Emily Blunt.
Despite this, he has continued to speak publicly about his love for his children. In 2018, he told People magazine that Suri was ‘the light of my life’
One can only hope that his words are more than just lip service.
