Looking back. Katie Holmes reflected on raising her now-13-year-old daughter, Suri, immediately following her 2012 split from Tom Cruise.
“That time was intense,” the actress, 41, told InStyle in her April 2020 cover story, published on Wednesday, March 11. “It was a lot of attention, and I had a little child on top of it. [Suri and I] had some funny moments out and about in public.”
The Dawson’s Creek alum “actually cried” when a “kind” cab driver helped Holmes carry her sleeping daughter to their building at the time.
“Suri was 6 or 7, and she was spending the night at a friend’s house while I was seeing the ballet at Lincoln Center,” she explained to the outlet. “At 10, I got a call: ‘Mommy, can you come get me?’ I got a cab and went down to Battery Park to pick her up. She was exhausted. She fell asleep on the way home, and when we pulled up to our building, the cab driver opened the door and helped me not wake her.”
The Ohio native and Cruise, 57, welcomed their little one in 2005 and tied the knot the following year. The actors split in 2012 when Holmes filed for divorce, and Cruise’s ex-wife Nicole Kidman offered Holmes “her support and help.” A source told Us Weekly exclusively at the time: “They’ve spoken over the last few weeks. Nicole has been supportive, saying she’s been through it too and to hang in there.”
Now Holmes’ main focus in raising the teenager is to “nurture her into her individuality.” The Broadway star said, “[I want] to make sure she is 100 percent herself and strong, confident, and able. And to know it. She came out very strong — she’s always been a strong personality. She’ll pick an activity and work her butt off until she’s really good at it. Then she’s like, ‘OK, I’m going to try the next thing.’ She’s very focused and a hard worker.”
Suri is “pretty special,” her mom added, noting that she’s able to focus more on her own career now. “I feel like I can be more creative and have more time, have my voice,” Holmes explained. “It’s sort of, like, just put your stuff out there and be yourself. It takes a while to be comfortable, though.”
In November 2019, the Logan Lucky star told Elle UK that welcoming Suri in her 20s meant that she and her daughter “grew up together.”
As for Cruise, the Scientologist hasn’t been seen in public with Suri since 2013.
