Katie Holmes and Suri Cruise have the kind of mother/daughter bond that truly warms the heart.
Though Katie often keeps her now 15-year-old out of the spotlight and is notoriously private when it comes to discussing her, the bits and pieces we do get let us know that Suri is shaping up to be quite the young lady. All the while, she's maintained a close relationship with her mom, who has also navigated a lot of growth and change throughout her life.
She also looks remarkably like her mother, although you can't deny there's a touch of her dad in her unique and striking looks as well. Suri and her father, actor Tom Cruise, reportedly have been estranged since approximately 2012, when Katie and Tom split up after six years of marriage. Though there have been reports Tom wants to mend fences, it doesn't appear to be that easy, since nothing has publicly come of it just yet.
On Sunday, Katie Holmes wished her only child, Suri Cruise, a happy 15th birthday. She shared some rare photos of Suri as a younger child on Instagram.
"Happy 15th Birthday Sweetheart! I love you!!!!!!!! ❤️ ," Katie wrote.
"I can't believe you are already 15!"
Katie very rarely speaks about Suri in interviews, allowing her daughter the privacy she wasn't afforded early on in life. Paparazzi relentlessly followed Katie and Suri during the time Katie was married to Suri's father, Tom Cruise. Katie and Tom were married from 2006 to 2012, when Katie filed for divorce.
That said, Katie has been comfortable making careful comments about her experiences as Suri's mom. In an interview with Elle UK, she reflected on how perfectly Suri fit into her life.
"I was happy to become a mum in my twenties," she said.
"It's been nice that our ages fit … how do I put this? Every age that my child has been and my age at that time has been a good match. We kind of grew up together."
In that same interview, she talked about the usual parental concerns about her child, then 13, entering those dicey teen years.
"Doesn't every parent?" Katie says of the worry.
"But, yes, of course I'm worried. There is so much bad news and hate and things that don't make sense … The atmosphere around the world is … terrifying."
In an October 2020 essay for Vogue Australia, Katie shared what it was like to be home with a teen Suri during the health crisis, in New York City.
"Hobbies such as sewing, painting and writing became new hallmarks of satisfaction and having had time at home to just be," she wrote.
"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."
The bond between Katie and Suri is one of the sweetest out there. Their closeness brings attention to the fact that Suri doesn't appear to have a close relationship with her father, however. Tom and Suri have reportedly been estranged since he and Katie divorced in 2012.
In April 2019, reports began to surface that Tom was looking to reconnect with his daughter.
"As challenging as things have become for him and his daughter, he still loves her," an insider told Hollywood Life.
"[He] thinks about her all the time and will recognize that she is becoming a teenager and a young woman on her [13th birthday]."
"Tom never intended to be estranged from his daughter when he decided to have a family with Katie and looks forward to repairing the relationship one day," the source continued.
In an interview in Vanity Fair in 2006, when the former couple introduced Suri to the world, Tom spoke about how important being a father is to him.
"My whole life I always wanted to be a father," Tom said.
"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 continued.
"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."
Whatever attempts Tom may have made, there hasn't been any public indication of a reconciliation. Tom has avoided questions about Suri in the press. Though he reportedly calls and sends gifts, the father and daughter may have some way to go to mending their relationship.
