Katie Holmes and Suri Cruise: Time to give them a break?
Katie Holmes and daughter Suri Cruise have been in the public eye ever since the actress filed divorce papers against Tom Cruise. We've been fascinated. But ... isn't it about time to give the family a break?
In this Nov. 17, 2006 file photo, actors Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes leave a Rome restaurant with their daughter Suri. Holmes and Suri have been photographed constantly since Holmes filed for divorce.
Alessandra Tarantino/AP
Anyone else out there starting to feel a little squeamish about the non-stop paparazzi attention on Katie Holmes – described in some tabloids last week as “New York’s most famous ex” – and daughter Suri Cruise these days?
I’ll admit, I was one of the fascinated ones just the other week, when celebrity news organizations (and heck, mainstream ones, too) began reporting that the actress had taken husband Tom Cruise by surprise with her “bombshell” divorce filing. I read the speculation – all speculation, mind you, with all unnamed sources – about whether Cruise’s Scientology religion was to blame; about how Holmes plotted the deed for a quick escape while Cruise was filming in Iceland; even about how her spokespeople seemed to be consciously calling her “Katie,” rather than the “Kate” that Cruise had insisted was more becoming.
Correspondent
Stephanie Hanes is the lead writer for Modern Parenthood and a longtime Monitor correspondent. She lives in Andover, Mass. with her husband, Christopher, her daughter, Madeline Thuli, a South Africa Labrador retriever, Karoo, and an imperialist cat named Kipling.
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And clearly, I wasn’t alone. Besides taking up ridiculous amounts of press space, this “celebrity divorce of the year” (what a weird world) seemed to touch a nerve particularly with other women in their 30s.
“I don’t usually follow this stuff, but I’m just fascinated,” is what one friend admitted to me, sounding similar to a number of others.
There was something about the uneven power dynamics of the Holmes-Cruise relationship – the older, more professionally-established man who seemed to be in control – that touched a sympathetic nerve. And there was that twist on the "meet and marry the prince" fairytale that was almost Elizabeth Gilbert-like in its “now I need to do what’s right for my life” style.
And man, for someone who getting divorced, Holmes looked pretty awesome.
But ... it’s getting a bit much. And I kinda feel that the TomKat daughter, who is only 6 years old, should be afforded a bit of privacy.
Every day, it seems, there are more photographs of Holmes and Suri walking down the street, going into shops, playing at the zoo, and eating ice cream. Today I checked the news and there was a crying Suri, upset apparently because Holmes wouldn’t buy her a puppy.
Some of the celebrity sites were even analyzing (positively, but c’mon) Suri’s fashion choices.
Holmes looks great in photos, confident and determined mommy smile in place, but the woman is an actress. Divorce is hard on everyone – certainly on kids.
It’s time, I think, to give the ladies a break.
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