Out of all the things I’d never thought I’d see on Instagram (civil conversation, Leonardo DiCaprio posting with his bonafide, Gwyneth Paltrow eating spray can cheese), Katie Holmes posting a photo of Tom Cruise is at the very top of that list.
This is a snapshot of a Daily Mail story about Suri receiving some kind of inheritance. A weak-ass story at best, but clearly Katie is sick of their sh-t, which is understandable.
Daily Mail has been all up in Katie’s business, particularly as it pertains to Tom and Suri, for years. Lainey wrote about it back in 2023, at the time wondering why DM ran with this. To quote Lainey, “What, then, is the play here? Why is the Daily Mail bringing up sh-t that was already public knowledge (most people are already quite aware that Tom and Suri have no relationship) and giving it a new twist? Who does it benefit?
That exact sentiment applies to a story about Suri receiving a trust fund. Rich person provides trust fund for child: not news. Tom Cruise is a movie star, so kind of news? Even then, meh. It’s thin. There’s no angle.
Since the divorce, Katie doesn’t f-ck with Tom and Tom doesn’t f-ck with Katie. There are no subtle jabs or planted stories and they’ve never gone back to court (as far as we know). There was no drawn-out legal battle like Brad and Angelina or years-long publicity cold war, like Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston. (Hey, look who’s a common denominator there!) Tom and Katie completely ignore each other and it seems to work. I’ve always suspected that it’s not just an NDA that holds her back; I think she truly wants nothing to do with that old life in any way, shape or form. People project a lot of thoughts and feelings onto her but she has never even hinted at wanting to engage in that conversation.
The DM story also says that Katie has set up a trust fund, which is another red flag. This is very, very low-level gossip because we are supposed to believe that the Daily Mail has an insider on Tom Cruise’s side that is aware of his financial obligations AND we are also supposed to believe that the Daily Mail has rock-solid sources on the Katie Holmes’s side. So the Daily Mail is so good at their job that they have sources on both sides! This is laughable. No one who has so much as shared an elevator with Katie Holmes would talk to the Daily Mail on her behalf.
For some reason, the Daily Mail is obsessed with Suri Cruise. They bought the exclusive photos of her at college (weirdo behavior) and just this week reported on a breakup Suri might have had (purposely not linking to it). Again, it’s invasive and strange to report on the life of someone who has never, ever sought any kind of public role. She doesn’t act, she doesn’t sing, she doesn’t even have public Instagram.
But but but, weren’t we just writing about Apple Martin? Yes, Apple was at a highly publicized event with a huge spread in Vogue and multiple sanctioned stories in PEOPLE magazine. All of the stories that came out about Apple may not have been fair or correct, but it was an environment in which attention is expected. Suri is going to college and minding her business.
Being in college, her classmates and roommates could read this, which makes Katie’s protectiveness understandable. Also, if she is living independently for the first time, I’m sure Katie doesn’t want anyone to think her daughter has access to millions of dollars, for many reasons.
There’s always the argument of the Streisand Effect and that Katie made this story bigger by posting it, including a photo of Tom on her grid, but after years of dodging and weaving stories like this it looks like she’s straight out of f-cks.
This story is bad but it’s also a reminder to old crones like me that TikTok didn’t invent bad gossip, it just accelerates it. Bad gossip has been around as long as people have been putting quill to scroll. What the Daily Mail created here is a classic grocery store checkout story – something you’d see in a headline completely forget by the time your groceries are bagged.
Join us at The Squawk today to talk about Katie and the Daily Mail. (App link here)
