“She’s Better Off”: Suri Cruise Turns 18 After Years Of Estrangement From Father Tom

Today is Tom Cruise’s estranged daughter Suri Cruise's 18th birthday, marking notable years as one of Hollywood’s most famous babies and a transition to a more private life with mom Katie Holmes.

Suri was born on April 18, 2006, and was famously featured in October of the same year on the cover of Vanity Fair in an article entitled "SOMEONE WANTED TO SEE ME?", which highlighted Tom and Katie’s at-the-time united family.

“I am sitting in Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes' bedroom with his children Isabella, 13, and Connor, 11,” the Vanity Fair reporter wrote at the time, referring to Tom’s children adopted from his previous marriage to Nicole Kidman.

The reporter later described a meeting with the family: “Tom and Katie, the kids, Tom's mom, Mary Lee, and his sister Cass and her children, along with many of Katie's family members—15 Holmeses in all—including her parents, Martin and Kathleen, and her brother and sisters and their kids.”

Back then, parents Katie and Tom were portrayed as a strong couple. Describing their newborn baby girl, Tom told Vanity: "She has Kate's lips and eyes.

"I think she looks like Kate," while Katie said: "I think she has Tom's eyes.

"I think she looks like Tom."

Fast forward to June 2012, when Katie filed for divorce from Tom, subsequently leaving her ex-spouse’s controversial religious organization, Scientology.

In July 2012, People reported that the Mission Impossible star and Katie agreed that Suri would live primarily with her mother in New York, USA, “with generous visitation by her father.”

While the Dawson's Creek actress and Suri moved into a three-bedroom apartment in the Big Apple, Tom was reportedly living in Los Angeles with Connor and Bella.

Weeks later, HuffPost reported that Katie had officially returned to the Catholic faith, registering as a parishioner at the Church of St. Francis Xavier in New York City “five years after revealing that she had started to study Scientology.”

“Everyone is thrilled to have Katie join us,” a member of the church's choir told HuffPost at the time. “She has not yet attended a service, but when she does she will be welcomed with open arms.”

Despite previous reports that Tom would continue to maintain a relationship with his ex-wife and his daughter, the separation from Scientology ultimately led to complete alienation.

In 2019, author Samantha Domingo told Us Weekly that Tom was not allowed to have a relationship with Suri because she is not a Scientologist.

She told the outlet that the reason was due to the church's belief in reincarnation, so they would not view Suri as Tom's daughter.

Nicole Kidman, who adopted Connor and Bella with Tom when they were married from 1990 to 2001, suffered a similarly strained relationship, as her children chose to stay in the controversial Church of Scientology, ultimately shunning the Moulin Rouge star away from them.

Suri has grown up in Manhattan, largely shielded from the spotlight by her loving and highly protective mom and far removed from her 60-year-old father's religion, which has been recognized as a harmful cult by many investigations.

An industry source told Page Six that Tom has not seen Suri since 2012. “Katie has safeguarded Suri and she’s a devoted mom,” the source said.

The source added: “This is a girl who is a private citizen.

“She hasn’t lived her life in public.”

In 2023, the 45-year-old mom told Glamour that she liked to “protect” Suri from the public eye “because she was so visible at a young age.”

“I’m very grateful to be a parent, to be her parent. She’s an incredible person. She’s my heart,” she added.

Tom and Suri were last seen together at Disney World in the summer of 2012.

In November 2013, during a deposition in his $50 million court battle against a pair of tabloid magazines, the Top Gun actor admitted that Katie had filed for divorce “to protect Suri from Scientology,” court documents revealed, as per Page Six.

Despite not having a relationship; as per their divorce agreement, Tom, who has an estimated $600 million fortune, agreed to pay Katie $400,000 a year until Suri turns 18 as well as future “medical, dental, insurance, education, college and other extracurricular costs,” Page Six reported.

Katie is reportedly believed to have signed multiple non-disclosure documents that prevent her from ever talking about her marriage to Tom and her time inside Scientology.

Unlike her mother, Suri, a now legally declared adult by the New York state, will be allowed to speak freely about her father and his beliefs.

Tony Ortega, who has covered Scientology in depth for decades, told Page Six, “Suri would have been too young to sign any agreement, but she will now be free to talk if she wants to and it’s going to be really interesting if she has something to say.”

He added: “Part of why Katie left when she did when Suri was six was that Katie would have seen Isabella and Connor going through Scientology.”

“We don’t know for sure if Katie was ever declared an SP (suppressive person),” Tony said.

According to Scientology’s official website, to be declared a suppressive person is extremely rare and results in expulsion from the Scientology religion.

When someone has been expelled from the religion, that person loses both his or her fellowship with the church as well as with other Scientologists, the church notes.

But former Scientologists have often revealed that being declared an SP came as a result of simply leaving the church or questioning the doctrines.

Actress Leah Remini, who famously left the church back in 2013 and has since exposed the organization’s alleged crimes and abuse, particularly in her Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath docuseries, recently told Larry Kind that SPs suffered from harassment.

She explained the church had “a policy called fair game,” though now canceled. Leah said: "They, in fact, did issue another policy that says fair game has been cancelled however there's another policy that says, however, dealing with suppressive people remains the same, dealing with suppressive people means to go after them try to destroy their lives."

The King of Queens star is currently scheduled to appear in a trial against the church in October 2025.

Last August, Leah filed a 68-page lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court, alleging she had been subject to a decade of online attacks, stalking, and intimidation designed to punish her for her criticism of the church, as per Variety.