The Odd Request Brooke Shields Got From Katie Holmes Before Her Wedding To Tom Cruise

The wedding tradition of having something old, something new, something borrowed, and something blue dates back to at least the 19th century. Although its original purpose was much more mystical, with the collected items believed to protect brides from the evil eye, many engaged couples still search for those four items (which traditionally also included a sixpence tucked into the bride's shoe) to have present at their wedding out of a sense of fun and tradition. Celebrity couples are no different, which is how Brooke Shields got an odd request from Katie Holmes before her wedding to Tom Cruise.

While being interviewed by People in 2023, Shields talked about the surprising holiday gift Cruise sends to everyone on his list — a delicious coconut cake revered by many in Hollywood who've been lucky enough to receive it from the "Top Gun" actor. Shields said she's not sure why she doesn't receive the gift anymore. The celebs have known each other for a long time after all, and even their public drama disagreeing on psychiatry and medication in the 2000s didn't keep Shields and her husband, Chris Henchy, from being invited to Holmes and Cruise's 2016 wedding in Italy. Shields called the event "extraordinary" and said it was Holmes who called to invite her — and make the unusual request.

Shields told the outlet: "And I said, 'Well, as long as I'm not the something old.' ... And [Holmes] said, 'Oh, would you?'"

When Katie Holmes asked Brooke Shields to bring "something old" for her wedding, Shields was very confused, since she was not actually offering to provide anything for the event. Holmes explained that she had the items to represent borrowed and blue, but still needed old.

"And I was like, 'Okay, I'll get back to you on that,'" Shields told People. She laughed and stated how she should have delivered her "something old" joke better. After that conversation, the "Suddenly Susan" actor started searching for something to give Holmes on her wedding day that would fit.

"So I found this beautiful little sterling and enamel little mirror that's attached to a ring," Shields said. She added that she and Holmes were somewhat bonded because their daughters share a birthday and were both born at Santa Monica's St. John's Hospital. After the wedding and after celebrating their daughters' birthdays together once, they kind of went their separate ways.

In a 2016 interview with Jenny McCarthy on "Dirty, Sexy, Funny with Jenny McCarthy," Brooke Shields talked more about the infamous Tom Cruise-Katie Holmes wedding. McCarthy had attended the event as well and had plenty of her own stories to tell, including not being able to hold baby Suri Cruise until David Miscavige (the head of Scientology and Cruise's best man) gave permission.

Shields told the story of giving birth at the same place as Holmes, explaining how angry she was to see paparazzi (thinking it was for her) until the nurse said it was for Holmes and Cruise instead. She also told McCarthy about the ring she bought for Holmes' "something old," but it wasn't easy to deliver the gift. Shields said, "But getting it up to the room was, like, I felt like I was 007 ... it was so much security, it was all dark! And it was quiet, it was so quiet."

Shields gave the ring to the bride-to-be Holmes and quickly left. When McCarthy asked if the gift was a success, Shields added, "I think so, I think she was just a deer in headlights."