Inside Tom Cruise's Relationship With Katie Holmes

Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes were Hollywood's golden couple in the '00s. Though the pair, who share and daughter, had a star-studded wedding in Italy, their inevitable separation is one of the most speculated about celebrity relationship splits in Tinseltown. And while they've not been married for nearly a decade, their relationship came with much drama and eye-catching headlines.

In fact, Vanity Fair notes that when many people talk about Cruise and Holmes' relationship now, Scientology is often brought into the conversation in some capacity. Nine years after their divorce, the Daily Star writes that fans are still asking questions about what went wrong, what role the Church of Scientology played in their relationship, and what kind of relationship do Cruise and Holmes really have now amid co-parenting Suri.

In an April 2020 interview, Holmes told InStyle, "You can get consumed by what people think, but suddenly you just decide to do things on your own terms. I feel like I'm finally figuring that out. I'm getting the projects I want made and just relaxing a little. I've been around for a long time, and I'm still here! I can't believe it."

Insider outlines that following their split, a lot of focus went into how the couple could separate while also looking after their daughter and taking her needs into account. While they were only married for six years, Holmes and Cruise's relationship has gone down in celebrity history.

When you were growing up you had stars that you spent hours daydreaming you'd one day marry, right? Well, for Katie Holmes, that star was Tom Cruise, who is 17 years her senior. Reportedly, during a 2004 interview with Seventeen magazine, Holmes gushed, "I used to think that I was going to marry Tom Cruise."

The Daily Star reports that Cruise and Holmes didn't start dating until April 2005 following the end of his 11-year marriage to Nicole Kidman. However, after they started dating things started to move pretty quickly. Insider reports that just a couple of months after they'd started dating, Cruise gave an interview with Oprah Winfrey which has gone down in pop culture history as he jumped on the sofa and declared his love. Holmes also told W Magazine that she was converting to Scientology.

By June 2005, the couple announced their engagement, per The Hollywood Reporter. It's reported that he proposed at the Eiffel Tower in Paris. In October of the same year, they announced they were expecting their first child. In April 2006, Suri was born. In November of that year, the proud parents tied the knot in a star-studded ceremony in the 15th century Odescalchi Castle in Bracciano, Italy. People reported the event included the 20-minute "double ring" Scientology ceremony and the traditional Scientology wedding pledge.

During their six-year marriage, Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes shared a lot of their lives in the press. In a 2010 interview with Marie Clare, Holmes spoke openly about her marriage. "It's an amazing life," the actress said, "but we always remind ourselves of how incredibly lucky we are." Holmes also revealed that the couple may have more children in the future.

So, when it was announced that Holmes had filed for divorce in 2012, it came as a shock to some fans. Cruise's publicist Amanda Lundberg told E! News, "Kate has filed for divorce and Tom is deeply saddened and is concentrating on his three children. Please allow them their privacy." As many know, Tom shares two children with ex-wife Nicole Kidman. 

Around that time, Vanity Fair conducted an investigation into the involvement of the Church of Scientology in Cruise's love life. The outlet reported that there was almost an audition process for people to become Cruise's partner before he was with Holmes. After she filed for divorce, Goalcast writes that the Church of Scientology wanted to keep proceedings internal but that isn't what Holmes opted for.

According to the LA Times, Holmes hired three law firms in three states and made calls about the divorce on a disposable cellphone. Fans followed proceedings closely and People reported that the divorce was settled in just 11 days with Holmes getting primary custody of Suri.

Following their separation, Katie Holmes and Tom Cruise have kept their private lives just that – to themselves. According to InStyle, there were rumors that part of the couple's divorce settlement included Holmes not dating publicly for five years following their separation, however, there are no reports to substantiate this claim.

Harper's Bazaar reports that Holmes dated Jamie Foxx for six years before they split in May 2019. In September 2020 the Daily Mail reports that she'd moved on with chef Emilio Vitolo Jr.

By December of that year, the Sun speculated that Cruise had started to date his "Mission Impossible" co-star Hayley Atwell after they were pictured together holding hands. This is one of the first times that the press has speculated about Cruise's love life since his separation from Holmes.

While Holmes and Cruise have rarely spoken about their separation since their divorce, Holmes told InStyle, "People say you don't really know yourself until you're 40. I'm 41. I have seen things. I have experienced things. I know what I'm talking about, and I know that my feelings and my insights are worthy. I'm going to listen to myself instead of deferring to someone else. That's a big step as a human. It takes time."