Cruise, Holmes Have Baby Girl Named Suri
LOS ANGELES – The Tomkitten has arrived. Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes, the public lovebirds dubbed TomKat by the media, had a baby girl Tuesday, said Cruise spokesman Arnold Robinson. The baby, named Suri, weighed 7 pounds, 7 ounces and measured 20 inches long, he said.
“Both mother and daughter are doing well,” Robinson said in a prepared statement.
The name Suri has its origins in Hebrew, meaning “princess,” or in Persian, meaning “red rose,” the statement said.
The baby was born in Los Angeles but the exact location was not disclosed.
“Yay, yay, yay,” said actress and fellow Scientologist Kirstie Alley. “Bring her over so I can meet her.”
The news was announced just in time for Jay Leno to pass along word during taping of his “Tonight” show monologue.
“I just got a phone call that Tom Cruise had a baby girl about two minutes ago. No joke,” Leno said.
It’s the first child for Holmes, 27. Cruise, 43, has an adopted daughter and son from his marriage to Nicole Kidman.
Details surrounding the birth, which was planned under the tenets of the Church of Scientology as a silent procedure, weren’t disclosed.
Scientologists believe words spoken during times of pain are recorded by the “reactive mind” and can potentially cause problems for mother and baby later in life.
A spokesman from the Church of Scientology International declined comment and referred inquiries to Cruise’s publicist.
Ironically, Suri was born the same day as Brooke Shields’ newborn daughter, Grier Hammond Henchy.
Shields and Cruise had a public spat last year after he criticized the actress for taking antidepressants following the birth of her first child.
Appearing on the “Today” show, Cruise said there was no such thing as chemical imbalances that need to be corrected with drugs, and that depression could be treated with exercise and vitamins.
About a dozen reporters and photographers stood by outside the Beverly Hills home where Cruise and Holmes live. Security officers inside the compound videotaped the journalists.
A publicity blitz for Cruise’s new movie, “Mission: Impossible III,” was set to begin Wednesday but the actor canceled all press appearances, a Paramount representative said.
It was just about a year ago that Cruise’s romance with Holmes became a world sensation.
Cruise hopped up and down on a couch during an interview with Oprah Winfrey as he professed his love.
“I can’t be cool. I can’t be laid-back,” Cruise declared at the time. “Something happened and I want to celebrate it.”
The antics were widely mocked but Cruise was unfazed and continued to avow his affection for Holmes.
He and Holmes, a star of TV’s “Dawson’s Creek,” had been first photographed together in Rome in April 2005.
She had previously been engaged to actor Chris Klein; Cruise had been married to Mimi Rogers as well as Kidman, and had dated Penelope Cruz for several years.
In June, Cruise announced to a Paris press conference that he had proposed to Holmes atop the Eiffel Tower.
“Today is a magnificent day for me, I’m engaged to a magnificent woman,” he said.
No wedding date has been disclosed.
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