Little Suri Cruise is not so little, anymore. The daughter of Katie Holmes and Tom Cruise has grown into quite the young woman, as seen when she joined her mother at Los Angeles International Airport on Monday Night (Apr. 24). Suri, 17, was taller than Katie, 44, as they walked in from the parking lot and into the terminal. The teenager wore her hair in braids while wheeling a pink suitcase, a white canvas bag slung over her shoulder. It was a casual look that stressed comfort over fashion – perfect for flying.
Katie matched her daughter in terms of casualness. The Dawson’s Creek alum sported a hat, a light-brown sweater, and a pair of black pants. Katie also went makeup-free for the flight and kept her dark locks under a baseball cap. It was unclear where they were going, but the two would get there comfortably.
Over the years, Katie and Suri have been BFFs, making the occasional appearance in public. Katie’s kept a relatively quiet profile over the past decade, only taking on a handful of roles. However, April saw the release of Rare Objects, a film Katie directs and stars in. The New York Times gave it a middling review, saying, “Holmes is a generous but indiscriminate director of actors: She has the tendency, not uncommon among actors turned directors, of extending a cast of inconsistent talent a degree of latitude better reserved for the heaviest hitters. (She doesn’t have this problem with her own performance, which is both compelling and well-situated in the context of the film.)”
As for Katie’s daughter, Suri recently celebrated her birthday, turning 17 on Apr. 18. As she begins to embark on college, Daily Mail reports that Suri has sent out some applications and is looking to study fashion in New York City. “[Katie] really does want her to stay in New York so they can be close to each other. Katie takes great pride in her but is also extremely overprotective,” the publication reported, adding that her mother is “overwhelmed” by the thought that her little girl is going off to college.
However, her father hasn’t had a role in Suri’s life for “a very long time,” reports Page Six. Tom, 60, and Katie split in 2011, and the father-daughter duo “drifted apart.” Page Six reports that Tom is “not a part of [Suri’s] life.” The publication also reports that in Tom’s 2012 defamation suit against Bauer Media, Tom said that his close association with the Church of Scientology was “one of the assertions” as to why Katie left and why Tom reportedly remains separated from his child.