Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes Have Daughter, Suri

The TomKitten has landed.

After the most highly publicized pregnancy in recent memory, Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes have become proud parents. Katie Holmes gave birth to their daughter, Suri, today in Los Angeles. The Mercury News reported the text of a statement issued by Tom Cruise's publicist, Paul Bloch. "Tom Cruise, 43, and his fiancee, Katie Holmes, 27, joyously welcomed the arrival of a baby girl, Suri, today. The child weighed 7 pounds, 7 ounces and was 20 inches in length. Both mother and daughter are doing well."

Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes named their daughter Suri, which means "Princess" in its Hebrew origin, or "red rose" in Persian. This is Katie Holmes' first baby, which is gave birth to at the age of 27. As for Tom Cruise, he has two children that he adopted during his marriage to Nicole Kidman.

Some of the more controversial issues surrounding the pregnancy and delivery were not discussed in the prepared statement. For instance, the big issue of "silent birth", one of the tenets of Tom Cruise's, and now Katie Holmes' religion, Scientology, was not mentioned. As well, despite the sensationalized stories published by certain tabloids, the public can be relatively certain that Tom Cruise did not eat the placenta (See Tom Cruise To Eat Placenta? Not Likely)

Activity around Tom Cruise's home has been strictly monitored. According to Forbes, "A security guard at the gate - which was shrouded in black to prevent anyone from seeing in - refused to release any information. A few cars did arrive and were allowed into the estate. A police motorcycle officer stopped by around 4 p.m. and sat watching the goings-on."

The birth of Suri is the culmination of a rapid and intense relationship that all began when the Batman Begins star was seen holding hands with the Mission: Impossible megastar in Rome a year ago, in April 2005. Since then, Cruise has been very public with his relationship with Katie Holmes. In the now infamous May 23, 2005 appearance on the Oprah Winfrey Show, Cruise excitedly jumped up, proclaimed of Katie, "I love this woman!", and jumped on Oprah's couch. As the Mercury News recalls the story, Tom said "I can't be cool. I can't be laid-back. Something happened and I want to celebrate it."

Tom Cruise would propose to Katie Holmes on June 17th, 2005 on top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris. The couple would announce that they are getting married sometime this summer (See Tom Cruise, Katie Holmes to Marry This Summer

In an ironic note, Access Hollywood reports that Katie Holmes apparently gave birth to Suri on the same floor of the same hospital as Brooke Shields, who also gave birth to a healthy baby girl. As CNN puts it, "Last year, Shields and Cruise had a public tiff after he criticized the actress for taking antidepressant medication after the birth of her first child." Tom Cruise and Brooke Shields worked together in Cruise's first film role, Endless Love in 1981.

27 year old Katie Holmes, star of such movies as Batman Begins, Thank You For Smoking and the TV series Dawson's Creek, has been taking time off from filming to deliver the couple's daughter, Suri. Tom Cruise, on the other hand, has been hard at work promoting his upcoming blockbuster, Mission: Impossible 3. Cruise, who has been the star of many previous Hollywood blockbusters, including War of the Worlds, Minority Report, Collateral, Jerry Maguire and the Mission: Impossible trilogy, has been married twice before, to Mimi Rogers (Lost in Space, Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery) and Nicole Kidman (Cold Mountain, The Interpreter). Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman had adopted two children, Isabella and Connor, during their marriage.

[Additional Sources: Mercury News, Access Hollywood, Forbes, CNN]

- Doug Pendrell