Katie Holmes is standing by her decision to publicly defend her 18-year-old daughter, Suri.
Holmes, 45, originally took to Instagram on Sunday, December 8, to shut down claims that her ex-husband Tom Cruise provided a million-dollar inheritance to their child, writing, “Completely false. You can stop making stuff up.”
In response, Holmes received an outpouring of support. However, there were also other comments questioning the severity of Holmes’ concerns, with one person writing, “Gosh the hardships you guys face. Hey are you worried if you can pay your rent AND eat this month? No? Yea me either 
I Wish these were my problems.”
Holmes replied by acknowledging that she doesn’t “disagree” with the criticism. “But in the world today, I don’t want a target on my child’s back,” Holmes wrote. “It’s dangerous.”
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Holmes and Cruise, 62, started dating in 2005 and got engaged later that year before welcoming their daughter in 2006.
Holmes and Cruise exchanged vows shortly after Suri’s arrival. They announced their separation in 2012 after five years of marriage.
Holmes has made rare comments about their relationship and Suri over the years, speaking out in 2014 about the suggestion that she took a break from acting because of her personal life.
“It’s the life of an actor. We don’t really have a lot of choice in the matter. You have dry spells, and then you have times when there is a lot of opportunity,” she told DuJour magazine in 2014. “You have to continue to do the things you want to do and not let outside forces dictate.”
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Holmes said she was looking forward to getting to explore her passion again.
“I think I’ve gotten more comfortable with acting over time. Early on, I could never get out of my head. I’d be thinking, ‘I have to get the job.’ And even when I had the job, I was afraid that I was going to get fired, or I just had the mentality of, ‘I need to be good enough,’” she continued. “But the more projects you do, the older you get, the more life experience you get, you start to understand storytelling better. So you’re a little bit more confident going in. You’re not afraid of getting fired: You just want to contribute.”
More recently, Holmes opened up about the challenges of being a single mother, telling InStyle in April 2020, “That time was intense. It was a lot of attention, and I had a little child on top of it. [We] had some funny moments out and about in public. … I feel like I can be more creative and have more time, have my voice.”
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Holmes gushed about how Suri has forged her own path.
“[I want] to make sure she is 100 percent herself and strong, confident, and able. And to know it. She came out very strong —she’s always been a strong personality,” she continued. “She’ll pick an activity and work her butt off until she’s really good at it. Then she’s like, ‘OK, I’m going to try the next thing.’ She’s very focused and a hard worker.”
