In 2017, Katie Holmes was already feeling emotional imagining her daughter Suri Cruise growing up and moving out of home, even though it was still a few years away.
“You want them to stay with you forever, but they’re these amazing beings, and you have to do everything you can to give them what they need — and then they’re going to go. And that’s going to be very, very sad for me,” Holmes said in an interview with Town & Country that year.
Now, that time has come.
The actress, 45, put on a brave face as she helped her only daughter carry her bags into the hall of residence at Carnegie Mellon University, a private university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, ahead of classes commencing on August 26.
Where is Suri Cruise living?
It’s understood Suri may be studying acting and dance, with a view to following in her famous parents’ footsteps and going into show business.
Suri, who turned 18 on April 18, will be living on campus, in basic lodgings that are no doubt a far cry from the luxurious, multi-level penthouse she shares with her mum in Manhattan, New York.
Campus accommodations at the university include Donner House, a four-level residence hall that houses nearly 250 first-year students.
Holmes and her daughter have lived in New York since the actress fled Los Angeles and filed for divorce from Tom Cruise in 2012 after five and a half years of marriage.
”Suri wants the full college experience so she is giving the dorm rooms a try and she will have a roommate,” an insider told DailyMail.com.
“She is excited for a new chapter in her life.”
Suri, who graduated from New York’s prestigious performing arts LaGuardia High School under the name ‘Suri Noelle’ – dropping her father’s name and picking up her mother’s middle name – was seen making the most of her last days in her home city.
She was spotted going on loved-up walks with her boyfriend Toby Cohen, who is set to study at Berklee College of Music, according to his social media.
Early in August, however, she was photographed crying while on a phone call as she walked around Brooklyn.
It’s undoubtedly an emotional time, particularly for the mother-daughter duo who have been incredibly close over the years.
“I love her so much,” Katie told InStyle in 2020.
“My biggest goal has always been to nurture her into her individuality, to make sure she is 100 per cent herself and strong, confident and able. And to know it. She came out very strong — she’s always been a strong personality.”
Now that the day has come to set her free, Holmes, who was granted admission to Columbia University but decided to focus on acting, is feeling positive about the step.
“I’m proud of my daughter,” she said in a new interview for Town & Country’s September 2024 issue.
“Of course, I will miss the close proximity, but I’m really proud of her and I’m happy. I remember being this age, this time of beginnings. It’s exciting to learn about yourself, and I loved that time, so it makes me happy to think about it like that.”
She does, however, anticipate some loneliness as she adjusts to an empty house.
“The members of my book club are going to get annoyed hearing from me,” she added.
“I’ll be like, ‘Let’s meet once a week.’
