We Can't Get Over Suri Cruise's Incredible Height Transformation
Suri Cruise has been a household name since before she was born. As the daughter of Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes, Suri inevitably grew up in the public eye. And she has done a lot of growing, seemingly surpassing Tom in height. But we got to see a lot more of her when she was little, as she became the object of intense interest as part of the media's obsession with her parents' whirlwind relationship. After all, she was born about a year after Tom and Holmes started dating in April 2005.
Before she could even sit up, 5-month-old Suri was gracing the cover of Vanity Fair donning Dior socks. Back then, Tom and Holmes had no issues gushing over their child, each blaming her cute traits on the other. "She has Kate's lips and eyes," he said. "I think she looks like Kate." the "Dawson's Creek" alum disagreed. "I think she has Tom's eyes," she said. "I think she looks like Tom." But things have changed a whole lot since the good ol' TomKat days.
Following Tom and Holmes' messy divorce in 2012, Suri largely retreated from the spotlight. She has her mom to thank for that. "She was so visible at a young age," she told Glamour in 2023. After the interest in Holmes' marriage to Tom dwindled, she attempted to change that. "I really like to protect her," she said. However, glimpses of Suri have been captured over the years, showing she grew up to be tall.
The media was obsession with little Suri
Constantly photographed with Katie Holmes and Tom Cruise, Suri Cruise was captured in many a candid moment, like having a taste of rainwater in New York in February 2010, as seen above. And if you're wondering if her parents were responsible for the 4-year-old's choice of red coat over a dress with tights, you'd be wrong. "Whatever she wants to wear, she wears it ... She's got great taste, too. She tells me what to wear," Tom told Oprah in May 2010.
While the interest in Suri was overwhelming, they made the best of the situation. "We don't get nervous about it. You get used to it after so long," Tom said. He believed it was inevitable to expose Suri to the reality of her parents' lives. "We're raising her to — you know... protecting her, but also you don't want her to be sheltered in any way," he said in 2009, according to RTE.
Tom and Holmes clearly had differing views on parenting. She wanted Suri to have a childhood similar to her own. "I try to do what [my family] did for me for my little one," she previously said on the "Today" show, per E! News. Tom, on the other hand, didn't seem to mind the attention being paid to his daughter. "It's both very flattering ... and you kind of go, 'It is what it is,'" he said on "The View" in 2009 (via People).
Suri Cruise was still a tiny tot when her parents divorced
Suri Cruise may have stopped appearing in Annie Leibovitz's photoshoots by the time her parents divorced. Still, the 6-year-old continued to garner paparazzi attention wherever she was out and about with Katie Holmes, as seen above matching with her mom in New York in July 2012. Wearing a pink dress and red ballerina shoes, Suri stood past Holmes' waist, even though she had on heeled boots complementing her choice of pink shirt and skinny jeans.
While Suri was most often photographed next to her mother, she drew even more attention when she was seen with Tom Cruise. At least in the months that followed the split, Tom still spent time with Suri. On July 17, 2012, he flew to New York for his first known visit with Suri after he and Holmes settled their divorce the week before. The following day, Tom famously took Suri for a helicopter ride over the city for a memorable father-daughter time.
But those days were numbered. According to Us Weekly, Tom was last seen publicly with Suri in 2013, when she was 7. The reality away from the paparazzi cameras doesn't seem to be much different. Tom has reportedly not seen his daughter in more than a decade. "Every person is allowed to see their child if they wanted to," a source told the outlet, explaining he is entitled to see her for 10 days a month. "He chooses not to because she is not a Scientologist."
Suri Cruise started accompanying mom to events more often
As time went on and TomKat became old news, Katie Holmes seemingly felt more comfortable taking Suri Cruise to high-profile events. In September 2015, Holmes brought the then-9-year-old onto the stage to wave at the crowd before she gave her speech. Suri's brief appearance onstage showed how much she had grown in three years. Holmes barely had to bend her knees to get close to her daughter's face.
Earlier that year, Holmes had also taken Suri to the Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards, where mother and daughter had a blast throwing confetti around. A year later, Holmes also took Suri to see the Broadway musical "Finding Neverland" with her grandmother, Kathleen. That December, Holmes even shared a selfie featuring Suri on Instagram to mark her 38th birthday. It looks like Holmes found a happy medium between protecting her daughter's right to a normal(ish) childhood and her life as a public figure.
That's not to say Suri's relationship with Tom Cruise had stopped attracting attention. In June 2016, many were quick to note that Suri spent Father's Day in the company of her mother at Serafina East Hampton, though she didn't seem to mind. "Suri and her friends were playing, and running around the restaurant," a source told Page Six. Tom, for his part, spent Father's Day in Morocco, where he was shooting "The Mummy." Earlier that month marked 1,000 days since Tom had last seen his youngest kid.
At 12, Suri was communicating more with Tom Cruise
By December 2017, 12-year-old Suri Cruise showed she wasn't far from becoming a tall teenager. Suri showed off her height transformation at Z100's iHeartRadio Jingle Ball (as seen above). Even though Holmes, who is said to be 5 feet 9 inches, was still a bit taller, her preteen daughter still reached up to her shoulders. Suri had just turned 12 the previous April, a milestone that was said to have been missed by her father.
Suri reportedly hoped he would attend her party. "Like any little girl, her greatest wish is for her father to be there, and now she's been disappointed again," a source told Star, according to YourTango. However, Cruise supposedly had wished her a happy birthday. "Suri gets a gift from Tom on her birthday every year and this year was no exception," an insider told Hollywood Life in April 2018.
By then, Tom was said to be trying to mend his relationship with Suri, taking steps to have a more active role in her upbringing. "Tom's been in contact with Suri more and more over the last few months and has made it clear that he wants to be part of her life again," a source told Grazia U.K. (via InTouch). However, other sources indicated that Suri had made her peace with her father's absence by then. "[She] has to have accepted the fact that she's in a single-parent family," an insider told InTouch.
Suri Cruise is about as tall as Katie Holmes
As a full-fledged teenager, Suri Cruise looked a couple of inches shorter than Katie Holmes, as seen above arriving at the premiere of "In The Heights" on June 9, 2021, in New York City. Between then and 2024, she seems to have added another inch or two to her height. In photos taken in February 2024, just two months ahead of her 18th birthday, Suri looked about the same height as her mother, suggesting Tom Cruise's relatively short stature didn't bring down the average of his offspring. And by the looks of it, Suri has grown taller than him, who is said to be 5 feet 7 inches.
But the last couple of years didn't compare to the growth she experienced between 2018 and 2021. That's not unusual, though. Girls tend to have a growth spurt around the time they reach puberty, which is between 11 and 12 for most preteens, according to Medical News Today. By the time of their 15th birthday, girls are expected to have reached their adult height, as seems to have been the case with Suri.
Holmes' height isn't the only thing Suri inherited from her. As observed since the days she told Tom what to wear, Suri is as into fashion as Holmes, known for her sleek street outfits. Suri even wants to pursue a career in fashion, a source told the Daily Mail in 2023. As per their divorce settlement, Tom is expected to pay for Suri's college.