Katie Holmes has been undeniably thriving since her divorce from Tom Cruise. She and her daughter, Suri, have made an incredible home in New York City together, and both women have effectively not seen Cruise since the divorce. Though the circumstances surround the divorce are still as cloudy as they are intense, there is one part of it that needs to be made clear: the financial settlement.
According to a recurring narrative in tabloids and social media, Katie Holmes made a mistake by walking away from the divorce without a massive settlement. She left with custody of Suri and $400,000 a year in child support until Suri turns 18, though the gossip frequently includes an allegation that Holmes has somehow gotten in financial trouble despite consistent employment. Despite appearing to be absolutely blissful post-divorce, Holmes has even faced accusations of being bitter about the lack of Cruise’s cash after supposedly living too large and spending too much money.
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It ultimately boils just another sexist stereotype about women divorcing wealthy men, completely ignoring the circumstances surrounding Holmes’ divorce. For one, it’s absolutely ridiculous to suggest she’d be regretting the outcome of her divorce since she got to keep custody of her daughter. For two, Holmes and Cruise had a prenup when they got married, so Holmes was never going to and never intended to get a huge settlement from the divorce despite the media’s implication otherwise. The notion is offensive to Holmes, her family, and her legal team. She had and has a fortune of her own to be content with, and she isn’t taking on any projects that she doesn’t believe in that’d signal some kind of dire straits.
And finally, there’s one more elephant in the room that this sort of speculation ignores. While we can’t know the actual details or thoughts of the people involved, Holmes and her daughter’s relationship with and escape from the Church of Scientology played a far larger part in the divorce than any amount of money ever could. Cruise hasn’t even been photographed with his daughter since 2013. The situation was and is extremely serious, and the conditions of the divorce make it clear that getting away from Cruise and the church was the priority.
There are still two more years left of Tom Cruise paying child support for Suri. Of course, we wouldn’t be surprised if Katie Holmes doesn’t notice the difference in her bank account given the rest of her career. Suri and her mom are also probably too busy collaborating on projects and sparking new fashion trends left and right.