Katie Holmes on Setting Career Path to Motherhood: Suri's 'Upbringing Is Paramount to My Work Right Now'

"It's very important that I'm present and she has a stable, innocent childhood," Holmes said of her 10-year-old daughter

Photo: Cedric Buchet

Katie Holmes has had many acting roles, including portraying Jackie Kennedy twice, but her most fulfilling role is being a mother to 10-year-old daughter Suri Cruise, her only child with ex-husband Tom Cruise.

“This business is so unstable, and you never really know where you’re going to be … My child is the most important person to me, and her upbringing is paramount to my work right now,” Holmes, 38, shared for Town & Country‘s April issue.

“It’s very important that I’m present and she has a stable, innocent childhood. I feel so blessed to do what I do, but there’s nothing in the world better than watching your child succeed,” the mother of one continued.

Holmes continues to pursue acting parts, but she’s also steadily seeking jobs behind the camera. “For now I like acting and directing. Eventually I’ll just direct,” she said. And part of her decision to direct more is so she can delegate her professional and private lives.

Courtesy Town & Country

Cedric Buchet

“Every day, kids get a little further away from you. That’s a positive thing. They should be becoming more independent, but it’s heartbreaking,” Holmes explained. “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.”

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And when it comes to protecting her daughter from the Hollywood limelight, the mother-daughter pair already distinguish between what’s real news and what’s not.

“To experience something publicly and privately is a lot for a person to go through,” she said. “In today’s world a lot of celebrities probably shield their children from the tabloids; in my household we know what they print isn’t true, so we don’t pay attention. There are more important things. But it’s very relatable to me; if people know who you are, they might write about you, and you can’t control that.”