Suri Cruise turns 18 today. She hasn’t seen Tom Cruise in over a decade.

Suri Cruise was once considered the most famous baby in America — or possibly, the world. 

As the only child of actors Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes, Suri was thrust into the spotlight. 

Cruise first declared his love for Holmes while jumping on Oprah's couch in 2005, the couple then got engaged after just two months of dating before they welcomed Suri on April 18, 2006.

This was a time when celebrity babies were big business. I'm talking about the days when the likes of Brooklyn Beckham, Apple Martin and Shiloh Jolie-Pitt would occupy the coveted front pages of magazines.

And arguably, Suri was the golden baby of that era. But she's not a golden baby anymore. 

Suri Cruise just turned 18 and life looks very different for her, compared to the days when she appeared on the cover of Vanity Fair alongside her parents in a photo spread shot by Annie Leibovitz. 

Image: Vanity Fair. 

Cruise and Holmes got hitched in an Italian wedding in 2006 before splitting after five years of marriage in 2012.

In the years since their divorce was finalised, Cruise hasn't been photographed with Suri, a stark contrast to how often he was spotted carrying Suri in the early years of their marriage. 

Holmes was granted full custody and, as part of their divorce settlement, the Mission Impossible actor agreed to pay $400,000 per year (roughly $620,000AUD) in child support. 

Page Six reported that Suri’s relationship with her father soured when Holmes "blindsided" him by filing for divorce in 2012. In the following trial in 2013, Cruise claimed Holmes filed for divorce "to protect Suri from Scientology," court documents revealed.

While he has been estranged from Suri since the divorce, Cruise is still reportedly close with his two older children — Isabella and Connor Cruise — the two kids he adopted with ex-wife, Nicole Kidman.

Suri's 18th birthday has awkwardly come as Cruise's former co-star, Dakota Fanning, just revealed in an interview with Harper's Bazaar that she has received a birthday gift from Tom every year since they starred in War of the Worlds together. 

Tom Cruise and Dakota Fanning during the 2005 MTV Movie Awards. Image: Getty.

"Tom sends me a birthday gift every year, and has since that birthday," she said. "So thoughtful, yeah really, really nice."

It's unclear whether Suri still goes by her dad's surname. In a program from her school play in 2023, the program read 'Suri Noelle', seemingly adopting her middle name. 

Now that Suri has come of age, some expect her to speak out about what it was like being raised by a prominent member of the Church of Scientology.

Cruise’s three ex-wives — Mimi Rogers, Kidman and Holmes — have remained tight-lipped about their marriages, as some have speculated this is due to them signing non-disclosure agreements. 

In the case of Suri, she would have been too young to sign any contract preventing her from speaking transparently about what it was like growing up in the spotlight. 

Katie Holmes and Suri Cruise in 2017. Image: Getty. 

While Holmes has never spoken out about Cruise, she speaks lovingly about raising her daughter.

"I didn't know how much love I had in me. It's overwhelming," she told Glamour in 2014. "Every day I discover more about this spectacular human being I get to be the mother of."

The Dawson's Creek star is known for being notoriously private about her personal life and now prides herself on bringing Suri up away from the public eye. 

"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," she told Town & Country in 2017.

"It's very important that I'm present and she has a stable, innocent childhood." 

Feature image: Getty/Instagram/@katieholmes.