The Cruises and the Beckhams are really taking their paparazzi-friendly relationship up a few notches. The Beckhams arrived in New York on Tuesday and joined Tom Cruise for a matinee of Katie Holmes’ play “All My Sons” on Wednesday afternoon before heading out for dinner. Though that’d be enough of the photographers for most couples, the group spent much of Thursday out and about having what sounds like a pretty fun Thanksgiving.

Suri Cruise had something special to be thankful for this Thanksgiving: a few famous playmates.

Suri, 2, and the family – including parents Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes and siblings Connor, 13, and Isabella, 15 – were joined by David and Victoria Beckham and their three sons, Brooklyn, 9, Romeo, 6, and Cruz, 3, to spend Thanksgiving in New York City.

The Beckhams left their three sons with a babysitter Wednesday afternoon to attend a matinee performance of Holme’s Broadway play, All My Sons, with Cruise, and then picked Holmes up for a double date at Il Cantinori.

The next morning, the entire clan woke up early to watch the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade from the Trump International Hotel in Manhattan before taking a walk through Central Park to see the Big Apple Circus and ride in a horse-drawn carriage.

[From People]

A horse drawn carriage? And a circus? Are you trying to get Alec Baldwin to scream at you in public? Actually Tom Cruise vs. Alec Baldwin could be amazing – it’s quite the even match. Still it sounds like a pretty fun and busy Thanksgiving. Here are pictures of the Cruises and Beckhams yesterday. Images thanks to Fame.

Last week Hello! Magazine in the UK featured some quotes from Tom Cruise about the state of his marriage two years on. He said “And they said it wouldn’t last. I guess we proved them wrong, didn’t we?”

This latest Hello! has more words of wisdom from the 46 year-old 5′7″ screen star in an exclusive interview. The quotes he gives about Suri refusing to wear pants have already been reported as he either said the same thing to Entertainment Tonight, or they’re quoting the Hello! Interview, but there’s some additional interesting information about how he views his daughter and wife, along with his relationship with the media.

The Daily Mail has some of these quotes, but they’re taking them from Grazia. Either Grazia just switched Cruise’s statements around a little and reprinted them from Hello! or Cruise repeated himself to them. Hello! changed some of his words to Brit-speak too: (update: it was at a press conference, see below.)

On Katie and Suri both being “determined”
“Suri’s very much like her mother. She’s open and sunny, just like her Mom is, but she’s also very determined. She’s very much a girl, and she will not wear trousers, for instance, only dresses. I put a pair of trousers on her and turn and leave the room, and straight away the trousers are off and a dress is on instead.”

On Suri saying sneakers are “boy shoes”
“She also has opinions about shoes. The other day, Kate showed her some gold-coloured sneakers - you know those gold sneakers that little girls have these days? - thinking she might like to wear them, and she looked at them and said, ‘Oh Mommy, these are lovely but… they’re boy shoes.’ She’s sweet but she’s very strong-willed - just like her mother.

On Kate being such a great mother
“Kate’s a wonderful mother, very calm and very loving. She’s a woman who’s sure of herself, confident and strong. She’s incredibly wise as well as being a very gracious and elegant person. I adore her.

“Well, we all know how I feel about Kate, right?”

On the media backlash at their whirlwind romance
“I guess I did court her kind of aggressively. There were things I did at the time that I look back and think, ‘Well, okay, I could have handled a couple of moments of that a little better.’ But I was surprised at some of the things that were said about me at the time. It all escalated until it got to the point where I’d hear another piece of gossip about me, and think, ‘Whaaaat? It can’t get worse than this.’ It affected us all, and as a father and a husband you want to protect your family. You want to be able to say to them, ‘Look, you don’t have to worry about anything. It’s all going to be all right.’”

On Kate being a “strong woman”
“Kate is such a strong woman, her entire family are incredible people, and certainly so are my children, Isabella and Connor.”

Tom goes on to talk about how it was when Suri was born and how it wasn’t as stressful for him because he knew the drill from Isabella and Connor. He says “I’m much more relaxed with Suri.”

Claims Suri doesn’t “have to deal with” fame
“She doesn’t have to deal with it.” [Talking about the Forbes story ranking her top baby] “When we’re not working we lead a very normal life with her, with friends over and ordinary stuff. You want to protect your children, but you don’t want to bring them up to be afraid of people. Suri’s a very open and warm child, and we want to preserve that, which we’re doing by giving her a lot of love. All she knows is that she is number one to Kate and me. And that’s all that matters.

[From Hello! Magazine, print edition, December 2, 2008. Commentary and subtitles are our own]

How many different ways can Tom say that Katie gets her way? Why doesn’t he just call her a stubborn pain in the ass and be done with it? It’s funny because whenever he starts to say something negative about her, like about how she’s strong willed, he immediately switches back to “incredible,” “amazing” mode and praises her.

According to the Daily Mail, he also told Grazia that some of the shots of little Suri by the paparazzi are “incredible.” Here he said that “she doesn’t have to deal with [fame]” and maybe he meant the broader aspects of fame, but Suri is often seen crying and looking visibly upset by the paparazzi surrounding her family and screaming her name. She’s surely affected by it and no amount of “love” and letting her get her way can make up for that. You get that Tom wants to play nice with the media, but he would do well to speak out a little against aggressive photographers.

Update: Cruise essentially said the same thing to The Mirror, and as Agent Bedhead points out he was giving a press conference.

Tom and Katie are shown having lunch with her family at Balthazar restaurant in NY on Halloween. Credit: Bauergriffin. Suri is shown out with her mom eating a cupcake on 11/24/08. Credit: WENN

Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes have taken a lot of criticism for not dressing daughter Suri properly. It has been remarkably cold in New York City for this time of year, and while Katie is photographed bundled up, Suri is almost always in just a dress. Generally she doesn’t have tights on her legs (though at least once she’s had leggings) or a coat on. When I left the house yesterday I wore two pairs of socks along with gloves, a scarf, and earmuffs. I also had a pair of backup gloves (and for some reason backup earmuffs – not sure why) just in case. It was 33 degrees in Manhattan and windy. How Suri does it I don’t know. But according to Tom, she is just very committed to wearing dresses.

Suri Cruise knows what she wants, and when it comes to getting dressed in the morning, that doesn’t include pants!

Tom Cruise admits to Entertainment Tonight in an interview airing tonight that his fashionable and adorable daughter is a “girlie girl,” saying, “She won’t wear pants. Kate [Holmes] finally got her in jeans the other day.”

However, daddy’s little girl definitely didn’t take too well to being clothed in something other than a dress.

“We put the pants on and walk away and the pants are off and the dress is on,” Tom reveals.

[From OK! Magazine]

That’s not unusual toddler behavior. I used to do the exact same thing, but with dresses. Katie finally started getting a coat and other expected winter wear on Suri last week, but it seems like anything warmer than freezing temperatures and she’ll let the kid wear whatever she wants. Tom and Katie often tote around a blanket for Suri. At first I thought it was a security blanket, but she’s wrapped up in it, not carrying it under her arm. This is probably their compromise; wear a dress, but get wrapped in a comforter.

Given the way Tom is, I’m genuinely surprised he hasn’t hired someone to follow Suri around with some kind of space heater. It doesn’t seem entirely out of the realm of possibility. Something tells me that after a winter in New York, even a toddler will learn that pants aren’t that bad a thing after all. Same with double earmuffs.

Here’s Katie and Suri (and Suri’s blanket) in Central Park on October 23rd. Images thanks to WENN.

Suri Cruise is so hot right now. At least if Forbes has anything to say about it. They put an exhaustive amount of research into their findings, studying all the hottest celeb kids under the age of five. They even employed a polling firm. Lest they be anything but totally thorough about who the most popular tot is.

Suri Cruise is the most popular kid on the playground. The 2-year-old daughter of Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes tops Forbes.com’s second annual list of “Hollywood’s 10 Hottest Tots.” Forbes.com, which ranked celebrity children 5 years old and younger based on media attention and their parents’ popularity, said Suri _ known for her stylish outfits and haircut - popped up in more news articles and blogs than her peers.

Three of Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt’s six children made the list: Shiloh Jolie-Pitt, 2, is in second place after coming in first last year; Zahara Jolie-Pitt, 3, is in third place; and Pax Jolie-Pitt, 4, is fourth on the list. “Though not quite the tabloid stars his sisters Zahara and Shiloh are, his recognizable mug and A-list parents give him space in the top five,” said Forbes.com of Pax.

Rounding out the top 10: Sam Alexis Woods, daughter of Tiger Woods and his wife, Elin; Cruz Beckham, son of David and Victoria Beckham; Matilda Rose Ledger, daughter of Michelle Williams and the late Heath Ledger; David Banda, son of Madonna and Guy Ritchie; Sean Preston Federline, son of Britney Spears and Kevin Federline; and Sam Sheen, daughter of Denise Richards and Charlie Sheen.

Forbes.com looked at a year’s worth of press clippings and Web presence for more than 50 Hollywood kids. The Web site then narrowed the list, recruiting the polling firm E-Poll Market Research to get awareness scores for the children and consumer appeal rankings for their celebrity parents.

[From the Huffington Post]

I have to say that, considering their criteria include the parents’ popularity, I’m surprised Suri did so well on the list. You’ve got to believe Tom Cruise’s popularity brought Suri’s down significantly. Imagine how hot she’d be if she had a normal dad. If she drops in position in a few years I can just see a potentially diva Suri screaming at her dad about dragging her down. Man I hope that happens.

Something tells me there is going to be a major Shiloh/Suri rivalry until the end of time. It’ll just exist in the tabloids’ imaginations, but they’re so close in age – and hotness – that they’ll be in constant competition. Who gets into the better nursery school. Gets the better score on the SATs. Who joins the better cult. It’ll be madness. Luckily the people at business magazine Forbes will probably be there the whole way, tabulating childhood hotness for us. Otherwise, they might have to talk about the stock market.

Suri has actually been remarkably absent from the photographers lately. There have been no new pictures of her since November 7th, which is very unusual. Here’s Suri with mom Katie visiting a playground in Central Park on October 23rd. Images thanks to Fame.

November 18th marks the second wedding anniversary for Hollywood power couple Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes. It’s been a weird two years since the fairy-tale wedding in a castle in Italy. But since then, there’s been a slow, steady backlash in the media against the couple - most of it aimed at Tom Cruise and his “religion” of choice, Scientology. The predominant public opinion is that Katie, once a cute, doe-eyed ingenue with a promising film career, has been sucked into the bizarre world of Scientology at Tom’s insistence - although there has been no confirmation of any of this. Some have even gone so far as to say that Katie is a prisoner of this marriage - and the reason she stays with Cruise is their little girl, Suri.

In the two years since Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes wed in a lavish ceremony in Italy, their marriage has been tested. The couple has been dogged by gossip that their relationship is a sham, forced to defend their belief in Scientology and weathered career pitfalls.

As their November 18 anniversary approaches, Tom and Katie are still together - but it’s not all wedded bliss. “Life with Tom is not what Katie thought it would be,” a friend reveals. “Had they just dated a couple of years, I think they would have split up by now.”

Says another pal, “Their relationship is not perfect.”

According to an insider, there’s one big reason Tom and Katie have persevered: their daughter. “She puts up with a lot for Suri’s sake,” the friend explains.

Katie, who is temporarily living in New York to star in the Broadway show All My Sons, spends every free moment with Suri, 2. The two have been spotted playing together in the city’s parks, and on November 5, she took Suri for pizza at Pie by the Pound in the East Village. “She looked so happy,” a witness tells In Touch.

But it was a complete reversal a week earlier, when she dined with Tom alone at Balthazar restaurant in SoHo. “Her face said it all,” an insider revealed. “Katie looked miserable with him. Her smile was really forced.”

Tom, 46, and Katie, 29, weren’t always so incompatible.

“They rushed into the relationship,” a friend explains. “Katie got swept up in it. She thought she loved him.”

But the honeymoon was short-lived. When the reality of being Mrs. Tom Cruise set in, Katie felt controlled by Tom - and Scientology.

[From In Touch print version, Nov. 24, 2008]

While I think this story is a bit melodramatic and very circumstantial in nature - she was smiling with Suri and less so with Tom a week earlier, so what? - it sure is compelling with you look at those older photos of Katie from two years ago and compare them to Katie today. No marriage is perfect, and expecting perfection for Tom and Katie is unrealistic. But looking back at the old photos, it seems like this union is far from perfect or even normal. Katie seems to have aged ten years. While having a baby definitely takes its toll on any new mom, the change is so dramatic, it really makes you wonder what’s been going on behind closed doors. Maybe it’s as simple as Katie, as a young woman, struggling to find her identity as a more mature actress and mother. Or maybe it’s something darker. We’ll probably never know- or we’ll have to wait a long time to find out, like with Tom’s last wife, Nicole Kidman, who only recently started giving vague clues about what life is really like with the star.

In any case, I hope the couple makes some alone time for each other to celebrate their anniversary - no Suri, no Scientology, no paparazzi, no red carpets; just a romantic night for the two of them.

Here are photos of Tom and Katie throughout their relationship.

I think there’s a decent chance that Suri Cruise is the most photogenic celebrity baby out there – at least when she’s not scared to death by the paparazzi. Katie and Tom take her out a lot, especially since they’re been in New York while Katie performs in All My Sons. Suri seemed especially happy yesterday as she and Katie went for a stroll – and she got to bring along her Paddington Bear.

Suri Cruise took her new best friend to the park yesterday - a miniature Paddington Bear. The two-year-old walked hand-in-hand with mother Katie Holmes, who carried the unmistakable red hatted teddy.

When they got to the park near their New York home actress Katie entertained a delighted Suri by standing Paddington on a railing.

Katie carried a warm blanket in case of chills, as the two went for their stroll.

Despite her tender age Suri is already proving to be a stylish young lady, no doubt helped by her fashionable mother. The tot held out her velvet dress as she walked down the street in silver Mary Janes and black leggings.

During the day the pair explore the city together. Then while Katie is at work Suri plays in her own VIP area at the theatre, which comes complete with a little piano.

[From the Daily Mail]

It makes me really happy that kids still have Paddington Bears – he doesn’t talk or have a screen or buttons or anything. Well, he has buttons, but they’re on his little coat, not the kind that are attached to handheld electronics. Thus I assumed Paddington had no appeal to anyone but stick-up-their-asses sorts like me. Both Katie and Suri seem so much livelier in their expressions and body language when they’re out alone together. They obviously have a close mother daughter relationship.

Here’ s Here are Katie and Suri out in Manhattan yesterday. Images thanks to Bauer-Griffin and Fame.

Poor little Suri Cruise looked absolutely terrified yesterday when she and parents Katie Holmes and Tom Cruise exited their Manhattan apartment. It’s hard to tell if Suri’s upset by the paparazzi or something else, but it doesn’t seem like she’s throwing a tantrum. The poor little girl is clutching her hands over her ears.

Tom and Katie both seem about as happy as I’ve ever seen them. Which really makes me wonder what’s going on. There are a lot of Halloween parades and other festivities that might have been too loud for the tot, but her reaction seems a little extreme for something like that.

Celebitchy has noted in the past that Suri often cries and hides her face around the paparazzi, especially since she’s been in New York. There’s also been several videos of Suri crying because of the paparazzi. She seems to upset in these pictures and it’s truly heartbreaking to watch. The especially bizarre thing is that the photo agency titled them “Sweet Suri on Halloween,” totally ignoring a clearly upset child.

Tom and Katie definitely don’t seem at all concerned, so maybe it’s not a big deal. Toddlers are infamous for their tantrums, though this sure doesn’t seem like traditional tantrum behavior to me. Whatever is making Suri so upset, if it has anything to do with the paparazzi Tom and Katie need to quit showing her off so much if she’s getting this upset so often.

Note by Celebitchy: It’s worth noting that Suri is again wearing a short sleeve dress without a coat and she’s not even wearing tights. Katie has received some criticism in the past for not properly bundling Suri up for the cold fall air in New York. In Touch has an article this week titled “Why won’t Tom and Katie Put a Coat on Suri” that features pictures of the two and a half year old out in sleeveless dresses along with the low temperature that day. The low temperature yesterday in NY was 42° Fahrenheit, with an average of 51.6°. It’s possible Suri is one of those toddlers who refuses to wear her jacket and that Katie and Tom are trying to find a compromise for her by bringing a blanket along. There are some children around her age who refuse to even wear clothing in the house.

Images thanks to Bauer-Griffin.

Little Suri Cruise, two and a half, was spotted out with her Broadway star mom, Katie Holmes, in Central Park yesterday. The tot had a new haircut and wore a puff sleeve blue polka dot dress with silver ballet flats. Many of you pointed out in earlier stories about Suri that she needed a haircut and her bangs were getting a little too long. It looks like her mom took care of that, but Suri is still in clothing that doesn’t look appropriate for the weather, as you also mentioned.

While Katie is in a jacket, Suri is out in a little dress that’s meant for late spring or summer. It averaged 46° in Central Park yesterday, so it wasn’t that cold, but that’s still too cold for short sleeves. At first I thought she wasn’t wearing tights but on closer inspection she looks like might have on light pale tights. They’re not the thick tights that kids usually wear, but I wanted to give her mom the benefit of the doubt. Katie is also holding Suri’s jacket, so maybe Suri insisted on taking it off. That doesn’t mean her mom should indulge her.

JayBird reported yesterday that Tom and Katie have an entire apartment that they use as Suri’s playroom. They have four other apartments in the same building in the East Village, though. Two are for their staff and one is a gym. Must be nice to own so much space on both coasts.

There’s some controversy over whether Suri has enough playmates, but she’s not even three yet. She seems to have a devoted mom and dad, even if they don’t dress her warmly enough and seem to push the limits of her patience with photo opportunities.

Photo credits: WENN (photo names start with WENN), Bauergriffinonline (photo names start with numbers) and Fame Pictures (photo names start with FP)

Page Six is speculating that Suri Cruise needs some serious socialization. It seems that parents Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes are practically keeping Suri isolated. It’s probably hard for them to find parents they feel they can trust, and kids that won’t say inappropriate things to Suri (“Is your dad really an alien king’s son?). Still, the paper points out that we see new pictures of Suri almost every single day – and it’s always with Katie. She doesn’t seem to even get to socialize casually with other kids like at the park or the playground, and she seems desperate for some interaction.

POOR Suri Cruise. The 2-year-old daughter of Katie Holmes and Tom Cruise doesn’t seem to get much playtime with other toddlers. A local spy who’s seen Suri around other children says, “Whenever she sees kids, she gets excited and runs up to them and hugs them as if she never gets to see kids her own age. There’s not a lot of socialization there.” Indeed, almost every day there are different shots of Suri with her mother - always shopping and always alone.

[From Page Six]

I could see how a celebrity parent would be extra wary about the people in their kids’ lives. But Tom seems unusually controlling, and it’s hard to believe it’s just normal, healthy parental caution that’s keeping Suri all alone. It’s great that she has so much time with her mom, but she needs to learn how to interact with kids her own age. I’d imagine that if Tom and Katie wait too long, Suri could end up feeling really shy and awkward around other kids as she grows up.

Hell they’ve got the money – I say hire a friend. It’s the best of both worlds: Suri will have someone to play pretend with, and Tom can control everything the friend says or does. Maybe a robotic one, so he can just reprogram when needed.

Here are Katie and Suri Holmes leaving their NYC apartment on Thursday. Images thanks to Fame and WENN.

The anxiety exhibited by little Suri Cruise when confronted by hordes of paparazzi doesn’t seem to be going away. In fact, since Katie Holmes’ new Broadway play opened in previews last month, it seems like Suri’s fear of photographers has gotten worse. Maybe it’s because the toddler is being dragged back and forth to every rehearsal and performance, so the paps know where she’s going to be now. Or maybe it’s because the little girl misses her siblings, her own room and the small bit of privacy she might have had at home in L.A.

And now that dad Tom Cruise has joined his family in New York, there are even more photo opps. The most recent one was last night at NYC’s Alice’s Tea Cup restaurant. The family was photographed leaving the eatery in the evening, and as usual, poor Suri hid her face by burying it in her dad’s shoulder. This pose has become the norm for the little girl - and every time I see it, I feel so sad for her. She was such a happy, smiley baby and now she just looks scared all the time.

Tom and Katie are in a tough spot here. They have high-profile careers that make it impossible for them to leave the house without being followed. But Suri is just a child, and she clearly isn’t able to handle the stress the way her parents do. While keeping her house bound probably isn’t healthy either, there has to be a better way than constantly dragging Suri to events and locations where the paps will be thrusting cameras in her face. Tom’s other children, Bella and Connor, have been able to lead relatively normal lives, Scientology notwithstanding. They even play on sports teams with other kids, without being subjected to the same level of exposure as their little sister. And other celebrities with just as much star power as the Cruises manage to keep their children protected-including Tom’s ex-wife, Nicole Kidman. Why can’t Tom and Katie see what this is doing to their daughter?

Photo credit: WENN