Tom Cruise gave Dakota Fanning her first cell phone for her 11th birthday, a Motorola Razr, after Dakota played his daughter in the 2005 War of the Worlds remake. In the 20 years since, however, Tom has marked Dakota’s birthday each and every year by gifting her a pair of shoes. As far as I can tell, Dakota is the only colleague who gets a new pair of shoes for her birthday, instead of receiving the infamous Christmas coconut cake delivery, courtesy of Tom. Why? Quirks/anomalies like these fascinate me! And I’m not the only one fascinated by the yearly shoe drop: Dakota was on Watch What Happens Live last week to promote her new series All Her Fault, and host Andy Cohen asked if Tom is still keeping up with the tradition. (Yes, he is.) Sitting in the other guest chair was Brittany Snow, who was similarly intrigued:
Tom Cruise still sends Dakota Fanning a pair of shoes every year to mark her birthday.
Fanning, 31, told Andy Cohen as much during her Thursday, Nov. 6, appearance on Watch What Happens Live with Brittany Snow, as [Dakota] promotes her new Peacock series All Her Fault. Cohen, 57, referenced Fanning’s previous statements that Cruise has given her shoes for her birthday in the past and asked if it was still a tradition for the A-list actor when Fanning’s birthday rolls around each February.
“Yes, he does,” Fanning, who worked with Cruise when she was a child actor in 2005’s War of the Worlds, responded. “Yes, he does.”
“Really nice shoes, yes,” she added, when Cohen asked her to clarify “what kind of shoes” Cruise sends her.
“I have so many questions,” Snow, 39, told her fellow actress, and Fanning responded, “It’s really as simple as that. He’s just always given me shoes.”
“But are they nice shoes, are they sneakers? Or are they like…?” Snow asked. “They’re nice shoes,” Fanning explained. When Snow asked whether Cruise knows if Fanning’s shoe size has changed over the years, she added, “It has changed over the years and he’s adapted. He’s adapted.”
…Shoes are not the only gift Cruise has given Fanning over the years. In April 2024, Fanning said in an interview with Harper’s BAZAAR that Cruise actually gave her her first cell phone — a Motorola Razr — for her 11th birthday. “I loved having it. I loved it. I felt so cool,” she said, noting that Cruise has always sent her gifts on her birthday each year since then.
I found it hilarious (and a little curious) that Dakota wouldn’t elaborate beyond, “They’re really nice shoes.” Like Brittany, I’m brimming with questions. Does Dakota wear these shoes to red carpet events? Are they Hokas? (Because sneakers can be nice, too!) By what means exactly does Tom keep abreast of Dakota’s current shoe size? My bigger burning questions, though, are more macro. Again, what accounts for the diversion from Christmas cake to birthday shoes? Also — and answer honestly — if any other male coworker were annually gifting shoes to their decades younger female colleague starting from when she was a preteen, would it not be giving us the ick? And yet the man at the top of a cult has seemingly cultivated a Nice Guy shield… Dakota met Tom when she was a kid, which informs her experience of Tom and how she feels about him. I don’t hold anything against her if he’s still a positive figure for her, based on that history. Speaking for my own sassy ass, though, I’d send the shoes back with a note that says, “Where’s Shelly?”
Photos credit: mpi099/MediaPunch/INSTARimages, Caroline Torem-Craig/Avalon, Getty
I suspect it’s like the cake.. He found something she liked (shoes, probably mentioned) and then got staff to buy her shoes and kept doing it because, no brainier! That’s my very easy explanation
I wonder if he sends really nice shoes to his daughter that he never spends time with.
I had the same thought.
I think it’s a cute quirky friendship/uncle relationship and wouldn’t read more into it. I give one of my closest guy friends new Clyde Pumas every year at Christmas. Started 15 years ago and have just kept the running joke/gift. He has them in nearly every color pattern.
I’m looking at this through two lenses, one is they worked together when she was a child and that’s the basis of their relationship, a sort of uncle/niece thing and he (his staff signed off by him) continue to do something nice for her. The second is that he is a cult leader who needs to be challenged on that at every turn and not allowed to use these kind/quirky gestures as a shield.
Maybe he does it because it was her first film and he wants her to remember it in a positive way. I think I read that she also receive the famous cake. He wants to be viewed as the good guy in the film industry.
It definitely was not her first film. Her first movie was I am Sam but had already done a lot of tv before that. Not that this matters.. I still feel a bit icky about the whole shoe thing. Tom’s creepy no matter what.
I doubt he thinks in terms of “sending shoes to his decades younger ex co-star” as worth considering, its off a checklist, not that deep
The shoes are bribes, just like the cakes. “Tell everyone how nice I am so they forget the cult stuff.” It’s very transparent.
I know damn well that man’s personal assistants are behind all of this stuff and he gets the credit.