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Dakota Fanning has been making the rounds to hype horror movie The Watchers, out today. Dakota was on The Kelly Clarkson Show this week, and she confirmed that she is in the company of a few good men in Hollywood who receive annual gifts from Tom Cruise. Tom and Dakota worked together 20 years ago (I know, I can’t believe it either) on the War of the Worlds remake, and after initially giving a then-11-year-old Dakota a Motorola Razr cell phone for her birthday (it was what she wanted), he has since stuck with gifting her shoes. Every year. You had me at stiletto.
Dakota Fanning has Tom Cruise to thank for her massive shoe collection.
The “Uptown Girls” actress, who turned 30 in February, revealed that Cruise, 61, has gifted her a new pair of shoes every year for her birthday during Wednesday’s episode of “The Kelly Clarkson Show.”
“I find this amazing that every year on your birthday, Tom Cruise still sends you a present on your birthday and says, ‘Happy Birthday.’ That’s so nice,” Clarkson said, adding that they worked together “so long ago.”
Fanning said that she had just turned 11 years old when she first worked with Cruise on their 2005 film, “War of the Worlds,” and to celebrate he had gifted her her “first cell phone.”
“It was a Motorola Razr,” Fanning recalled. “I didn’t have anyone to call but I just wanted a Razr so bad. And I must have been talking about it a lot because that’s what he got me. It was such a great memory.”
However, since then, Cruise has honored her birthday every year by sending a new pair of shoes.
“He always sends me the same thing every year, after the cellphone,” Fanning said, adding that she always “loved shoes” when she was little.
She continued, “I started to be able to fit into really small adult shoes when I was on the ‘War of the Worlds’ press tour so I was very excited about them.
And so, from that birthday on, he always sends me shoes.”
Clarkson called the gift choice “so nice” but “so random.”
“You must have a massive shoe collection brought to you by Tom Cruise,” Clarkson joked, to which Fanning responded with a belly laugh.
Cruise is known for gifting his friends and co-stars with lavish presents constantly; he famously sends more than 300 people a special coconut cake at Christmas time and paid for “Top Gun: Maverick” co-star Glen Powell to get his pilot’s license.
What is the deal with this coconut cake?! Granted, it’s not my personal favorite flavor; I do not like it in my soda, I do not like it in my cake, I do like it in my Thai curry. But somehow coconut seems like a wildly exotic choice for Tom Cruise. For some reason I would’ve pegged him for a yellow cake with chocolate frosting man, instead. Who knows, maybe he doesn’t even eat the cake himself. It’s still very impressive that he’s amassed such a big list of acquaintances and colleagues, and that he consistently sends salutations via thoughtful, substantial gifts. I realize the grunt work is probably relegated to someone on his staff, but he’s still ensuring that a huge number of people get attention from him on holidays and birthdays. The whole thing is very professional, generous, and gracious. Just please help me reconcile how this is the same man who hasn’t seen or acknowledged his daughter in over 10 years.
Photos credit: Caroline Torem-Craig / Avalon, United Archives/Impress/Avalon, IMAGO/RW/Avalon
