Will Katie be Tom's Run Away Bride?

Star Magazine/August 13, 2005
By Bob Hartlein, Ali Marcus, Maggie Harbour, Roger Hitts & Mike Neill

Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes seemed to be flying high - as high, at least, as the top of the Eiffel Tower, where Tom proposed to her on June 17. But now, sources are telling Star, Hollywood's newest golden couple may be coming down to planet Earth. Cracks have appeared in their veneer of perfect happiness and Katie might be having second thoughts. "I think Katie is getting cold feet," a friend of Holmes tells Star. "She must be wishing she and Tom could slow down their race to the altar while they get to know each other better."

Wedding plans

Despite their respective reps' insistence that the couple is still in a state of never-ending bliss, sources tell Star that TomKat's public love-a-thon has been tempered by to a war of wedding plans. A source close to Katie, 26, says the actress has always "dreamed of getting married in front of childhood friends and family members in [her hometown] of Toledo, Ohio." But Tom, 43, who has been married twice before (to Mimi Rogers and Nicole Kidman), prefers a low-key affair.

"He wants to keep the ceremony small," adds the insider, "inviting only a few family members and close Scientology friends."

And although Katie has gone on record expressing her interest in Scientology, it's apparently becoming a sticking point in the couple's wedding plans. The actress apparently wants a Roman Catholic priest at their wedding out of respect for her parents, Martin Sr., a lawyer, and Kathy, a homemaker - both of whom are devout Catholics. "She probably feels that would make her parents happy," reveals the source.

But Tom, who was raised Catholic and is now a devout Scientologist, probably doesn't feel a need to have the blessing of the Catholic Church when he says "I do," adds the insider. He also wants to hold the wedding in a Scientologist-friendly location, according to the source, such as the Scientology Celebrity Center in Los Angeles or aboard the Scientology yacht, "where they can have some privacy."

Then there's the seemingly growing gulf between Tom and Katie's family, possibly due to the fact that the actor hasn't visited her siblings back in Toledo. "I bet Katie is ticked off that Tom hasn't spent any time getting to know her family," the source says. "And her brother, Martin Jr., and her sisters have yet to meet their future brother-in-law. (Although Tom's rep admits that the actor hasn't met Katie's siblings yet, she says the actor has spoken to his future brother and sisters-inlaw "many times" on the phone and they have plans to meet up in L.A. soon.)

Katie's on Tom time

Tom seemingly insists that Katie restrict herself to his inner circle, most of whom are Scientologists. "Tom wants Katie to spend most of her free time by his side" says the source. "But I think she'd rather have a break from the media glare" and head back home to Toledo, where she can visit her mother, Kathy, who recently won a battle with cancer.

And then there's Tom's infamous TV confrontation with the Today show's Matt Lauer, which didn't sit well with the senior Holmeses. According to one source, it almost caused a mini-blow-up between Katie's father, Martin Sr., and his son-in-law-to-be at The Carlyle hotel in Manhattan while the family was in town for the War of the Worlds NYC premiere. "Martin questioned Tom on his beliefs about psychiatry," says another source. "Tom apparently got excited while explaining Scientology and questioning Catholicism, even pointing out the failure of psychiatry. Naturally, this would upset the Holmeses."

What's the rush?

Finally, it all comes back to the issue of Tom and Katie's wedding. "Katie doesn't exactly want to call off the wedding completely," says her friend. "She'd probably just be a lot happier if it wasn't happening so quickly!" However, the friend also adds: "Katie is a smart girl, and she could very well wake up one morning and decide that being with a man nearly twice her age is just not something she wants to do. She could become a real-life runaway bride."