Tom Cruise‘s estranged daughter Suri was pictured in New York City today as she celebrated her 18th birthday. 

She was seen holding a birthday present with a friend, while her Scientologist father  filmed Mission: Impossible 3,500 miles away in Britain.

Suri has spent much of the last 12 years living in the shadow of frenzied speculation over her infamously fractured relationship with her famous father.

And as she takes her first steps into adulthood, it seems she is finally ready to answer the question of her future with the Top Gun star once and for all. 

Today, the teenager will mark her milestone 18th birthday without her dad Tom, 61, who has all but been exiled from his youngest child’s life for many years – a bitter rift that stems in large part from Katie and Suri’s decision to cut ties with his controversial Scientology faith. 

The wedge that was initially driven between father and child at the time of his 2012 divorce has since become a rock-solid wall – one that Suri has no plans to ever break down, DailyMail.com can now reveal. 

Today Suri was pictured clutching a garish pink umbrella as she ventured out with a friend to celebrate her birthday on a wet and blustery day in the Big Apple. 

The teenager appeared to have taken some important styling cues from fashion-conscious mum Katie Holmes by pairing a smart cord-collar denim jacket with bootcut jeans. 

She completed the look with simple black running shoes, while her hair appeared to be adorned with a string of pink roses. 

The teenager – who bears a striking resemblance to her father – was also pictured in a similar ensemble on the eve of her birthday, when she was seen strolling through Manhattan while holding a floral bouquet after changing into a pair of brown leather cowboy boots.  

Now she is at the age of 18, Suri is a legal adult, ‘officially’ capable of making her own decisions. 

But while sources close to the teen say she is still weighing up her options as far as her future career is concerned, they note that she is crystal clear on one thing: ‘Tom does not exist to her.’ 

Suri’s birthday today will officially sever all remaining ties with Tom on paper; as she turns 18, the Top Gun star will no longer be required to pay child support to Katie, a sum that reportedly amounted to a hefty $400,000 a year. 

But even the potential of future financial assistance will not lure Suri into pursuing a relationship with her father, the insiders insist. 

‘Suri will not have any contact with her father, despite being 18, and even if he called, she would not answer,’ one source told DailyMail.com. 

‘He does not exist to Katie or Suri, and his daughter does not want to rely on him for anything. She feels that she has one parent and that is her mother.’

Suri’s close bond with her mother is no secret; the pair are peas in a pod.

Her mother was also pictured in New York City today running some last minute errands to get ready for her daughter’s 18th birthday.

The actress kept a low profile by wearing a long tan trenchcoat and sunglasses. 

Dawson’s Creek star Katie, 45, and her lookalike child are regularly pictured together in their hometown of New York, appearing every inch the happy mother-daughter duo. 

But while Suri has inherited much from her mother – a love of fashion, a passion for creativity, and Hollywood-worth looks – she has no plans to follow in Katie’s footsteps as far as an on-screen career is concerned. 

Instead, insiders say, she is focused very much on remaining ‘a private citizen’ – or at least as private as her star-studded parentage will allow. 

While Suri has yet to cement her plans for the future, she appears to be clear on the fact that she does not wish to go down the path that so many Hollywood nepo babies have trod by forging her own career on the big or small screen. 

‘She’s currently weighing up her options for the future,’ the source reveals. ‘But she plans on remaining a private citizen.’ 

Suri has however shown a keen interest in pursuing a career in fashion, with sources revealing back in March 2023 that she was ‘leaning towards’ studying the topic at college, focusing her application process large on the New York City area in order to remain close to her mother. 

But while she may not have crystalized all of her plans, one thing about her future is clear: Tom will have no part in it. 

It is a sad ending to what began as a seemingly-fairytale romance between her parents, one that left Tom literally jumping for joy when he bounced up and down on Oprah’s couch in 2005 while proclaiming his love for Katie. 

Months later, the pair were wed in an elegant and suitably glitzy ceremony that was soon splashed across the cover of Hello! magazine, giving the world an inside look at Hollywood’s newest golden couple. 

But that glitz soon began to tarnish, and just five and a half years after their wedding, Katie had filed for divorce, a move that Tom has since admitted he was ‘deeply saddened’ by. 

Suri was just six years old when her parents’ marriage fell apart, but she very quickly found herself thrown into the center of the controversy surrounding their split – and the fevered fascination with the role that Tom’s devotion to Scientology had played in it. 

Questions over whether she would continue to follow her father’s faith were quickly answered: Katie was awarded sole custody of their daughter and made it glaringly apparent that she had no plans to allow Suri to be caught up in the scandalous world of Scientology. 

The Mission Impossible star was given frequent visitation rights, but the last photo of Tom out and about with Suri was a trip to Disneyland that same year.

Initially, the had couple reached a custody agreement that stated Suri’s mother would care for her most of the time, however Tom would plan to see her regularly.

Despite this, the Hollywood titan was reported not to have seen his daughter for more than 100 days that same year, between a holiday they took in August and Thanksgiving in November. 

After In Touch magazine reported that Tom had ‘abandoned’ his daughter, he sued the publication for libel in a $50 million lawsuit. 

As the case played out in court, he acknowledged he had gone around three months without seeing Suri, but added that it was due to factors out of his control.

Instead, he explained he had been working to a tight and intense filming schedule on his action movie All You Need Is Kill in London, which left little room for free time of any kind.

‘Unfortunately in this situation it was impossible,’ he told the court, according to People.

He added that, far from abandoning his daughter, he called her every day – although conceded it was not the same as seeing his young daughter in person and that speaking to a child on the phone can be difficult.

He said: ‘You have to work at it. I’ve gotten very good at it. I tell wonderful stories.’

At the time of the split, sources close to Katie had reported that she and her ex were keen on co-parenting Suri, but in recent years Tom has not been seen in public with his daughter.

And as the Top Gun actor remains a powerful figure in the Church of Scientology, former followers of the faith have suggested it has restricted Tom from seeing Suri.

In 2019, Samantha Domingo, who stopped following Scientology in 2004, claimed Tom was ‘not allowed’ to have a relationship with his daughter because she is not a Scientologist. 

The author, who has penned a book about her time in the church, told US Weekly that, due to the Church’s belief in reincarnation, they will not view Suri as Tom’s daughter. Instead, she claimed they saw Suri as ‘a spiritual being in his daughter’s body.’

However, a spokesman for the Church of Scientology dismissed the claims as ‘fiction.’

While Katie has kept her daughter out of the limelight while growing up, she has offered Suri some glimpses of the A-list life after appearing on stage with her at the Jingle Ball in 2017, and more recently hiring her to sing in films she has directed.

Katie’s rom-com Alone Together, which was released in 2022, features a cover of ballad Blue Moon in the trailer, which is sweetly sung by Suri.

Speaking to Yahoo Entertainment about her decision to cast her daughter as the singer of the cover, Katie was full of praise.

She said: ‘I always want the highest level of talent. So I asked her! She’s very, very talented. She said she would do it and she recorded it, and I let her do her thing.’

In the same interview, Katie revealed she had also enlisted Suri to sing in another film she had directed, Rare Objects.

Despite two very impressive credits to her name and being the daughter of two of Hollywood’s biggest names, Katie insisted at the time that Suri remained, for the most part, ‘a 16-year-old kid doing high school.’

Aside from a potential singing career (with a little help from her mother), Suri is thought to be something of a fashionista who inspires her mother, with Katie recently revealing she sometimes pinches accessories from her daughter.

Back in 2011 when Suri was just four years old, Katie told Elle that her daughter would often pass comment on her clothes.

She revealed: ‘Today I’m wearing brown suede pants, and she said, ‘I don’t like your pants.’ But then she’ll say, ‘You’ve got to wear these shoes.’ Or ‘That’s so pretty, mom. Wear that.’ She’s got a great eye.’  

During an interview with InStyle in 2020, Katie sat down to chat while wearing her then 14-year-old daughter’s purple hair scrunchie. 

She revealed that, by then, Suri had surpassed the ‘girlie stage’ of her life and was becoming her own person.

Gushing with affection for her daughter, Katie said she had raised Suri to be independent and hard working.

‘She came out very strong — she’s always been a strong personality. She’ll pick an activity and work her butt off until she’s really good at it,’ Katie described.

‘Then she’s like, ‘OK, I’m going to try the next thing.’ She’s very focused and a hard worker.’

The aspiring talent is said to have first started applying to colleges at just 16 years old with the help of her mom.

A source close to Katie previously told DailyMail.com exclusively that Suri – whose wardrobe is reportedly worth $5 million – ‘has sent some applications out’ and is ‘leaning towards’ studying fashion in New York City.

It is a choice that would undoubtedly please her style-savvy mother. 

‘Suri is applying to schools all over the place. [Katie] really does want her to stay in New York so they can be close to each other,’ an insider at the time shared.

‘Katie takes great pride in her but is also extremely overprotective,’ they continued, adding that Suri’s mom is ‘overwhelmed’ by the idea of her daughter going off to college. 

While Tom’s annual child support payments will stop on Suri’s 18th birthday, the onscreen star could still be financially involved in her life as the divorce agreement is said to have included the stipulation that he will pay for college tuition.

DailyMail.com has contacted Tom’s representatives for comment.