presents – Celebrity About

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.

[From Page Six]

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

Drew Barrymore is letting us in on the holiday traditions she’s building with daughters Olive, 10, and Frankie, eight. One of which is that Drew does not buy her daughters Christmas presents. Instead, she takes the girls on trips for the holiday. While she admits she doesn’t think her daughters, “love it,” at their current ages, she does think they will hold the memories of their experiences on those adventures more than any toy or trinket they unwrap under the tree.

Drew Barrymore’s daughters won’t be unwrapping presents under the tree come Christmas morning. ET’s Nischelle Turner spoke with the 47-year-old host of The Drew Barrymore Show, and she revealed why she doesn’t buy Christmas gifts for Frankie, 8, and Olive, 10, the girls she shares with her ex, Will Kopelman.

“I always take them on a trip every Christmas. I don’t get them presents, which I think at their ages they don’t love, but I say, ‘I think we’ll remember the place and the photos and the experience and that’s what I want to give you,’” she explained. “They get plenty of things throughout the year, so I’m not like some weird, strict, cold mom who’s like, ‘You don’t get any gifts!’ I just feel like a better gift would be a life memory. I’d rather invest [in that than in] a doll house or something. It all evens out and it’s fine.”

“[I try] to remember that one holiday won’t be probably the same as one 10 years from now, that your life can dramatically change, and new people and new traditions can come into it,” she said. “I like looking at the holidays through a comedic, realistic lens of, we’re gonna have a lot of different holiday stories. What one do you want to keep going and build as a tradition? Rather than, ‘This is my tradition and I’m stuck in it.’”

[From ET via DListed]

The quotes above are from Entertainment Tonight, but Drew also discussed this a little more on her show. Drew’s childhood Christmases were, as she said, confusing, because she was often alone. Her own mother didn’t buy her presents, if she wanted Christmas gifts, she had to use her own money to buy them. I also want to call attention to Drew’s comment, “they get plenty of things throughout the year.” Drew isn’t trying to make some consumerism is evil point here, she’s just trying to create something for her and the girls. They have a whole other family with their dad and his wife, I’m sure they get presents under that tree. For two divorced parents of means, this a nice way to make two unique celebrations. On that note, Drew said on her show that she realized after she mentioned the trip thing that not everyone can afford to take their kids on trips every year and felt bad bringing it up. She also mentioned that sometimes they just “get in the car and drive,” for their Christmas trips. But the part I agree with is everyone is coming at the holidays differently and that’s how it should be. Whatever you celebrate or don’t, it should be completely catered to your family or the people you spend them with.

Also, Drew said she did get Olive and Frankie gifts during lockdown when they couldn’t travel. But Drew has a point about what we remember. I vaguely remember gifts I got as a kid, but what I really remember is that one I kept asking for and never got. For me it was an Easy Bake Oven. My mom said if I wanted to bake, I could use the big oven. That’s not the point, Mom! And this year we are traveling right before Christmas, which is our Big Gift for everyone this year and it better suffice come Christmas Day. I think it will be fine, my kids are teenagers and getting ready to move out, so we really are in the memory making stage.

Embed from Getty Images

: PASADENA, LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, USA – JUNE 24: American actress Drew Barrymore arrives at the 49th Daytime Emmy Awards held at the Pasadena Convention Center on June 24, 2022 in Pasadena, Los Angeles, California, United States.,Image: 702706720, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Pictured: Drew Barrymore, Credit line: Xavier Collin / Image Press Agency / Avalon

: Drew Barrymore attends Bloomingdale’s 150th Anniversary and Harper’s BAZAAR global Icons portfolio on September 9, 2022 at Bloomingales in New York, New York, USA.,Image: 721361834, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Pictured: Drew Barrymore, Credit line: Robin Platzer / Twin Images / Avalon

Celebrities At CBS Morning

Featuring: Drew Barrymore
Where: New York, New York, United States
When: 30 Nov 2022
Credit: ROGER WONG/INSTARimages.com/Cover Images

Photo credit: Xavier Collin/Image Press Agency and Robin Platzer/Twin Images: Avalon, Getty Images, Instagram and Cover Images