Tom Cruise, Katie Holmes Reach Divorce Settlement, Vow to Keep "Suri's Best Interests" in Mind

Estranged couple reiterates their desire to keep settlement talks private as they work to hash out a custody deal for their 6-year-old daughter

By Natalie Finn, Gina Serpe Jul 09, 2012 4:56 PMTags
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The would-be big showdown between Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes won't be, after all.

While speculation over a potential cross-country battle for custody of their 6-year-old Suri reached a fever pitch over the weekend, the estranged couple announced this morning that they have quietly and privately reached a settlement.

"The case has been settled and the agreement has been signed," Holmes' attorney told E! News. "We are thrilled for Katie and her family and are excited to watch as she embarks on the next chapter of her life.

"We thank Tom's counsel for their professionalism and diligence that helped bring about this speedy resolution."

As for what that resolution exactly is? The couple, their attorneys and their publicists aren't saying, declining to release details about their agreement.

"The Tom Cruise-Katie Holmes case has been settled with a signed agreement," Tom's lawyer, Bert Fields, told E! News. "Tom is really pleased we got there, and so am I."

The dedication to privacy is hardly surprising given the joint statement the former couple released earlier this morning vowing to maintain their privacy through this very public ordeal.

"We are committed to working together as parents to accomplish what is in our daughter Suri's best interests," the couple told E! News this morning in a statement released through their reps. "We want to keep matters affecting our family private and express our respect for each other's commitment to each of our respective beliefs and support each other's roles as parents."

Until now, speculation had centered on the 33-year-old actress obtaining custody of their daughter with Cruise granted generous visitation rights. NBC News had confirmed that the entity formerly known as TomKat has already entered into settlement talks. (E! and NBC are both part of the NBCUniversal family.)

Without a settlement, the former couple would have appeared in a New York courtroom on July 17 for a mandatory—and public—divorce hearing.

Holmes' attorney revealed June 29 that she had filed for divorce—the fact that she did so in New York being an indicator that she would be seeking sole custody of Suri. An attorney for Cruise, 50, later said the Rock of Ages star would file his own petition after letting "'the other side play the media."

Holmes, who has spent time in New York on a monthly basis for at least the last two years, leased an apartment at the Chelsea Mercantile in Manhattan last month, and she and Suri have already become neighborhood fixtures.

The actress swapped vows with Cruise Nov. 18, 2006, after a whirlwind courtship, made all the more whirly by her then-boyfriend's excitement over being so in love with the former Dawson's Creek star. Not to mention Cruise's insistence (right up until his statement regarding their split) on calling her Kate, his ouster from the Paramount lot in 2006 and other evidence of kookiness that seemed to coincide with him romancing Holmes.

As befitting a child of her insisted-upon social stature, Suri made her public debut on the cover of Vanity Fair when she was 3 months old.

(Originally published July 9, 2012, at 9:22 a.m. PT)