How Katie Holmes Used A Burner Phone & ‘Secret’ Apartment To Plan Tom Cruise Divorce Without Him Knowing
She secretly planned the divorce for weeks.
Everett Collection | s_bukley | Shutterstock In the summer of 2012, actress Katie Holmes devised a strategic and calculated plan to escape her marriage to Tom Cruise and maintain full custody of their daughter, Suri Cruise.
Holmes' escape from the high-profile marriage and the steps she took to win custody of her daughter — and consequently escape the Church of Scientology's control — is one of Hollywood's many mysteries.
Cruise's previous wife, Nicole Kidman, famously lost touch with their children for many years because of the church.
So, the fact that Holmes was able to do what many members of the church have allegedly been prevented from doing, is certainly quite the legal triumph.
Here's the strategy Katie Holmes devised to divorce Tom Cruise:
Holmes reportedly spent some time carefully plotting her divorce from Cruise, and even "surprised" her ex-husband with the news that she was leaving him during a phone call while Cruise had been filming a movie in Iceland.
In an interview on the German TV network ProSieben, according to CBS News, Cruise admitted that he "didn't expect" the news that Holmes, to who he had been married for six years, was divorcing him.
"Life is a tragicomedy. You need to have a sense of humor," Cruise said. "I had an unbelievable amount of time to think about it."
Despite Cruise's optimistic outlook on his split from Holmes, a source told People that the actor had been "in shock" after receiving the phone call from his wife, which had been made from a throwaway device provided by Holmes' friend.
According to TMZ, Holmes fired many people on her team because they were too close to Cruise and would've alerted him to the steps she was taking to divorce him. Holmes fired both her bodyguard and driver, who had worked for Cruise for years.
After Cruise and Holmes began their relationship, the "Mission Impossible" actor assigned them to Holmes full-time.
Katie Holmes allegedly had a burner phone and a secret apartment.
Once Holmes fired people on her staff, she created an inner circle with people that she trusted, according to the Los Angeles Times, via Yahoo Entertainment. That was when a friend of Holmes provided her with a disposable phone, where the actress was able to speak with her New York City-based lawyers without Cruise or his team finding out.
During Holmes' planning, Cruise had been filming a movie in Iceland, and during a particularly action-packed scene, he received an unexpected phone call.
“He was about to do a stunt and got off his motorcycle to take the call,” a source told People. It was during that conversation that Holmes broke the news. “He’s been in shock since that day,” the source added.
According to the New York Post, Holmes even rented a secret apartment in New York City to escape with Suri following her divorce from Cruise.
The divorce between Holmes and Cruise was settled in 10 days, making it one of the quickest in Hollywood history. Holmes, who filed the divorce in New York City, also had three law firms in three different states set up in case she’d have to fight against her ex-husband outside of the state.
It was reported that the "Top Gun" star initially wanted to hash out their divorce in California, which typically favors divorcing parents to have joint custody of their children.
Holmes and Cruise's iron-clad prenup, which is said to have been drawn up by Holmes' father, who was a divorce attorney, helped when it came to the easy division of their money and property.
When it came to their daughter, Suri, Holmes was granted full custody, while Cruise was afforded visitation rights.
It has been widely reported that Cruise hasn't seen his daughter since 2012 and is estranged from her, which is speculated to be because she isn't involved in Scientology, the religion Cruise follows.
Nia Tipton is a writer living in Brooklyn. She covers pop culture, social justice issues, and trending topics. Keep up with her on Instagram and Twitter.