Also, I know this isn’t really all that comperable to Nicole’s comment about Connor and Bella, since she said they say it jokingly and they’re teenagers, but some kids (usually very young ones) go through a phase where they call one or both of their parents by their first names. My mother, for example, went through a phase as a preschooler where she called her mom by her first name. Most of my grandparents’ friends thought this was horrible, but my grandmother actually didn’t mind (and she’s about the last person you’d expect to be okay with something like that!) and actually thought it was kind of cute. She also knew that it was a phase my mother would grow out of, and she did!

Anyway, very good point about there generally being more fascination about someone’s biological child than they’re adopted one. Angelina and Brad also tend to get asked about Shiloh and the twins more than about Maddox, Pax, and Zahara. Just like Tom, however, Brad always makes sure to include all of his kids in interviewes (in fact, one interviewer recently specifically asked how the twins were going, and Brad made a point of saying that the whole family was doing well). Angie generally does as well.

Unfourntately, I also think the media sometimes takes it too far. For example, I have seen the, countless times, the media talk about Shiloh and Suri as if their older siblings don’t exist. Granted, in Suri’s case that could also be because Bella and Connor are so much older than her, but still! Also, in the Jolie-Pitts’ case, the media constantly divides the kids by pointing out that the eldest three are adopted. I don’t see that happening all that much with Suri, Connor, and Bella, but there again I think it’s because Connor and Bella are older and not in the public eye as much.

Finally, I want to point out that Nicole has just gone through a full pregnancy and has given birth for the first time. Therefore, it’s natural that she’s going to talk about that experience and what it was like for her. Tom, on the otherhand, did not actually give birth to Suri (Katie did that, obviously!), so for him the experience of welcoming Suri into the family probably wasn’t all that much different than when he and Nicole adopted Bella and Connor.

And, I agree completely with you Marie. It seems so counter-intuitive that in order for Nicole to prove to all of us that she loves her children she needs to ignore their wishes and blab about them. Her responsibility is to her kids not some random reporter. I have a lot of respect for a parent who puts her kids needs and wants (privacy, for example) above what people think of her. Bella and Connor didn’t ask for a life in the spotlight, but they did ask for their parents to keep their private life private.

Mary-Helen, she has mentioned both kids more than once since her re-marriage and Sunday’s birth. There are quotes that are on this blog if you’re really skeptical. There are also pictures of her holding hands with both Keith and Bella.

Also, the quote from Katie about the kids calling her “mom” seems very odd if you read the interview. It seems like the whole interview was edited and reworked to sound more juicy. In the paragraph where its quoted, Katie is talking about Tom growing up around women, then how the kids are sweet, then randomly that they call her “mom.” The paragraph has nothing to do with the question asked of her and seems like a lot of what Katie said about that was taken out. Furthermore, when Nicole is talking about how the kids call her by her name, she’s laughing about it. If they were serious about disowning her as their mother I doubt that would be her reaction.

Mary, I don’t think Nicole’s interest has waned any. She’s a divorced, working parent, who lives a pretty good distance from her kids. I know my brother-in-law who has a daughter with his first marriage feels horrible that he can’t make it to her ball games, but he lives across country from her. He makes an effort to get her whenever she’s out of school, and once drove non-stop for 18 hrs just to make it to her last game of the season. On the flipside of that his step-daughter (my niece) calls both him and her real father ‘dad’, because she’s young and she doesn’t get to see her dad everyday. Her actual dad is however involved and sends her letters and such and she loves him probably more than her step-dad. Sometimes in a divorce a parent will take the child and move away, and it leaves the other parent in an awkward position. My point is there is tons of parents in these situations, and I’m sure Nicole has been to a game or two of Connor’s and Isabella’s, in fact I’ve seen pictures in US weekly of her going to them. We see snapshots of these people’s lives, not the whole thing. I’m sure Nicole loves her children dearly and feels badly when she has to miss the day to day things because she doesn’t live close to them (and according to Tom they’re always moving around). Also, I can’t help but feel if this was a reverse situation, i.e. if it was Tom (the father) who lived away then not as much would be said because it’s more common for the father to be the absent parent. I do not think it’s fair for anyone to make any assumptions however as we don’t know what goes on behind closed door, whether there’s phone calls, or web cams or whatever means Nicole uses to keep in touch with her children. And as for Connor’s audition isn’t Tom a friend of Will Smith’s? In that case it just makes more sense for the dad to be the one to take him. I don’t think Tom and Katie are the perfect parents you make them out to be, nor is Keith and Nicole, but I think all parties here love their kids and that’s all that matters.

I remember it as a lovely interview and very interesting.

Yes, you could say she talks about Sunday but she doesn’t flaunt her either, she’s protective of her too, but imagine being adopted into a famous family. You’d want some privacy since that most basic thing about you is known the world over. I think that’s what Nicole was referring to as well.

Regardless, it seems like Tom adores all three of his children (since this article is about him) and Suri sounds like such an animated little girl. I would love to see another addition the Cruise-Holmes clan, I can just imagine what Suri the big sister would be like.