'My biggest goal has always been to nurture her and her individuality.'
Katie Holmes is one proud mom! In the new issue of InStyle, the Dawson's Creek alum opens up about moving to Manhattan with daughter Suri Cruise after her 2012 split from Suri's father, Tom Cruise.
"That time was intense. It was a lot of attention, and I had a little child on top of it," Holmes tells the magazine of her post-split life in New York City. "[Suri and I] had some funny moments out and about in public."
Holmes recalls how many people were there for her after her divorce and notes one special memory in which she "actually cried."
"Suri was six or seven, and she was spending the night at a friend's house while I was seeing the ballet at Lincoln Center. At 10 o'clock I got a call: 'Mommy, can you come get me?' I got a cab and went down to Battery Park to pick her up," she shares. "She was exhausted. She fell asleep on the way home, and when we pulled up to our building, the cab driver opened the door and helped me not wake her. He helped carry her to the building. He was so kind."
The actress says her main focus now in parenting Suri is to teach her independence. "I love her so much," she gushes. "My biggest goal has always been to nurture her into her individuality. To make sure she is 100 percent herself and strong, confident, and able. And to know it. 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. Then she's like, 'OK, I'm going to try the next thing.' She's very focused and a hard worker."
Holmes notes that raising Suri in the public eye hasn't been easy, but that her daughter acclimated to the spotlight at an early age.
"We were followed a lot when she was little. I just wanted her outside, so I would walk her around to find parks at, like, six in the morning when nobody would see us," she remembers. "But there’s one video where I’m holding her -- she was 2 at the time -- and she starts waving at the cameras. She’s pretty special.”
These days, Suri is heading into her teenage years and already annoyed by her famous mom. "I love a dance party. I try to do one every morning to wake up my child, but she has rejected that," Holmes quips.
Now that Suri is a teenager, Holmes says she has more time to focus more on her own professional life.
"We've gotten through the sort of girlie stage. I feel like I can be more creative and have more time, have my voice," the actress says. "It's sort of, like, just put your stuff out there and be yourself. It takes a while to be comfortable, though."
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