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Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes’ daughter Suri Cruise turned 18 in April this year. Earlier this month, an 18-year-old Suri graduated from the LaGuardia High School in New York City. While Katie was in attendance for the milestone moment, also getting clicked with her daughter, Tom’s absence from the event came as a surprise to no one. As a matter of fact, the actor instead chose to make quite the appearance at one of Taylor Swift’s ongoing Eras tour concerts. Recent media reports assert that Suri has in fact dropped Cruise from her name. She however, is not the only A-lister star kid who has opted to tread down this path.
Suri drops Cruise
Tom and Suri have been estranged from each another for over a decade now. The 60-year-old actor’s strong allegiance to the Church of Scientology was apparently the main bone of contention. While Suri Cruise was one of the most sough after Hollywood babies during her early years, Katie’s divorce from Tom was followed by the former’s decision to give Suri a secluded upbringing away from the public glare.
The pamphlet for the graduation ceremony reportedly listed Suri as ‘Suri Noelle’ and not Suri Cruise, indicating that she has presumably dropped her famous last name. ‘Noelle’ is actually part of Katie’s full maiden name — Kate Noelle Holmes. Come Fall, Suri Noelle will be attending the famed Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh.
Angelina Jolie
It may still come as a surprise to many that Angelina Jolie is actually the daughter of veteran actor Jon Voight. Over her decades in the industry, Angelina has managed to carve a legacy of her own, arguably greater than her father’s. However, professional independence was not at the root of Angelina opting to drop Voight from her name. Angelina and Jon reportedly always had a strained relationship, made worse by the latter’s infidelity to the former’s mother Marcheline Bertrand.
Incidentally, their estrangement had become so pressing at a point, that Jon admitted to not being aware of Angelina having married fellow actor Brad Pitt in 2014. In a happy turn of events however, Jon recently publicly congratulated Angelina and his granddaughter Vivienne for winning a Tony, courtesy of their work as co-producers on musical The Outsiders.
Taking a lesson in independence from their mother, at least three of Angelina and Brad Pitt’s children, namely Shiloh, 18, Zahara, 19 and Vivienne, 15, have publicly opted to use Jolie as their last name as opposed to Jolie-Pitt. From the looks of it, all of Angelina and Brad’s 6 children are siding with their mother in the ongoing legal battle between their parents.
Meryl Streep’s daughter
For how undeniably famous Meryl Streep is, her children have largely maintained a low profile. Meryl Streep’s daughter Mamie Gummer in this regard is an example of how family drama is not always necessarily at the root of the decision to drop one’s surname. Mamie appeared along side Meryl in film Heartburn (1986). She however, was credited as Natalie Stern simply because she wanted to avoid any extra attention.
Separately, Meryl’s other daughter Louisa Jacobson Gummer recently made the news for coming out in an Instagram post on her mother’s birthday, dated June 22.
Willow and Jaden
Willow and Jaden are the children of actors Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith. Though Will and Jada’s relationship drama has been the fodder for seemingly endless internet banter and memes, their children are not estranged from their family per se. However, being involved in a multitude of artistic pursuits, both Willow and Jaden have dropped their last name in a professional capacity. While Willow did it first, Jaden followed suit.
Liv Tyler
For the initial years of Lord of the Rings actor Liv Tyler’s life, she was led to believe that she was the daughter of musician Todd Rundgren. Liv’s mother Bebe Buelle however, was actually mistaken about her paternity. Liv, who was christened with the last name Rundgren on birth, was around 9-years-old when she learnt she was the daughter of singer-songwriter Steven Tyler. She cultivated a strong relationship with him eventually choosing to officially change her name to Liv Tyler.
What is your take on star kids dropping their last names?
