bitchy | Dakota Fanning says Tom Cruise still sends shoes every year on her birthday

Tom Cruise gave Dakota Fanning her first cell phone for her 11th birthday, a Motorola Razr, after Dakota played his daughter in the 2005 War of the Worlds remake. In the 20 years since, however, Tom has marked Dakota’s birthday each and every year by gifting her a pair of shoes. As far as I can tell, Dakota is the only colleague who gets a new pair of shoes for her birthday, instead of receiving the infamous Christmas coconut cake delivery, courtesy of Tom. Why? Quirks/anomalies like these fascinate me! And I’m not the only one fascinated by the yearly shoe drop: Dakota was on series What Happens Live last week to promote her new series All Her Fault, and host Andy Cohen asked if Tom is still keeping up with the tradition. (Yes, he is.) Sitting in the other guest chair was Brittany Snow, who was similarly intrigued:

Tom Cruise still sends Dakota Fanning a pair of shoes every year to mark her birthday.

Fanning, 31, told Andy Cohen as much during her Thursday, Nov. 6, appearance on series What Happens Live with Brittany Snow, as [Dakota] promotes her new Peacock series All Her Fault. Cohen, 57, referenced Fanning’s previous statements that Cruise has given her shoes for her birthday in the past and asked if it was still a tradition for the A-list actor when Fanning’s birthday rolls around each February.

“Yes, he does,” Fanning, who worked with Cruise when she was a child actor in 2005’s War of the Worlds, responded. “Yes, he does.”

“Really nice shoes, yes,” she added, when Cohen asked her to clarify “what kind of shoes” Cruise sends her.

“I have so many questions,” Snow, 39, told her fellow actress, and Fanning responded, “It’s really as simple as that. He’s just always given me shoes.”

“But are they nice shoes, are they sneakers? Or are they like…?” Snow asked. “They’re nice shoes,” Fanning explained. When Snow asked whether Cruise knows if Fanning’s shoe size has changed over the years, she added, “It has changed over the years and he’s adapted. He’s adapted.”

…Shoes are not the only gift Cruise has given Fanning over the years. In April 2024, Fanning said in an interview with Harper’s BAZAAR that Cruise actually gave her her first cell phone — a Motorola Razr — for her 11th birthday. “I loved having it. I loved it. I felt so cool,” she said, noting that Cruise has always sent her gifts on her birthday each year since then.

[From People]

I found it hilarious (and a little curious) that Dakota wouldn’t elaborate beyond, “They’re really nice shoes.” Like Brittany, I’m brimming with questions. Does Dakota wear these shoes to red carpet events? Are they Hokas? (Because sneakers can be nice, too!) By what means exactly does Tom keep abreast of Dakota’s current shoe size? My bigger burning questions, though, are more macro. Again, what accounts for the diversion from Christmas cake to birthday shoes? Also — and answer honestly — if any other male coworker were annually gifting shoes to their decades younger female colleague starting from when she was a preteen, would it not be giving us the ick? And yet the man at the leading of a cult has seemingly cultivated a Nice Guy shield… Dakota met Tom when she was a kid, which informs her experience of Tom and how she feels about him. I don’t hold anything against her if he’s still a positive figure for her, based on that history. Speaking for my own sassy ass, though, I’d send the shoes back with a note that says, “Where’s Shelly?”