Tom Cruise Proved Daughter Suri Is Better Off Without Him With Just A Few Simple Words

Hollywood veteran Tom Cruise may be the star of the "Mission: Impossible" franchise. Still, there's one mission in his life that actually seems impossible for him: being a father to daughter Suri Cruise. While on the red carpet of the premiere of "Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning," the controversial star was asked by an E! News reporter what the perfect Father's Day would look like for him since the holiday is right around the corner.

A simple enough question for a father of three — Suri, who Tom shares with ex-wife Katie Holmes, and Bella and Connor Cruise, who he adopted with ex-wife Nicole Kidman — but it appeared to be the toughest query of the night for the action hero. "Hey, just having fun, man. Making movies, big adventure, having a great time," he said. (via YouTube). Maybe famous dads do Father's Day differently, but most fathers don't go and film movies with their kids on their special day. The answer was bizarre and came across as a way for Tom to look like he wasn't dodging the question while actually doing just that.

Tom may have thought he was being slick, but the commenters on YouTube saw right through him. "A simple question about Father's Day and he can't answer it. He has gotten to a point where all he can talk about is movies and his love of movies. What about being a parent, Tom? " wrote one person. "I have a kid?" another facetiously asked, mimicking Tom. His answer had very little to do with being a father and more to do with being a movie star, something that viewers were quick to pick up on.

Tom Cruise has come a long way from being the man who once told Vanity Fair he's wanted to be a father his entire life. "I always said to myself that my children would be able to depend on me and I would always be there for them and love them — that I'd never make a promise to my kids that I couldn't keep," he said. That was in 2006, a few months after his youngest child, daughter Suri Cruise, was born. Fast-forward almost two decades, and at the time of this writing, the last time the father and daughter were seen together publicly was in 2012. Tom has missed major milestones in Suri's life, and his comments about Father's Day don't seem to be trying to rectify that. Tom's relationship with his youngest child is practically non-existent.

And it's not just Suri who has suffered. Bella and Connor Cruise have also dealt with tragedies within their family, including having front-row seats to their parents' bitter divorce. But while Suri sided with her mother, Katie Holmes, when her parents split, Bella and Connor ended up siding with Tom over Nicole Kidman. In 2024, a source told Heatworld, "The big issue is they're both still attached to Scientology, while Nicole left the church. Their loyalty is to their dad, who raised them after Nicole filed for divorce."

While Tom's relationship with Suri is kaput, his relationship with Connor and Isabella sounds much more ideal since he was actively involved in their lives growing up. But his answer to a simple question about Father's Day still leaves us scratching our heads.