It all started with Spielberg’s sci-fi masterpiece: Tom Cruise has been sending this co-star the same gift for 19 years

When Tom Cruise isn’t rappelling down Olympic stadiums, he (or his assistants) apparently spend a lot of time planning presents. That’s at least what Dakota Fanning says. The actress became famous as a child, alongside the superstar. Since then, she’s received a birthday present from Cruise every year – but not just any present.

Tom Cruise has been giving Dakota Fanning shoes for 19 years

In 2005, Dakota Fanning played the film’s daughter, whom Tom Cruise has to protect from alien invaders, in Steven Spielberg’s science fiction masterpiece War of the Worlds. When the film was released, the young actress was just 11 years old.

For her birthday, Cruise gave the girl her first cell phone, as she revealed in June on the Kelly Clarkson show (via EW ):

I must have talked about it a lot because he gave it to me. This is a great memory.

But it didn’t stop there, because as Fanning revealed, she is now a permanent fixture on the action star’s congratulations list:

He sends me the same thing every year. When I was little, I loved shoes, and when I was on the War of the Worlds press tour, I started fitting into really small adult shoes, so I was really excited about it. Since that birthday, he has always sent me shoes.

The Filming of War of the Worlds began almost 20 years ago, but the birthday tradition remains.

Dakota Fanning was most recently seen in the horror film They See You and in the Netflix series Ripley. Former co-star Tom Cruise is currently working on Mission: Impossible 8, which is scheduled to hit German cinemas on May 22, 2025.

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