Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes share a
life together that's shocking shockingly normal, that is,
considering they're one of the world's most famous couples.
"When you come over, the first thing [Katie] does is say, 'Are you
hungry? Let me make you something,' " their friend, Internet mogul
Sky Dayton, tells PEOPLE.
A favorite pastime is family movie night: "Tom and Katie will get
in the kitchen and make this amazing popcorn with chocolate,"
Dayton says. "Suri is there playing. Kate feeds her a bottle and
then Tom feeds her."
According to those in the couple's inner circle which includes
Will and Jada Pinkett Smith, Yahoo CEO Terry Semel, Mission:
Impossible III director J.J. Abrams, Victoria and David Beckham and
fellow members of the Church of Scientology such as Leah Remini and
Dayton the Cruises are nothing like the characters portrayed in
headlines.
On a recent visit to the beach home of Yahoo's Semel and his wife
Jane, "Tom organized a soccer game. All the kids were there. His
mom was playing!" says Semel. "When they're surrounded by relatives
and friends, it's home."
But that normalcy hasn't stopped the speculation that their
marriage is on the rocks and that Holmes, 28, is controlled by
Cruise, 44. Those who know the couple best are mystified by the
rumors, PEOPLE reports in its new issue.
"We're shocked when we read that stuff," says Semel. "Kate is
bright and has opinions." Adds Abrams: "She's hardly a shrinking
violet."
"I think everybody has this image: Poor little Kate, she doesn't
have the strength to take care of herself," says Pinkett Smith.
"People don't know that behind all that grace is a tiger. ...
People think Tom and the Church of Scientology got something on
Kate? They don't. Kate is running her own show." (For our complete
interview with Pinkett Smith about Cruise and Holmes, click
here.)
King of Queens actress Remini agrees: "I really don't get it.
They're married, they love each other and have a beautiful baby.
They do 'weird' things like take care of their kid and go to
baseball games."
Holmes's parents, Martin and Kathleen, are a part of that picture.
Kathleen flew to L.A. for Suri's first birthday on April 18, and a
source says both remain "very close" to their daughter, who has
embraced her husband's religion. "She's very involved and it's her
choice," says an acquaintance. "She spends a lot of time reading
books and learning on her own."
As for another rumor making the rounds, that Cruise has tried to
convert the Beckhams to Scientology, a Beckham family friend calls
the story "rubbish" and adds, "Ages and ages ago Tom gave them a
booklet, but that was it. There hasn't been anything more than
that. It is never discussed."