For Dakota Fanning, Tom Cruise's birthday gifts are the cherry on top of the (coconut) cake. After all, the A Perfect Couple actress is not just among the recipients of the Top Gun star's iconic Christmas treat. More than a year after sharing that Tom has gotten her shoes for her birthday every year since working together on 2005's War of the Worlds, she revealed whether the tradition still stands.
While chatting with Andy Cohen and Brittany Snow on the November 6 episode of Watch What Happens Live, Dakota confirmed with a simple, "Yes, he does." As for what kind of shoes the Mission Impossible star sends the 31-year-old, Dakota added, "Really nice shoes."
The revelation prompted Brittany to jump into the conversation, exclaiming, "I have so many questions!" And the Uptown Girls alum was happy to answer. "It's really as simple as that," Dakota exclaimed. "He's just always given me shoes."
But the Hunting Wives star needed a little bit more, with Brittany asking, "And he knows your size? And what if your size changed over the years?" As Dakota confirmed, finding out her shoe size is not an impossible mission for Tom. She noted, "It has changed, and he's adapted."
Though the shoes have become their birthday tradition, it isn't the first present Tom got Dakota after playing her dad in the Steven Spielberg sci-fi movie. First up was a Motorola Razr cell phone when she turned 11. "I was so excited. I didn't have anybody to call or text at that time, you know I was 11," the All Her Fault star explained during a 2024 interview with Harper's Bazaar. "I loved having it. I felt so cool."
However, Tom's adorable gifting tradition started the following year. "He always sends me the same thing every year after the cell phone," Dakota told Kelly Clarkson on her eponymous talk show that same year. "I loved shoes when I was little and I started to be able to fit into really small adult shoes when I was on the War of the Worlds press tour, so I was very excited about them. From that birthday on, he always sends me shoes."
But the start of her bond with Tom isn't the only fond memories she has from their experience working together 20 years ago. "I really remember everything," Dakota told Access Hollywood in a video published November 10. "It was such a singular experience and I'm grateful that I knew it at the time, how special it was to be in a movie directed by Steven Spielberg and with Tom Cruise – it kinda doesn't get more 'movie' than that."
