Tom Cruise and his actress-girlfriend, Katie Holmes, interrupted their respective publicity tours yesterday to get engaged in Paris, the City of Love.
“Today is a wonderful day for me,” Cruise, 42, cooed to a roomful of journalists as he announced that his new love answered oui in the wee hours of the morning when he popped the question atop the Eiffel Tower.
“I’m engaged to a magnificent woman,” he said as his beaming, blushing bride-to-be sat nearby – sporting a giant sparkler on her left ring finger.
Cruise said he proposed to Holmes, 26, in Paris “because it is very beautiful and romantic here.”
Cruise has been in Europe promoting his new film, Steven Spielberg’s “War of the Worlds.” Holmes has been doing the same for her film, “Batman Begins.”
The two announced they were an item in April, shortly after Cruise and actress Penelope Cruz split and Holmes’ engagement to “American Pie” actor Chris Klein ended.
A month into their whirlwind romance, Cruise went ape on “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” jumping up and down on Oprah’s couch while professing his love for the darling of “Dawson’s Creek.”
Holmes, who has vowed to remain a virgin until she weds, makes no secret of her longtime adoration of Cruise – whose picture hung over her bed when she was growing up. She has admitted she used to dream of marrying the diminutive action hero.
Cruise has twice said “I do” – both times to actresses. His first marriage, to Mimi Rogers, lasted two years and nine months; his second, to Nicole Kidman, lasted 10 years and eight months.
“His track record is not great, and his claim to sanity is not great after what happened on the Oprah show,” said divorce lawyer Raoul Felder.
“When they get the loudspeakers and skywriters out to announce, ‘I love you,’ divorce lawyers absolutely know the marriage will be in the toilet within two years,” he added.
Nationally syndicated talk-radio host Dr. Laura Schlessinger also predicts the union won’t last.
“If Tom Cruise follows his pattern, the marriage should end when his new lady becomes more of a star in her own right,” she said.
Dr. Joyce Brothers pointed out that the two stars are “not the only couple who’ve lost their heads in Paris.” She suggested that “they may have gotten carried away by events when they’re still not ready for it.”
ROCK STAR
The diamond Tom Cruise gave Katie Holmes to seal their engagement may be worth as little as $250,000, according to jewelers in Manhattan’s diamond district.
Based on photos, they put the rock’s size at four to five carats and said the micro pave setting – with small closely matched stones encircling the big stone and the band – is one of this year’s popular looks.
– Perry Chiaramonte