It’s a good thing there isn’t much else happening in the world, so the celeb glosses are free to devote their full resources to the Katie Holmes and Tom Cruise divorce. Here’s the scoop:
People magazine barely answers its cover question: “Why Katie Left Tom,” but it doesn’t matter. There’s plenty of insight into Holmes’ gloomy slide downhill. For instance, the magazine has a final photograph of the couple together on Father’s Day in Iceland, with Holmes’ eyes cast downwards as Cruise grabs her hand tightly. The writers create a tick-tock of Holmes’ last 48 hours before she dropped the divorce news of the year. We learn she shopped at American Girl store with daughter Suri and took in a Broadway show.
The TomKat divorce, of course, is the biggest and longest-awaited news in recent gossip-mag history. Which is why we were especially flabbergasted that Star sleepily and stupidly chose to sideline it on its cover, opting instead for fat pictures of Jessica Simpson — as if Jessica Simpson has never been fat before! The TomKat sidebar touts a “first look at Tom’s sexy new Ukrainian girl,” but there’s nothing inside to augment the postage-stamp size cover tease of Cruise making goo-goo eyes with the Slavic ingenue. Likewise, the four-page TomKat spread inside — three pages of which is old photos — is short on sizzle.
If you’re not completely sold on the story that says Scientology is the driving force behind the TomKat divorce, pick up the latest Life & Style. The gossip rag tells us that Katie was already unhappy with being married to a “controlling” workaholic and that the thought of subjecting Suri to weird Scientology audits helped sway her to make the move. Tom had a say in everything Katie did, from her diet to her roles, L&S said. Meanwhile, he left her to be a “single mom” while he worked nonstop, including five months of voice and dance training for 10 hours a day in prep for “Rock of Ages.”
US Weekly does its best with the TomKat divorce to mask the fact that the magazine has nothing to reveal but old news. “Divorce shocker” reads the sub headline. It was a shocker a week ago; now it’s old news. Much of the magazine’s coverage could have been read in Associated Press reports. US could have done better with more investigation of the Scientology scare surrounding Holmes, but one gets the sense taking on Hollywood’s religion wouldn’t be in the tabloid’s best interest. Instead we get a pretty tame report on one of the decade’s most intriguing splits.
Holmes comes out looking very crafty in InTouch’s cover story, “The Fight For Suri.” She moved to New York because she would win sole custody for Suri here with joint custody being awarded only when both parents agree, which she obviously will not. The magazine explains how Cruise has sole custody of the two kids he and his ex-wife Nicole Kidman adopted, implying that he was angling to take Suri away from poor Katie. How come we think there might be more to this story?
In news outside the TomKat universe, sometimes the most revealing information comes out of interviews when the subject is comfortable and gets cocky. Spike Lee in a question-and-answer New York magazine feature seems to be out to prove his Brooklynhood upon learning that the reporter has lived in Cobble Hill for only 11 years. Lee, promoting a new movie “Red Hook Summer,” said he was raised in Cobble Hill — and was the only African-American in the Italian neighborhood. What? That is not the brownstone Brooklyn Spike Lee glorifies in his movies. Not only that, but he says he also has lived on the Upper East Side for 15 years and will stay loyal to the Knicks even when the Nets are in town. Some recommendations in the Eat Cheap double issue, including pizza and Mexican restaurants in Crown Heights, seem appetizing.
Time magazine’s decision to rush out an issue early on the Supreme Court’s Affordable Care Act decision was a mistake. At least it seems that way several days after the news. A winners and losers list seems incomplete. The opinions from four former solicitors general seem a bit boring, with the most insightful angle being a short feature on how consumers can now buy health insurance from Costco. Equally disappointing was a feature on the growing popularity of biking in cities, and the battle that erupts over who controls the road. Great topic. Problem is all we learn is that drivers hate cyclists.