When Katie Holmes gave birth to Suri Cruise, she had a silent birth but the rumors about what that meant were outrageous.
After Tom Cruise infamously professed his love for Katie Holmes while jumping on Oprah Winfrey’s coach, they became one of the most talked about couples in the world. As a result, the tabloids were there gossiping during every step of Cruise and Holmes’ relationship.
Amazingly enough, even after Tom and Katie got divorced, the tabloids gossiped about their settlement. As it turns out, however, the rumor that Katie agreed to a crazy stipulation in their divorce settlement turned out to be true.
On top of gossiping about Tom and Katie’s relationship, the media loved to make claims that revolved around the couple’s daughter, Suri Cruise. A perfect example of that is the reports that Katie and Tom allowed Suri to drink coffee at only 4 years old.
Long before the media covered Tom and Suri’s relationship post-divorce, there was a lot of interest in Katie giving birth. As a result, crazy rumors about how Katie was forced to act while giving birth surfaced and turned out to be partially true.
The Crazy Rumor About Suri Cruise’s Birth
Now that it has been years since Katie Holmes and Tom Cruise got divorced, most people have forgotten how quickly their relationship progressed. After the world learned Tom and Katie were dating in April 2005, it was announced that the couple had gotten engaged in June of the same year.
Once Tom and Katie were engaged, most people thought there wouldn’t be any more big news about their relationship in 2005. Of course, assumptions often turn out to be wrong and they definitely were in that case.
In October 2005, it was announced that Katie and Tom were expecting a child. Ultimately, Katie gave birth to Suri Cruise in April 2006 which means that she is 16 years old as of this writing which is pretty mind-blowing.
Before Suri entered the world, some truly wild rumors about the child’s birth began to spread online and in the media. In fact, the same month that it was announced that Katie was pregnant, People published an article about how Holmes was expected to act while giving birth.
“In the tradition of fellow Scientologists Leah Remini and Kelly Preston, Katie Holmes is expected to attempt a Scientology laboring and birth experience when she has Tom Cruise’s baby next spring.”
“As they do with most everything, Scientologists have guidelines for the process, which includes birth without meds (a fairly normal birth choice for some women anyway). However, here’s the kicker – mothers are to attempt a silent birth, because they believe that it is traumatic for the baby to hear their mother cry or groan in pain while they are being born.”
As almost everyone who has witnessed a child’s birth will agree, the idea that a mother has to be completely silent while giving birth is wild. While People’s article claimed that Katie was “expected to attempt” to give birth without crying or groaning, many people at the time thought Holmes’ wasn’t supposed to make any sounds at all.
If that wasn’t crazy enough, there also was a rumor at the time that Tom had a special pacifier made for Katie to suck on during labor to ensure Holmes remained completely silent while giving birth.
How Was Suri Cruise Born?
After the rumors about the plan for Suri Cruise’s birth began to surface, some observers assumed there was no truth to them. As it turns out, however, that wasn’t accurate since Katie definitely was expected to have a silent birth. However, according to some Scientologists, the public’s assumptions about what that means were wrong.
As the aforementioned People article alluded to, other celebrities who gave birth while practicing Scientology have spoken about their silent births. A perfect example of that is what Kelly Preston said during an interview with the Today Show following the birth of her youngest child.
A well-known Scientologist before her passing, Preston spoke about having a silent birth during that interview. Furthermore, Preston explained why Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard believed that silent births were so important.
According to Preston, L. Ron Hubbard believed that babies hearing their mother’s agony during the birthing process leads to “psychosomatic illnesses, stress, fears, [and] worry” later in life.
Given that a high-profile Scientologist like Preston confirmed the religion’s belief in silent births, there clearly was some truth to the rumors. That said, in 2006 Tom Cruise spoke to Diane Sawyer and attempted to clear up what a so-called silent birth really means to Scientologists.
“It’s basically just respecting the mother, you know, and helping to be quiet — not the mother. The mother makes as much noise … you know, she’s going through it,” he said. “But why have other people make noise? You know, you want that area very calm and to make it very special.”
During Preston’s aforementioned Today Show interview, she also disputed the misconceptions about silent births. According to Preston, Scientologist mothers try not to speak while giving birth but they are allowed to cry out in pain.
