![Dakota Fanning on the Gift That Tom Cruise Gives Her Every Year 1](https://www.intouchweekly.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Dakota-Fanning-on-the-Gift-That-Tom-Cruise-Gives-Her-Every-Year-1.jpg?crop=0px%2C0px%2C1998px%2C1133px&resize=940%2C529&quality=86&strip=all)
Getty Images (2)
Dakota Fanning Reveals the Birthday Present That Tom Cruise Gifts Her Every Year
Dakota Fanning revealed the gift that former costar Tom Cruise sends her every year for her birthday.
“He gave me my first cellphone when I was 11 years old, that was my first gift from him,” Dakota, 30, told Entertainment Tonight in an interview published on Tuesday, June 4. “And he’s remembered [my birthday] every year since then.”
The former child star admitted she thought things would change once she turned 18 years old, but she said Tom, 61, enjoys “that moment of checking in once a year.”
“It’s just like so thoughtful,” she concluded.
Dakota was only 11 when she starred alongside Tom in the 2005 sci-fi thriller War of the Worlds. Onscreen, Tom played her father, Ray Ferrier, a divorcee who worked relentlessly to keep his two children safe amid a violent alien invasion.
The Man on Fire actress first made the revelation about Tom’s yearly gift during an interview with Harper’s Bazaar in April. “It was a Motorola Razr,” she confirmed. “Oh my God, I was so excited. I didn’t have anybody to call or text at that time, you know I was 11 and I loved having it.”
![Dakota Fanning on the Gift That Tom Cruise Gives Her Every Year 1](https://www.intouchweekly.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Dakota-Fanning-on-the-Gift-That-Tom-Cruise-Gives-Her-Every-Year-2.jpg?fit=400%2C427&quality=86&strip=all)
That isn’t the only former costar that the Georgia native continues to keep a close relationship with. Before her on camera debut with Tom, Dakota worked with Denzel Washington in 2004’s Man on Fire. More than 20 years later, the pair reunited onscreen for the 2023 film The Equalizer 3.
“It was weird, you know, ’cause I’m like, ‘Oh she’s a grown woman,'” Denzel, 69, told Entertainment Tonight about reuniting with Dakota in August 2023. “She was like a grown woman then, but now she’s a grown woman. And, you know, obviously a great talent … It wasn’t really strange, ’cause she was bringing it.”
Dakota told the outlet that she and Denzel had kept in touch over the last two decades and had even befriended one of his daughters during her studies at New York University.
“I’ve obviously, you know, known Denzel for a big part of my life, and one of his daughters is one of my closest friends, so I’m always in the loop,” the actress explained. “He has always been so good to me and kind to me, and I feel such a connection to him because he’s known me for so long. It’s most people’s dream to get to work with him once, so to get to work with him twice at different stages in my life is a real treat.”
Have a tip? Send it to us! Email In Touch at contact@intouchweekly.com.