Doesn’t it feel like Katie Holmes is suddenly… talkative or interesting? After she dumped Tom Cruise in 2012, Katie kept a low profile. There was even a rumor that a prerequisite of Tom agreeing to the divorce was that Katie not be seen with other men, or that she not speak directly or indirectly about Tom in the press. I think the past seven years have been mostly about Katie finding her footing as a single mother to Suri, and recovering from the craziness of that marriage though. And now she’s feeling herself. It’s like she turned 40 and came out of her shell. Katie covers the December issue of Elle UK, and this piece is pretty interesting – you can read it here. Some highlights:

On the infamous beige cardigan which went viral: ‘I just woke up and put it on. It’s so cosy… I love this brand, Khaite. I’m not wearing the bra with it today. I bought it [the bra] because I thought it was cool. The cardigan’s so big, it’s cute to just wear the bra underneath it. I wasn’t expecting it to be something people would talk about…. I just put it on and left the house.’

She never Googles herself: ‘I feel like my time is better spent watching an old film, reading a great book, spending time with friends and family. That is somebody else’s version of me and I can’t do anything about that.’

On the interest in her & her street style: ‘It’s a lot. It’s a lot. Honestly. That kind of attention is…I try to keep it in perspective because it just is what it is. I try to look nice when I leave the house. I’m very private and quiet, so it’s interesting that there’s that part of my life.’

On Instagram & social media: ‘I don’t use [Instagram] that much and, if I do, it’s usually just work geared. You can start to look at all these strangers and think you know them and there’s no way that can encapsulate a whole person. You’re just seeing a version of them and you always have to keep that in mind. It’s just a picture. You don’t know them. You don’t know their past.’

Having Suri when she was 27: ‘I was happy to become a mum in my twenties. It’s been nice that our ages fit… how do I put this? Every age that my child has been and my age at that time has been a good match. We kind of grew up together.’

Her New York apartment: ‘It’s really homey. I have a lot of pictures. I like vintage art from flea markets. Because we’re in New York, I want our apartment to be very cosy and soft – the city around us is so intense and hard. So that’s our style. And a lot of colours.’

Worries about bad influences on her child: ‘Doesn’t every parent? But, yes, of course I’m worried. There is so much bad news and hate and things that don’t make sense… The atmosphere around the world is… terrifying.’

Reuniting with the Dawson’s Creek cast: “It was really nice. We all went out to dinner and, I think, for all of us to really sit back in amazement that people still watch it and care about it. It was bigger than all of us and we all feel grateful that we got to contribute to it and benefit from it. We all got so many opportunities because of it.”

[From Elle]

The way she describes her life with Suri in New York reminds me a bit of how Michelle Williams talks about her life with Matilda. I would not have thought, all those years ago on Dawson’s Creek, that both Michelle and Katie would end up where they are, and that they would be in somewhat similar positions: single mothers raising daughters in New York, avoiding social media and just quietly doing their work without a lot of drama. Elle UK goes on and on about how Katie doesn’t want to get too personal, or talk about her family life at all. I respect that – after all the sh-t she went through with Tom, she’s learned the hard way to keep everything to herself. I’m so happy that she seems to have come out of everything happy and healthy.

Cover courtesy of Elle UK, additional photos courtesy of Backgrid.