Dakota Fanning Reveals Unconventional Birthday Gift Tom Cruise Has Given Her Every Year Since She Was 12

Tom Cruise takes the mission of giving a birthday gift very seriously.

In fact, the Top Gun star has made sure that former costar Dakota Fanning gets an extra special present from him every year, a tradition that started when he played her dad in 2005's War of the Worlds.

"I turned 11 on War of the Worlds when we worked together," she explained on The Kelly Clarkson Show June 5, "and he gave me my first cellphone for that birthday. It was a Motorola Razr."

The 30-year-old joked that while she "didn't have anyone to call" at the time, she had wanted a Razr "so bad."

"I must have been talking about it a lot," she laughed, "because that's what he got me. It was such a great memory."

But Tom's presents didn't stop there, as the 61-year-old has continued sending her birthday gifts.

"He always sends me the same thing every year, after the cellphone," she said. "I loved shoes when I was little and I started to be able to fit into really small adult shoes when I was on the War of the Worlds press tour, so I was very excited about them. And so, from that birthday on, he always sends me shoes." 

And host Kelly Clarkson was delighted by Tom's generosity, saying that it's "so nice" of the actor to continue the tradition after all the years.

"I love it," Kelly told Dakota. "You must have a massive shoe collection brought to you by Tom Cruise."

But shoes aren't the only present the Mission: Impossible star gives: He's also been known to gift friends coconut bundt cakes during the holidays. In fact, the sweet treat has been dubbed the "Tom Cruise Cake" by many celebs, with his Jack Reacher: Never Go Back costar Cobie Smulders joking that the "most glorious time of year" is when the dessert arrives at her home.

"I leave it in my freezer and it lasts until, like, March," she quipped during a 2019 episode of The Tonight Show. "I just slowly chip away at this thing. It's so good. I don't know why. I'm not even a big sweets person, but it's so good."

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