Paparazzi make Suri Cruise cry & shes been cowering for days

Say what you want about Suri’s mom and dad, Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes. They definitely court the press and try to present this united front that highlights how normal they are as a multi-millionaire couple and the most famous spokespeople for a dangerous cult. Their little daughter is just two and a half, (there’s speculation that she’s older than they claim but it would only be by a few months) and just a vulnerable toddler trying to make sense of the world.

Suri is hiding from photographers recently, looks scared
I’ve started to be concerned for Suri because she seems to be cowering in most of the photos I’ve seen of her with her parents out in New York. At first I thought she was sleeping because she had her head on Katie’s shoulder, but see’s done that on other occasions and it’s clear that she’s scared and hiding. In some of the photos she’s playing or looking around, but she looks wary and uncomfortable – probably because there are people crouched nearby taking tons of photos of her.

Paparazzi made Suri cry
There’s a video on TMZ of Tom, Katie and Suri in NY outside of Nobu restaurant over the weekend. There’s a hoard of people flashing cameras and screaming “Suri! Tom! Katie!” Little Suri hides again and she starts crying right before she gets in the limo. She’s intimidated and scared and probably doesn’t understand why people are harassing her family and shouting their names. Tom and Katie should have left Suri home with a sitter, but it still isn’t right that she should be subjected to that.

Katie has to be in NY to rehearse for her upcoming Broadway debut in All My Sons. She could stay outside the city in Long Island, Connecticut or Westchester, but then she’s looking at an hour to a two hour commute each way depending on how early she leaves and if she beats the rush hour. It’s not like she could stay in Greenwich or Stamford and take the train in.

Katie, Tom, and their daughter are in NY by necessity for work. Their little daughter looks like she’s damn near traumatized by all the people who surround her whenever she goes outside. This has got to be incredibly confusing and stressful for her. Having one or two people take her picture occasionally is different than being surrounded and yelled at.

Children should be protected from “pack mentality” of the paparazzi
As a mom, it tugs at my heartstrings to see Suri cower and cry in response to the paparazzi. I think there should be laws in the US that children are off limits to photographers. I love seeing celebrity children and babies, but it should not be at the expense of their well being and safety – no matter how open their parents are to getting their photos taken. Paparazzi have relatively few restrictions in the US and they’re generally allowed to take photos whenever someone is in public. There are new proposed laws in LA that would create a personal “safety zone” of several feet around celebrities, but not much has come of that and police say they’re unsure how they’ll enforce it if it becomes law.

LA city counsel member Dennis Zine described the paparazzi situation in his city as “a mob mentality. It’s like a pack of wolves, a swarm of bees going after their prey.” He added to BBC News that they need some way to deal with it, and “That’s the issue that we really need to contend with and we need to come up with a solution.”

French paparazzi laws are the toughest in the world and children are generally considered off limits. People can sue for photographs taken when they have a reasonable expectation of privacy, even in public, and children’s faces are often blurred in celebrity magazines. Maybe celebrities can lobby together to bring about some kind of similar federal limitations on the paparazzi to help protect their children.

How will this affect Suri in the long run?
Suri is famous, but she’s just a little kid. She shouldn’t be scared out of her wits whenever she leaves the house so that we can see her pictures. Britney’s very public decline was arguably exacerbated by the photographers following and shouting at her every day. They would trail her on aimless drives, trips to the drug store, and ultimately to the hospital. Britney is a grown woman with other issues, but think of how that level of surveillance can affect a small child.

All that said, Katie took Suri to Central Park to play yesterday. Kids need to play outside, and there probably weren’t a lot of other places to go. It looks like a staged photo op to me, but did they have any other options other than staying inside or driving an hour away, just to get followed anyway? Is her mom supposed to give up her career to protect her child? I don’t like the way Katie and Tom seem to be smiling and acting like it’s ok that their child is upset, but what are they supposed to do, freak out at the photographers and upset her more?

Here are some photos of the family out in NY recently. Suri does not look happy even at the park.

Suri at Central Park with her mom on 8/17/08. Does she look carefree at all?
FPZ/Fame Pictures; Anthony Dixon/WENN