Katie Holmes Hints At Tom-Less Future And Next Steps With Sexy Magazine Photoshoot

Though the divorce of Katie Holmes and Tom Cruise surprised the media, fans, and Cruise himself, it’s slowly becoming clearer that it’s been a long time coming in the mind of Holmes herself. In an interview with Elle magazine just six weeks before the divorce announcement, Holmes drops several hints that her marriage to Tom Cruise is about to end, and that she’s already planning what comes next.

“I definitely feel much more comfortable in my own skin. I feel sexier. I think in my 20s, it’s like you’re trying too hard to figure everything out,” Holmes says of life post-30. “I’m starting to come into my own. It’s like a new phase,” she says in an interview set to appear in Elle‘s August issue.

Holmes was 26 when she and Tom Cruise began dating in 2005, notes NY Daily. The interview shows a fiercely independent Holmes, bereft of any clear attachment to Cruise, and full of hope for her future. “He has been Tom Cruise for 30 years,” she said, adding, “I know who I am and where I am and where I want to go, so I want to focus on that.”

In regard to her personal life, Holmes stressed her devotion to daughter Suri – Tom wasn’t really mentioned, and she’s still not really going into any great detail regarding reasons for the split. “(It was) issues raising Suri, different ideas of parenting,” said one source. “They are both very close to her.” Reports have suggested that Scientology is the key difference in how both parents want to raise Suri.

Though any rumors suggesting Holmes stands to gain a fortune from the divorce (hence motivating her to file) should be roundly crushed by now, the actress herself stressed “Things are not handed to anyone,” continuing, “If anything, you work a little bit harder when you’re in such visible circumstances.”

“She’s right… things aren’t handed to anyone,” wrote PerezHilton. “But we’re gonna give her something here — a lot of credit!”

Katie Holmes’ interview and sexy photo-shoot can be seen in Elle magazine when it hits stands in August.