Dakota Fanning—currently starring in Netflix’s Ripley—starred alongside Tom Cruise in 2005’s War of the Worlds, and during filming, Fanning turned 11 years old. For that birthday, Cruise gave her a cell phone (a Motorola Razr, if you’re wondering), and Fanning told Harper’s Bazaar that Cruise has given her a birthday gift every year since. (That’s nearly 20 years’ worth of presents!)
Fanning’s Ripley co-star Andrew Scott correctly guessed the answer to “Who gave Dakota her first cell phone?” with the answer “Okay, well, it’s going to be some Hollywood icon…Tom Cruise.” (How did he know that?!) Fanning confirmed this, saying “Oh my God, I was so excited,” before noting that she “didn’t have anybody to call or text at that time,” so she wasn’t exactly sure how useful the gift was.
“You know, I was 11,” she said. “But I loved having it. I loved it. I felt so cool.”
She added “Tom sends me a birthday gift every year, and has since that birthday,” noting that the latest one arrived on her landmark thirtieth birthday earlier in April. “So thoughtful,” Scott joked. “Really, really nice. He’s never given me anything.”
Cruise actually isn’t the only former co-star to give Fanning a gift, by the way: Dakota divulged in Elle’s “Ask Me Anything” video series that her Dreamer co-star Kurt Russell also gave her a horse once. So the question looms—Andrew Scott, what are you going to get Fanning? We’ll wait.
