Katie Holmes says raising her daughter properly is more important than her career.
In a new interview with Town & Country, the actress opened up about balancing filmmaking and being a mother to her 10-year-old daughter Suri, whom she shares with ex-husband Tom Cruise. “My child is the most important person to me, and her upbringing is paramount to my work right now,” she told the magazine. “It’s very important that I’m present and she has a stable, innocent childhood. I feel so blessed to do what I do, but there’s nothing in the world better than watching your child succeed.”
Related: Sarah Silverman Says She Sacrificed Motherhood for Her Career
Holmes, who made her directorial debut last year with All We Had, said that she now prefers managing films to starring in them — because she can set her own schedule. “This business is so unstable, and you never really know where you’re going to be,” she said. “The thing about directing is I can say I have this window and that’s when we’re getting it done.”
And that’s beneficial, Holmes says, because she wants to savor as much of her daughter’s childhood as possible.
“You want them to stay with you forever, but they’re these amazing beings, and you have to do everything you can to give them what they need — and then they’re going to go,” she said. “And that’s going to be very, very sad for me.”
Read the full interview in Town & Country.
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Write to Samantha Cooney at samantha.cooney@time.com