Katie Holmes and Jamie Foxx have finally confirmed their love for one another after years of hiding their feelings in public.
The couple couldn’t contain their happiness as they walked hand-in-hand on the beach in Malibu on Monday, laughing as they waded barefoot in the surf and dodged the surf.
Their Labor Day holiday marks the first time they have been comfortable to show off their love in public.
For years, they have dodged rumors that they were an item. It’s thought that was because Katie had agreed with former husband Tom Cruise not to publicly date anyone for five years as part of their 2012 divorce settlement, as revealed by RadarOnline last year.
So in love: Katie Holmes and Jamie Foxx couldn’t contain their happiness as they spent the Labor Day holiday together at a beach house in Malibu – after years of hiding their romance
Out in the open: Their Labor Day holiday marks the first time they have been comfortable to show off their love in public
Together: The couple looked completely relaxed and at ease with each other as they also spent time together on their beachfront patio, four years after they were first linked
The first sign: The two were first romantically linked in August 2013 after they danced together at a benefit in The Hamptons. It was a year after the actress’s divorce from Tom Cruise
Katie, 38, never commented on the reports while Jamie, 49, publicly dismissed them as ‘fake news’ and insisting he and the actress were ‘just friends’.
So how did they two meet, and when did romance blossom?
It seem that Katie and Jamie met for the first time after the former Dawson’s Creek star began dating Tom Cruise in 2005.
Cruise and Foxx had starred together the previous year in Michael Mann’s thriller Collateral in which Cruise played a hitman who forces taxi driver Foxx to drive him around Los Angeles as he hunts down his targets.
The trio posed for photos together when they all attended the September 2006 NFL game between the Minnesota Vikings vs. Washington Redskins. That was five months after Katie gave birth to daughter Suri following her whirlwind romance with the Top Gun star and two months before the high profile couple wed in a Scientology ceremony at a 15th-century castle in Italy.
Is this where they met? Katie and Jamie were first photographed together when the Ray Oscar winner joined the actress and her fiance Tom Cruise at a NFL game on September 11, 2006
Co-stars: Jamie and Tom had worked together in Michael Mann’s 2004 thriller Collateral; they’re pictured promoting the movie at the Venice Film Festival that year
Fairytale wedding: Katie and Tom tied the knot in Italy in November 2006, six months after their birth of daughter Suri and just 18 months after they started dating
Fast forward six years to June 2012.
On June 29, just two weeks after she’d been seen with her famous husband in Iceland, Holmes blindsided Cruise and the world by filing for divorce to end her five-and-a-half year marriage and seeking sole custody of Suri.
In another staggering move, Cruise and Holmes agreed a divorce settlement in just 10 days with Katie walking away with a reported $5 million plus child support for Suri and an agreement that the little girl would not have any further contact with Scientology.
Katie set up home in New York where she enrolled her daughter in school. She later also acquired a home in a guard-gated community in Calabasas, just outside of Los Angeles, and divided her and Suri’s time between the two homes.
Done: The actress, who was Cruise’s third wife, blindsided her famous husband when she filed for divorce on June 29, 2012, seeking sole custody of Suri, pictured with her parents in 2008
Didn’t see it coming: Just two weeks earlier, on June 13, the celebrity couple had been photographed together in Iceland
In September last year, RadarOnline claimed that there was another important stipulation that was part of her quickie divorce deal – that Holmes could not date anyone until five years had passed following the end of her marriage to Cruise.
‘She’s allowed to date, but she cannot do so in a public fashion, and she’s not supposed to let any boyfriend near their daughter, Suri,’ a source claimed to the tabloid.
The insider claimed that Katie agreed to keep her romantic life private in order to have the divorce go through quickly.
DailyMail.com previously contacted reps for both Holmes and Cruise regarding the alleged divorce agreement.
Quickie divorce: It’s believed Katie agreed not to publicly date anyone for five years in order to expedite the end of the marriage. She’s pictured with Suri on July 11, 2012
Just a little over a year after becoming single again, Katie was spotted dancing with Ray star Foxx at a benefit in The Hamptons. Two months later, in October 2013, reports surfaced claiming they were more than friends.
However the Django Unchained star denied the rumors at the time, calling them ‘hilarious’ and ‘one hundred percent not true’ during an interview with Entertainment Tonight.
But the rumors didn’t die down; if anything they persisted and grew stronger despite the fact that Foxx and Holmes were never spotted together.
It was claimed the two met at each other’s homes and that Katie sometimes disguised herself with wigs and hats to meet up with her man without being noticed.
Then in March 2015, a photo surfaced showing the two stars sitting in a recording studio holding hands.
Revealed: In March 2015, a grainy photo surfaced showing Katie and Jamie holding hands in a recording studio
Jamie is seen reclining in his chair, holding Katie’s hand and gazing at her, with his legs subtly intertwining hers. The actress sat with her legs crossed and staring at her phone, with her foot is resting on one of Jamie’s, while his other foot sneaks around her calf.
Foxx denied reports of romance, insisting the two were ‘just friends’.
In December 2015, Holmes was a guest at Jamie’s surprise birthday party in New York at La Bilboquet restaurant.
And soon after, she was spotted at The Honor Bar in Beverly Hills with the actor’s youngest daughter Annalise.
In June 2016, there seemed to be the first public confirmation that Foxx and Holmes were, indeed, in a relationship when former Real Housewives of Atlanta star, Claudia Jordan, a friend of the actor and singer, said they were dating.
‘He is very happy with her. I like that he seems very happy,’ Claudia said during an interview for the Allegedly podcast.
However, Jordan quickly walked back her comments, sating she misspoke and telling Entertainment Tonight the day after the podcast reveal that she had ‘no knowledge of Jamie with Katie at all.’
‘I’ve never seen them together. He’s never told me he’s dating her,’ she said.
But the evidence of a relationship continued to stack up.
In June 2016, former RHOA star Claudia Jordan, pictured with Foxx in 2015, claimed he and Holmes were happy and dating. She later walked back the comment saying she misspoke
Spotted: In April a fellow diner snapped this photo of Holmes and Foxx having dinner together in New York
In August 2016, Katie was in the audience to cheer on Foxx as he performed on stage with Barbra Streisand at her concert in the Big Apple. A few months later, the two were reported to have enjoyed a romantic getaway to Cabo San Lucas in Mexico to celebrate Holmes’s 38th birthday.
This past April, a fellow diner did manage to snap a photo of the celebrity couple out to dinner together in New York which was then shared to social media.
‘Look who I spotted on a date night… @katieholmes212 @iamjamiefoxx I always heard rumors about them but never seen pictures of them until today,’ the photo posted by fameolousent_ was captioned.
In May, Holmes and Foxx were snapped separately boarding the same private jet at Le Bourget Airport in Paris after enjoying time together in the French capital where they were photographed leaving the Park Hyatt Vendome hotel, again separately.
But the two were growing tired of the subterfuge, it was claimed earlier this year.
‘To make it impossible to get photo evidence that they are together, they traveled in cars with tinted windows and took secret back elevators. They had it down to a science,’ a source told UsWeekly in April.
But, the source added, the first source, ‘Katie is tired of playing the hiding game.’
Carefree: Sources recently told UsWeekly that Katie was tired of hiding her relationship with Jamie
Leading the way: The actress is believed to have resorted to disguises to try and hide her identity when she and Jamie met in secret over the years
Nothing can come between them: Their feelings for each other have clearly stood the test of time
Now, with their romantic stroll on the beach captured for all to see, there’s no going back for Jamie and Katie.
Jamie is a father to two daughters but has never married.
His eldest Corinne, 23, is a model and was Miss Golden Globe 2016.
His youngest Annalise is eight.
Just happy: Jamie sported sweatpants and a t-shirt for the beach day while Katie was lovely in a summery blue patterned frock
No need to hide: The actress seemed as free as a bird as she splashed at the tide line
Katie was in a five-year relationship with actor Chris Klein to whom she was engaged before they ended their romance in early 2005, right before she started dating Cruise. She had previously dated her Dawson’s Creek co-star Joshua Jackson.
Katie was Cruise’s third wife. The star had previously been married to actress Mimi Rogers, whom he divorced in 1990 after three years of marriage, and to Nicole Kidman from 1990 to 2001, and with whom he shares two adopted children Connor, 22, and Isabella, 24.
Cruise has publicly remained single since his divorce from Holmes.
Committed: The couple have found a way to make their romance work despite the obstacles
Doting dad: Jamie is the father of her two daughters, Corinne, 23, a model who was Miss Golden Globe 2016, pictured, and Annalise, who is eight. He has never married