Film star Tom Cruise has asked girlfriend Katie Holmes to marry him, he announced on Friday, ending weeks of speculation over whether Hollywood's hottest couple would wed. Appearing with Holmes at a Paris news conference, the 42-year-old explained how he had chosen the Eiffel Tower in the city of romance to make his move.
"Yes I proposed to Kate last night ... because it is very beautiful and romantic here," Cruise said, clarifying later that the engagement had actually begun in the early hours of Friday.
Smiling and exchanging glances with Holmes, who was sitting in the audience, he added: "I haven't slept all night. It's very exciting and very beautiful."
Cruise, one of Hollywood's most powerful personalities, was in Paris to promote his latest blockbuster, Steven Spielberg's "War of the Worlds". Holmes, 26, has also been trotting the globe in recent days for her film "Batman Begins".
"So happy," Holmes told Reuters after the conference, when asked how she was feeling. She was sporting a large engagement ring.