As Suri Cruise skipped down the street in Manhattan with her mum Katie Holmes, it was just another day in her reassuringly normal new life. A posh private school has replaced the Scientology Centre, and, for the first time, the famous six-year-old is surrounded by friends her own age, thanks to the gymnastics and ballet classes her mum has enrolled her in.

Katie has made every effort to ensure Suri’s life is filled with everyday activities, insisting her daughter sees the inside of cinemas and supermarkets instead of being cocooned in a Beverly Hills mansion like the days of old. But there’s one thing missing – her dad, Tom Cruise. In the past Tom, 50, has been an endlessly devoted father, lavishing his little girl with attention and a lifestyle fit for a princess. But it has now been more than 53 days since he’s seen his daughter – and counting.

“Their first day together after the divorce was a helicopter ride and the last time he saw her, he took her on a VIP day to Disney World,” says a friend. Now, two months later Suri is starting to ask questions. “Suri has generally been very happy since the split,” says a source who has seen the six-year-old twice in the past eight weeks, and who has spoken with Katie. “But she doesn’t understand why she can’t see her dad or why he’s not around these days. It has led to tears.”

Tom has been in the UK for the past few months filming his upcoming movie All You Need Is Kill. Instead of travelling back and forth to visit his daughter, or having her brought to the set by Katie as used to happen – and is now strictly forbidden by his ex, who refuses to allow Suri to leave the US – he’s remained on the other side of the Atlantic. His attorney Bert Fields insists there is nothing unusual about the situation. “This is something that has been going on her whole life. When Tom is shooting out of the country, he has to rely on the phone.”

Read more about Tom's new life in this week's Woman’s Day on sale Monday October 1, 2012.