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Katie Holmes’s “Secret Escape”

Holmes on July 2 in NYC.

Katie Holmes looked like a woman in control when she stepped out in New York to film a segment for Project Runway: All Stars on July 2. With no wedding ring, the actress, 33, appeared calm and polished as she made her way into through the throng of media.

Holmes, who was said to have put in a “great” appearance at the taping, is likely to be amassing strength from the support of her family since filing for divorce from Tom Cruise after five years of marriage on June 28. Sources say her Ohio-based lawyer father, Martin Holmes, "came into town and fired people surrounding Katie,” the source tells WHO Magazine. “He took control. He was worried about his daughter.”

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Pointedly, he fired her security team, who he thought may have been reporting back to Cruise. Yet ultimately, Holmes was “unwavering” in her decision. “She’s a strong person and she makes up her own mind,” says the source.

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Question is, how did she pull it off? Holmes picked a moment when Cruise was 4,200 km away in Iceland filming his movie Oblivion. Next, she and her father sent her Cruise-approved publicist Ina Treciokas packing, and re-hired Nancy Ryder, with whom she worked before her marriage, and rented a new apartment in Chelsea, NYC.

Cruise "is in shock," says a source. "He had no idea this was coming. He's totally devastated and heartbroken."

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