Issue 41: This week in New Idea

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KATIE FINALLY BREAKS HER SILENCE: WHY TOM CAN’T SEE SURI

Katie Holmes has good reason to be upset with her ex-husband Tom Cruise – he’s keeping a 5550km distance between himself and their daughter Suri, leaving the little girl in floods of tears. But as the 33-year-old single mum finally opens up about life after divorce in her first interview, it appears her ex husband is consumed with his own career and an apparent personal crisis, amid reports he’s now questioning Scientology. Tom hasn’t seen his little girl since early August when he took her to Disney World. ‘It just doesn’t make sense,’ a friend tells New Idea.

SIMONE CALLAHAN EXCLUSIVE: INSIDE MY SAD SPLIT

After countless love dramas with her ex-husband Shane Warne, Simone Callahan this week exclusively tells New Idea that she’s split with Toby Roberts – the man she’d hoped would heal her heart. Simone says the handsome model-turned-businessman has left her following 19 months of apparent bliss, after she asked him to move into her family home and discussed with him the fact she is unlikely to have any more children. ‘I guess Toby just got to the point where he’s decided that he doesn’t want to be with me anymore,’ says a tearful Simone.

LEISEL JONES FINALLY SPEAKS: FAT JIBES WON’T BREAK ME

Australia’s swimming sweetheart Leisel Jones should have finished her amazing Olympic career on a high note in London. But instead, after 12 long years of dedication to her sport and representing her country on the world stage, the 27-year-old faced scathing newspaper reports from home calling her ‘out of shape’ and ‘fat’. Now Leisel says enough is enough, and is ready to take on the body bullies. Talking to New Idea, Leisel speaks candidly for the first time about those cruel comments, how she has her team-mates – and the support of a Hollywood star! – to thank for getting her through the pain, and what she calls the growing disarray surrounding Swimming Australia.

NEW IDEA EXCLUSIVE: BRYNNE DOES THE OUTBACK

In an exclusive interview and shoot with New Idea, flamboyant Brynne Edelsten swaps the red carpet for the dusty outback. Celebrating becoming a true blue Aussie resident, the socialite modelled a string of magnificent gowns on the red sands outside Broken Hill. With her new reality TV show Brynne: My Bedazzled Life, premiering on Channel Seven this week, it promises to be even more revealing than the barely there outfits that first made her a star. ‘People will discover I’m down to earth, I’m very real,’ says Brynne, wife of multimillionaire medical entrepreneur Geoffrey Edelsten, 69. In the tell-all interview, Brynne admits that she really longs for a baby. ‘We’re trying. Geoff’s agreed, but it hasn’t happened for us yet,’ confides the former ‘Flash’ Gordon, who is loving being an official Aussie resident.

Click here for the exclusive behind-the-scenes video of Brynne's shoot!

BERNARD CURRY: MY LITTLE BEAUTY

Beauty and the Geek host Bernard Curry and his wife Sonya this week show off their new son Banjo in New Idea. He arrived into the world at UCLA Medical Center in LA on April 27, making him an American citizen complete with a US passport. ‘Living in America, we wanted him to have an Australian name,’ Sonya says. ‘Americans don’t get the name Banjo – they think he’s named after an instrument.’ The family recently returned for a two-month stay in Sydney while Bernard films the fourth series of Channel Seven’s Beauty and the Geek. ‘For me, the best thing about fatherhood is the responsibility of keeping them happy and looking towards the future and thinking about what kind of men they are going to be,’ Bernard says.

NEW IDEA FOOD: RESTAURANT MEALS MADE EASY

It’s easy to forget – in this fast-paced wind tunnel of life – that true happiness comes with relationships, and relationships thrive on good food. New Idea showcases the very best restaurant-style meals that can be whipped up in a matter of minutes.