Katie Holmes introduces a special someone as daughter Suri prepares to leave home

Katie Holmes is about to become an empty nester as her daughter Suri is due to leave home in the coming weeks, and the star surprised fans as she introduced a new family member.

The Dawson's Creek actress took to Instagram to reveal her new companion, a ragdoll cat named Eleanor. The carousel of snapshots showed Katie, 45, looking fresh-faced as she lay on the floor of her home in a striped shirt, giving a glimpse of her new furry friend.

© Katie Holmes

The new addition to the family comes weeks before Katie's eldest daughter Suri, 18, is expected to reach a major milestone as she begins a new chapter in life.

After graduating from LaGuardia High School in June, it was revealed in a TikTok that Suri would be leaving New York to attend Carnegie Mellon University, a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Suri has been the star in several school productions at school, and it is thought that the teenager will study at the School of Design which offers a variety of creative subjects.

Katie and Suri moved to New York in 2012, shortly after Katie's separation from Tom Cruise . Prior to the split, the mother-and-daughter duo split their time between New York and Los Angeles, before relocating to the East Coast permanently.

Suri's high school graduation made headlines after photos from inside the ceremony revealed that the teen had dropped her father's last name as she went by the name 'Suri Noelle', which is her mother's middle name.

© TikTok

The high school graduate was a vision for the milestone occasion wearing a white summer dress beneath her red robe – and fans were quick to comment on the likeness to her A-list mom.

Tom was notably absent from the ceremony, and the Top Gun actor was seen at Taylor Swift's Era's Tour in London at the time of his youngest child's graduation.