The super-quick divorce between Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes was handled “beautifully, perfectly,” according to FOX News personality Judge Jeanine Pirro.
“It should be a study for celebrities who get divorced,” Pirro told , in an exclusive interview to promote her new novel, Sly Fox. “It was personal, the issues were resolved, it wasn’t played out on the public stage. Ultimately, it benefits all three of them: Tom, Katie and [daughter] Suri.”
“I think that the way Katie showed up publicly with Suri almost immediately prevented the stalkers from showing up, and the paparazzi from following her incessantly,” she added. “Now, Tom is doing the same thing with Suri.”
On Tuesday, Pirro — who hosts the FOX program Justice with Judge Jeanine (Saturdays at 9PM) — released her first fiction novel, Sly Fox, about a young female District Attorney who tries to break through the male-dominated world of criminal justice in the late-’70s.
The story, Pirro said, is based on the 30 years she spent in the criminal justice system, which she hopes will be a good summer read for her readers.
“It’s a mystery, it’s crime, it has courtroom scenes and it’s reflective of a time when a man could beat his wife and nobody really cared,” she said. “It wasn’t even a crime, not unless you actually killed her.”
“I spent 30 years in the criminal justice system,” she continued. “I find it fascinating and compelling. I know that the public does, as well, and I wanted to give [them] an inside view of what it’s like, not just in terms of the courtroom, but in terms of a woman who started at a time when she was nothing more than a curiosity.”
Pirro added that the book’s protagonist, Dani Cox, is clearly her alter-ego, which readers will be able to see on the book’s very first page.
“If you read the first page, she’s flopping her hair on an ironing board,” she said. “Which is something I did back in the late-’70s, because they didn’t have flat irons then. [Laughs]”
Pirro also said she hopes to continue writing fiction in the future, and is already working on a second novel.
“Dani’s got a lot of time yet,” she told.
Holmes, 33, filed for divorce from Cruise on June 29. Their divorce was finalized about 10 days later, in a confidential settlement.
Though details of the settlement remain under wraps, it has been reported that Holmes has received primary custody of the couple’s daughter, Suri, while Cruise has been given generous visitation rights.
Earlier this week, Cruise, 50, spent the entire day with Suri during a recent stay in New York.
