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Katie Holmes before breakup: I'm starting a 'new phase'

As for Katie Holmes' plans to go single this summer, the writing was on the wall -- or at least in the August issue of ELLE magazine.In a cover story interview conducted six weeks before the 33-year-old actress filed for divorce from Tom Cruise, Holmes dropped not-totally-subtle hints about a transitional period in her life."I definitely feel much more comfortable in my own skin," the "Kennedys" s
In a pre-split interview with ELLE magazine, Katie Holmes talked about coming into her own.
In a pre-split interview with ELLE magazine, Katie Holmes talked about coming into her own.Pascal Le Segretain / Getty Images / Today

As for Katie Holmes' plans to go single this summer, the writing was on the wall -- or at least in the August issue of ELLE magazine.

In a cover story interview conducted six weeks before the 33-year-old actress filed for divorce from Tom Cruise, Holmes dropped not-totally-subtle hints about a transitional period in her life.

"I definitely feel much more comfortable in my own skin," the "Kennedys" star said of entering her 30s. "I feel sexier. I think in my 20s, it's like you're trying too hard to figure everything out."

PHOTOS: How Katie transformed during her marriage to Tom Cruise

Holmes was 27 -- and mother to newborn daughter Suri, now 6 -- when she wed Cruise, now 50, in November 2006.

The actress and fashion designer added tellingly: "I'm starting to come into my own. It's like a new phase."

Holmes (who next stars in a modern version of Anton Chekhov's play "The Seagull," and has shot the film "Molly," which she co-wrote) seemed to bristle when asked about the reality of being "Mrs. Tom Cruise."

PHOTOS: Katie and Tom, the way they were

"He has been Tom Cruise for 30 years," she said of the "Rock of Ages" star. "I know who I am and where I am and where I want to go, so I want to focus on that."

She also shot down assumptions that marrying the superstar helped her acting career. "Things are not handed to anyone," she said, as excerpted in Page Six.

"If anything, you work a little bit harder when you're in such visible circumstances."

Page Six also reported that Holmes "didn't speak about Tom in a lovey-dovey way at all" during the interview. "She deflected the Tom questions and brought them around to herself."

After filing for divorce last Thursday, Holmes has been seen out and about in NYC with Suri near the downtown, $12,500-a-month new apartment she secretly rented in her own name.

PHOTOS: Tom Cruise's ageless face

On July 4th -- the same day Holmes told the Daily News she was "alright" amidst the drama -- Holmes slammed a new report that she filed an "emergent action" to make her divorce and custody trial with Cruise public.

"The reports are incorrect," Holmes' attorney Jonathan Wolfe told Us. "There is no such filing at this time. Other than her action for divorce, the only pending application filed by Ms. Holmes remains her request for an anonymous caption."

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