Chris Klein: You are NOT The Father

Oh, she looked so normal then....

I ran into Katie Holmes' former flame Friday night at Runway for Life at the Beverly Hilton. Chris, his new, fairly presentable g-friend, Ginnifer Goodwin, and other celebs like Anna Kournikova and Cindy Crawford hit the runway to raise money for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.

One word for Mr. Klein during my Suri inquisition: Unflappable. After some obligatory career chitchat, I got to the million-dollar question on every gossip's minds and mouths. "Have you seen Vanity Fair?" I asked. "I have indeed, yes," Chris replied, politely yet succinctly.

"Any thoughts?" I pressed, as inquiring minds (like yours and mine, natch ) so want to know C.K.'s feelings regarding the new insta-nuclear fam that is Tom&Kate&Suri.

"I think they look so lovely and so happy, and I'm really, really happy for them," he said semisincerely, and rather repetitively, without batting an eyelash of irony regarding his ex, the former Katie Holmes. Jeez. Now, I was über-impressed Mr. K. hadn't bolted off the carpet or given me the hand yet, so I figured why not go there? You know: There.

"What do you think about the gossip that Suri looks like you?" I said, quasi-innocently, but really not. "Do people ever ask you about that?" I was fully prepared for the American Pie performer to throw an apple job in my face, or at least to walk away.

But Chris stayed and answered!

"I've never had anyone ask me that before," he replied, ever so thoughtfully. Could he actually have been telling the truth? Hmmm. "I haven't even heard people talking like that." (Obviously, the dude doesn't read the rags.) "It's definitely them, and they look so beautiful," he surmised.


"Are you and Katie still in contact?" I asked, for good horse-corpse-beating measure.

"We've been so busy that it's hard to keep in touch," he explained. Ding-ding-ding! That would be the sound of my way nosy questions coming to a close. Big snaps for Chris...He was a great sport the entire time. The almost beefy boy (with a nice bum) came off sincere and not the least bit bitter. So, either TomKat ain't even a blip on his radar, or he's a much better actor than I thought.