Hollywood couple Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes announced yesterday that they're expecting their first child, only four months after the engagement.

According to People magazine, Tom Cruise's publicist confirmed the news, stating: "Katie is pregnant. She has never felt better!". Cruise's sister, Lee Anne DeVette, on the same subject: "They are expecting a baby. They are very excited".

The wedding date has not yet been confirmed. This will be Katie's first child and Tom's third. Cruise is currently sharing custody with his ex-wife, actress Nicole Kidman, to whom he was married from December 24, 1990 until August 8, 2001, of two adopted children, Isabella (born 1993) and Connor (born 1995).

Twice-married Cruise, 43, and Holmes, 26, met in April 2005. After only two months of dating, Tom proposed Katie at the Eiffel Tower in Paris.

On May 23, 2005, Cruise raised some eyebrows with a frenzied appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show in which he-in the words of The New York Times-"jumped around the set, hopped onto a couch, fell rapturously to one knee and repeatedly professed his love for his new girlfriend, the actress Katie Holmes."

Cruise's public image came under further scrutiny after a number of subsequent television interviews in which he was described as acting in an odd manner and espousing a number of controversial views.

After being accused of publicity stunt, Tom adopted a hostile behavior in next interviews and his very public romance with Katie Holmes has led to his being the butt of numerous jokes on late night television shows such as "Late Night with Conan O'Brien" and "The Late Show with David Letterman". The jokes commonly refer to Cruise as being crazy or insane.