Katie Holmes has embarked on a new relationship with another accomplished musician. Photos obtained exclusively by People show the Dawson’s Creek actress, 43, kissing and holding hands with musician Bobby Wooten III, 33, in New York City Thursday. One photo shows the pair with Holmes’ mother, Kathy Holmes, who hugs Wooten. “He’s an amazing guy, very kind, super talented and just an all-around cool guy,” a source told PEOPLE about Wooten. “He’s a highly accomplished bassist and musician and is as chill and brilliant and funny as they come,” the source said.
Wooten played bass guitar in American Utopia, which closed earlier this month on Broadway. He recently played at Coachella with Carly Rae Jepsen and is currently playing bass for Moulin Rouge! The Musical. Also, an adjunct instructor at NYU Tisch School of the Arts, Wooten’s profile on the school’s official website mentions that he has been nominated for a Grammy Award. In an interview with Bass Magazine in 2021, Wooten explained that his father did “pop music and studio work” and once played keyboard for Marcus Miller’s band. His grandfather founded the Wooten Choral Ensemble in 1949.
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“When I was around five years old, my grandfather wanted to step down from leading the choir, so we moved out to Chicago so that my dad could take it over,” Wooten explained. Wooden played piano initially but discovered bass when he was “a bit older” when “Blink-182 hit the charts were popping off, and my friends were into them.”
“On bass, I fully taught myself, learning whatever songs I wanted,” he added. “Red Hot Chili Peppers, Stevie Wonder, and then a lot of Motown. So then I played keys and bass in the church every week. I never took a bass lesson until I got to college, which was more about learning upright bass. I’m not really actively going to church now, but if I’m making music on a Sunday, I always find I start with gospel music — just playing it for myself. It’s very much a part of me.”
Previously, Holmes was married to Tom Cruise, with whom she has a 16-year-old daughter, Suri. She was later linked to Jamie Foxx for several years, but the two split up in 2019. Recently, she dated Emilio Vitolo, 34. In September 2020, the actress and Vitolo, 34, were first spotted at Emilio’s Ballato, his family restaurant in New York City. The two were confirmed to have split in May 2021. There was no drama,” a source told PEOPLE of the pair. While things apparently “fizzled” out, a source told Entertainment Tonight that “the pair have parted ways amicably but remain friends.”
