In an interview with Elle Magazine which hits newsstands in a couple of weeks, Katie Holmes seemed like she had her mind made up to end her marriage several weeks before she actually filed for divorce.

The interview was a far cry from the one she gave W Magazine when she and Cruise were still dating, during which she seemed dreamy and far-away, giving the same answers to almost every question even if they didn’t make sense. The writer, Robert Haskell, noted her odd demeanor, which didn’t shift until the end of the interview, when someone delivered Holmes a diamond necklace from Cruise.

“He’s the most incredible man,” she said of Cruise. “He’s so generous and kind, and he helps so many people, and, um, he makes me laugh like I’ve never laughed, and he’s a great friend.…”

This is how the conversation begins; this is also how it continues, and how it ends. No question can do much to change its course.

Do you worry that this might be a rebound romance for either of you?

“I’ve never met anyone like Tom,” Holmes replies, her beautiful green eyes focused on nothing in particular.

Do you ever wonder whether this is just a honeymoon phase?

“Tom and I will always be in our honeymoon phase.”

Did you learn anything in your previous relationship (five years with actor Chris Klein, which came to an end when they called off their engagement this past winter) that has been a benefit to this one?

“Chris and I care about each other and we’re still friends. Tom is the most incredible man in the world.”

Of course, one could just read that as the sighs of a young woman in love with an older, more experienced, handsome movie star, and it probably was. But Holmes’ friends and family worried about her in those early days, fearing Cruise was keeping her away from them. She was so starry-eyed she saw nothing else. And it seems that, as early as two months ago, she began to wake up.

In the Elle interview, when asked about her marriage to Tom Cruise and how they became the entity of “TomKat”, Holmes responded a little too forcefully:

“He has been Tom Cruise for 30 years. I know who I am and where I am and where I want to go, so I want to focus on that.”

The rest of the interview took a similar turn, with Holmes turning the focus back to herself every time the questions involved her husband or their life together. She seemed intent on focusing on her daughter, her clothing line, and what the future holds for her as a businesswoman rather than as “Mrs. Tom Cruise”. Now that she’s begun divorce proceedings, it seems those things will still be her goals.