Shields and Holmes Bond Over 'Grey's Anatomy' ... and Motherhood

Nov. 2, 2006 — -- There's nothing like Patrick "McDreamy" Dempsey to bring two girls together.

Brooke Shields is now saying she has a new TV buddy, and it's the fiancée of the man who once criticized her for taking antidepressants -- Katie Holmes.

Shields, 41, told "Access Hollywood" that she's "absolutely" friends with the 27-year-old former star of "Dawson's Creek," who's currently planning a supersecret wedding to Tom Cruise in Italy.

Though separated by 14 years, the two actresses have at least one thing in common. Seven months ago, they gave birth on the same day at the same hospital. Shields' second daughter, Grier, and Holmes' first child, Suri, now share an April 18 birthday.

What's more, motherhood has helped bring the two actresses together.

"Life is really short," Shields says. "And when you see these babies … I think you never know how life is going to bring people together, and it can be absurd and it can be interesting."

Shields: 'We Were Insane'

Cruise and Shields entered a war of words a year earlier, when the 44-year-old actor criticized her for encouraging psychiatric drugs as a treatment for postpartum depression.

"Psychiatry is a pseudo-science," he said in a televised interview, claiming there is "no such thing as a chemical imbalance" in the brain.

At the time, Cruise said Shields "doesn't know what these drugs are, and for her to promote it is irresponsible."

Several weeks ago, however, Shields acknowledged that she and Cruise buried the hatchet, and that he had apologized to her.

Not only have they let bygones be bygones, she now confirms that she and Holmes got together to watch the premiere of "Grey's Anatomy."

"It's true," Shields says. "There were a bunch of us here and we were insane about it, and you weren't allowed to speak or talk. Everyone was in my living room and [I] got this new TV … I love them, the acting is so great and it's such a good soap opera -- love it, it's fun."