Dakota Fanning had to work hard to persuade her parents she should keep a controversial birthday present from Tom Cruise.

The 12-year-old was sent a mobile phone by her War Of The Worlds co-star, but her parents initially thought she was too young to keep the grown-up gadget.

She recalls, "My mom and dad really don't approve of mobile phones and they really didn't want me to have one. But then on my birthday this parcel arrived from Tom and it was a phone. In the end they let me keep it."