Whether it’s a $1-million security system at his L.A. home or a $10-million bomb shelter in Colorado to shield from alien attacks, money is no object for Tom Cruise to protect his family.

Or at least he wants it to look that way. I find it incredibly unconscionable that he and Katie Holmes insist on courting the paparazzi when it’s clear that two-year-old Suri is in emotional distress at the constant barrage of media attention.

Exhibit A: The photo at right was taken as they left their apartment building in NYC’s East Village last week. That building has a back door, btw, if they wanted to leave without attracting a scrum of photographers. But clearly that’s not a priority.

Is anyone else disturbed by how Katie is grinning and Tom seems totally nonperturbed while Suri is crying and covering her ears in fright?

For the little girl who has everything — from custom-made Christian Louboutins to her own gymnasium — what she seems to really need is some normalcy. Sad that she’s never going to get it from her freakshow family.