Katie Holmes knew her boytoy was engaged, rebounding after Jamie Foxx split

Katie Holmes knew her restaurateur boytoy was engaged when the actress rebounded from her heartbreak over Jamie Foxx, an insider exclusively told DailyMail.com.

The 41-year-old has been spotted smooching and cuddling Emilio Vitolo Jr., 33, all around New York City, despite only being romantically linked this past week.

DailyMail.com revealed on Wednesday that Vitolo broke up with his live-in fiancée 24-year-old Rachel Emmons by text when handsy photos of him and Holmes were published, blindsiding the handbag designer and forcing her to move back home.

Now DailyMail.com has learned Holmes and Vitolo had been getting to know each other since October and she was fully aware he was engaged. 

The two were introduced by mutual friends and their fling has intensified since the actress returned to NYC this summer after quarantining with her family in Ohio, according to a source close to the actress. 

The insider said Holmes had been devastated by her breakup last year with playboy Jamie Foxx, 52, who never seemed to give up his roving eye and was still too close for comfort with his baby mama. 

Holmes is now acting ‘like a teenage girl in love’ because Vitolo is ‘openly affectionate with her, left his fiancée to be with her and gives her something Jamie couldn’t” the source added. 

The insider told DailyMail.com: ‘Katie and Emilio met through mutual friends and have been ”friendly” since October of last year.

‘Katie definitely knew Emilio had a fiancée and started something with him while he was very much living with his fiancée.

‘They have been strong since March, but it got more serious after she returned from Ohio where she kept quarantine with her family.’

This week, DailyMail.com published photos of the lovebirds kissing outside various restaurants in New York City, including Holmes sitting on Vitolo’s lap and planting a kiss on him.

On Tuesday, Vitolo and Holmes were seen passionately kissing one another at his father’s famous Nolita restaurant, Emilio’s Ballato. The chef’s father Emilio Vitolo Snr. sat close by, proving that Holmes is already well in with the family.

The insider said: ‘Maybe she’s just enjoying this fling because she’s had such a hard six years with Jamie.’

Holmes was upset by Foxx never giving up his roving eye and that he was still cozy with his ex-girlfriend and baby mama Kristin Grannis, according to the source. 

They added: ‘Jamie broke Katie into pieces. It took Katie a while to get over it and she had a lot of drunken nights.

‘Everyone is surprised by the way this romance happened and how open Katie is being about her new man.

‘Some of her relatives are upset, they do not understand why Katie acts like a teenage girl in love with so many silly and ridiculous displays of love, she is 41 years old and they expect her to act like one.’

Indeed, it’s certainly a surprise to see Holmes put on such a public display of affection, as she has previously been notoriously private about her personal life. 

She was married to Tom Cruise from 2006 to 2012. During that time they had daughter Suri, now 14, who is often seen accompanying Holmes.

After that Holmes began dating Jamie Foxx, who she was first linked to in 2013 when the pair was seen strolling hand in hand through Malibu.

The pair never officially confirmed they were dating but attended the Met Gala together in 2019. 

But by summer reports of a split began to emerge after Foxx was photographed holding hands with singer Sela Vave, 21, that August.

At the time insiders told People the two split months earlier because the relationship had run ‘its course,’ explaining: ‘This industry is very tough on relationships.’

They went on to say there were no bitter feelings between the pair, who simply grew apart.

Meanwhile, Vitolo’s ex-fiancee Rachel Emmons is ‘traumatized’ by the sudden breakup.

Emmons, a designer who founded Anna Rachel Studio, had been dating Vitolo for more than two years and the couple announced their engagement unofficially via Instagram last year.

According to a friend who asked not to be named: ‘Up to this press coming out Rachel had no idea what was going on. He is a cheater, and this isn’t a ”happy ending” story.’ 

The friend said the pretty designer had ‘devoted her life’ to 33-year-old Vitolo and the couple not only lived together, but had shared a puppy together since last May.

The friend said: ‘They had concrete wedding plans in the works…now she is just left with bad press and forced to move home.’

DailyMail.com understands that Vitolo texted Emmons the day the pictures were published, perhaps aware that his relationship with Holmes was about to be blown wide open.

Vitolo’s father is the owner of celebrity favorite Emilio’s Ballato in New York’s Nolita district. 

He works as a chef there alongside his brother Antony, 29, and has often been pictured with the restaurant’s famous frequenters.

Among them are Barack and Malia Obama, Danny DeVito, friend Joe Jonas and Sophie Turner, Bella Hadid and David Schwimmer.

His social media is a catalogue of photographs of him with famous faces.

According to the friend who reached out to DailyMail.com on Emmons’ behalf and on condition of anonymity the fall-out of the revelation that Holmes and Vitolo Jr are together has left Emmons ‘traumatized’ as her world has been pulled out from under her.