Following his highly publicised divorce to Katie Holmes, the 50-year-old Rock of Ages actor is up in arms over offensive articles that appeared in publications Life & Style and In Touch earlier this year.
Cruise is so livid, he is suing the magazine's publishers for defamation over false claims that he "abandoned" his six-year-old daughter Suri.
Cover stories such as “Suri in Tears: Abandoned by Her Dad” appeared in various incarnations in both magazines, making Tom out to be the crazy villain the world loves to hate.
"To say it in lurid headlines with a tearful picture of Suri is reprehensible," said the actor's lawyer, Bert Fields, making it clear that slanderous statements made in various articles of the magazines were nothing but "malicious garbage". The lawyer added that "Tom is a caring father who dearly loves Suri. She's a vital part of his life and always will be".
In the lawsuit, which was filed at a Los Angeles federal court this week, Tom is claiming $50 million and asking for punitive damages for invasion of privacy.
Published by the Daily News, Cruise’s complaint charges that “through his representatives, plaintiff has attempted to correct these fabrications by providing defendants with the true facts before the lies went to press. But defendants have demonstrated that they have no interest in the truth, and will stop at nothing to push the sales of their tabloids, even if this means exploiting a defenseless six-year-old child on their cover.”
