Tom Cruise $50 Million Lawsuit: Tabloid Asks for 'Suri's Mental State,' Role of Scientology
Tom Cruise is gearing up to take on Bauer Media Group, publisher of sister magazines In Touch Weekly and Life & Style, in court after filing a $50 million lawsuit. New reports suggest that the publisher has requested personal information about the actor's 6-year-old daughter Suri.
BMG, which is represented by attorney Alonzo Wickers, has asked for a series of information regarding Cruise's relationship with Suri. Cruise, 50, is suing BMG over two stories which claimed that the actor had abandoned Suri during his divorce from Katie Holmes.
Wickers, on behalf of BMG, has requested to know what "Suri's mental and emotional state was following her parents' separation and divorce," and "the extent to which Cruise was in contact with Suri following his separation and divorce," according to The Hollywood Reporter.
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He also wants to know the role that the actor's membership in the controversial Church of Scientology played in his decisions regarding visiting and communicating with Suri.
Cruise's attorney have also forwarded their own requests. Among what looks set to become the most damning is the request for BMG "to reveal its anonymous sources and all their communication with them."
Cruise, who agreed to give his ex-wife Katie Holmes primary custody of their daughter, was photographed with his daughter in the months after their divorce was finalized. However, In Touch magazine ran a story in July implying that the actor had turned his back on his child, which prompted his attorneys to file suit. An Oct. 1 issue also rehashed similar allegations.
"Tom is a caring father who dearly loves Suri. She's a vital part of his life and always will be. To say he has 'abandoned' her is a vicious lie. To say it in lurid headlines with a tearful picture of Suri is reprehensible," Cruise's attorney Bert Fields said in a statement to TMZ.com.
The magazine ran the story, which was accompanied by the defamatory headline "Suri in Tears: Abandoned By Her Dad," sparking outrage from Cruise's camp, who has worked tirelessly to protect the actor's image.
"Tom doesn't go around suing people. He's not a litigious guy. But when these sleaze peddlers try to make money with disgusting lies about his relationship with his child, you bet he's going to sue," Fields explained.
The case has not yet been set for trial.
