Tom Cruise National Enquirer Cover: 'House of Horrors' Story Angers Actor, Alleges Abuse of Katie [COVER]
Tom Cruise's attorney is threatening to file lawsuit over the National Inquirer's latest cover titled "Inside Tom's House Of Horrors!"
The story delves into Cruise's high-profile split with wife Katie Holmes, stating "The Real Tom is a Monster!" who "abused" Katie Holmes, according to images of the cover circulating on the web. The issue reportedly claims that that Holmes led a "tortured life" with the actor before filing for divorce on June 28 and that Cruise's daughter Suri, 6, was forced to live in a "tiny, windowless room" for five months in their Telluride, Colorado home.
On July 11 when The National Enquirer's issue came out, Cruise's attorney Bert Fields sent the magazine's publisher American Media, a formal cease-and-desist letter, according to the Hollywood Reporter.
In the letter Fields said the cover story is "riddled with lies," according to The Hollywood Reporter. Fields also claims the tabloid's most recent cover story is "disgraceful and lurid" and will cause the actor "hundreds of millions of dollars of professional and personal damages, for which we intend to hold American Media, and everyone who participated in the perpetuation of this scurrilous attack, jointly and severally liable." Fields also threatened to go to court for compensatory and punitive damages.
In the memo, Fields requested that the magazine's publisher retracts "each and every one of your false assertions ... with the same prominence and emphasis" as the original story, according to the article.
Tom Cruise is "certainly not a 'monster,'" the memo states. "He is a caring father, a hardworking actor and, above all, an honest, decent man. The "house of horrors" line is also inaccurate. It is a gracious and loving family home."
Fields and the lawyers' firm he belongs to Greenberg Glusker had previously threatened the publisher. On July 10 an attorney for the firm, Aaron Moss wrote: "This is the most defamatory cover the Enquirer has ever done...You need to stop this from coming out tomorrow." Read the letter here.
