Tom Cruise Sues Tabloid For $50 Million Over Suri Claims

Tom Cruise is firing back against Life & Style magazine's sensationalist allegations that he abandoned daughter Suri, 6, after his split from Katie Holmes.

According to the "Top Gun" actor's lawyer Bert Fields, Cruise filed a $50 million lawsuit for defamation and false-light invasion of privacy against Bauer Publishing — which publishes responsible parties Life & Style and In Touch magazines — in the U.S. District Court in Los Angeles on Wednesday (October 24), TMZ is reporting.

The story in question boasted the devastating headline, "Suri in Tears: Abandoned By Her Dad" accompanied by a picture of a tearful Suri. Fields and Cruise argue that the actual story does not support the claims made in the headline and the accompanying photo was taken after Suri was not allowed to bring a puppy home. After Holmes filed for divorce on June 29 and the publication of the Life & Style article on July 30, as well as a similar article in an October issue of In Touch, Fields wrote in a statement that the tabloid's cover "as anyone knows who saw their photos together yesterday and today, is a disgusting, vicious lie." Fields went on to argue that Cruise had been shooting a film on location, but maintained contact with his daughter every day.

Fields justifies in the statement: "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 recently threatened to sue American Media, publishers of The National Enquirer in July over a story that decried Cruise as a "monster."

Cruise was ordered to pay $400,000 a year in child support for Suri. According to Fields, any money recovered from the lawsuit will be donated to charity.