Cruise Threatens Lawsuit Over Enquirer Story

A new National Enquirer cover story says Tom Cruise "abused" Katie Holmes and forced Suri to spend months in a "tiny, windowless room"—and Cruise's lawyers are furious. They say the story is filled with "disgusting lies" and are threatening to sue the tabloid over the "disgraceful and lurid" piece, says the Hollywood Reporter. The lawyers will hold its publisher "and everyone who participated in the perpetuation of this scurrilous attack jointly and severally liable" for "hundreds of millions of dollars of professional and personal damages," they write in a letter to American Media.

The legal team wrote an email to the publisher on Tuesday, before the issue came out, demanding it halt its publication of "the most defamatory cover the Enquirer has ever done." When that didn't happen, the lawyers wrote a cease-and-desist letter, calling on the tabloid to prominently "retract each and every one of your false allegations." (See THR for a copy of the letter.) Lawyers also reject the notion that Cruise settled the divorce because he was hiding secrets. See TMZ for more on that. (More Tom Cruise stories.)