Tom Cruise Settles $50 Million Defamation Lawsuit Against Tabloids Over Suri Abandonment Stories

Notice of dismissal with prejudice was filed Friday in U.S. District Court; contents of Cruise's sworn deposition had made quite a splash

By Natalie Finn Dec 20, 2013 11:43 PMTags
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After all that...

Tom Cruise and Bauer Media settled out of court.

The actor has dropped his $50 million defamation lawsuit against the publisher of In Touch Weekly and Life & Style, which was filed Oct. 24, 2012, in response to stories that claimed the actor had "abandoned" daughter Suri Cruise following his divorce from Katie Holmes.

Terms of the settlement were not included in the stipulation of dismissal filed today in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles and obtained by E! News. The document notes that the concerned parties want the case dismissed with prejudice, meaning Cruise can't refile.

"Tom Cruise's lawsuit against Bauer Publishing, In Touch and Life & Style magazines has been settled," read a statement released by longtime Cruise attorney Bert Fields to E! News.

"The terms of the settlement were not disclosed and remain confidential. Bauer Publishing, as well as In Touch and Life & Style magazines, never intended to communicate that Tom Cruise had cut off all ties and abandoned his daughter, Suri, and regret if anyone drew that inference from anything they published."

While fighting the suit, Fields had repeatedly slammed the tabloids' stories, reiterating to E! News just last month that the Mission: Impossible star "never abandoned [his daughter]," and, after the divorce, "talked to her every day and sometimes twice a day because he was very concerned."

Bauer, meanwhile, stood by its reporting and news-gathering process.

The he-said, they-said continued for about a year until the release in November of a slew of documents filed in connection with the case, including the transcript of Cruise's deposition. While being deposed, he discussed, among other things, his divorce and Scientology.

Per the transcript, Cruise called a story that claimed he chose Scientology over Suri "disgusting." He also said, according to court documents, that he had originally just asked for an apology and a retraction, but since the magazines never complied, he sued.

The case had been set to go to trial on June 10, 2014.

—Reporting by Baker Machado