Tom Cruise has filed a $50m lawsuit against American magazine 'Life & Style' for an article that he deems to be a defamation of character, as it accused him of 'abandoning' his daughter for weeks on end after the breakdown of his and Katie Holmes' marriage earlier this year.

The article was advertised on the front cover of Life&Style and later on the cover of  'inTouch', with headlines "Suri in Tears: Abandoned by Her Dad" and 'ABANDONED BY DADDY'. Tom claims the headlines are entirely false. His lawyer, Bert Fields has released a statement, defending Cruise and criticizing the magazines. TMZ reports: "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." Furthermore, he said "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. These serial defamers are foreign owned companies with their global headquarters in Hamburg. They take money from unsuspecting Americans by selling their malicious garbage. Having to pay a libel judgement may slow them down."

A story about a rich man filing an extraordinarily pricey lawsuit, and a media-outlet making false claims, reveals two of Hollywood's most irritating habits. Cruise also took offence at Vanity Fair and National Enquirer as they probed his interesting (shall we say) practice of Scientology- which just so happens to be another of those irritating Hollywood habits.