Tom Cruise is suing mad over claims by "Life & Style" and "In Touch" that he's abandoned his six-year-old daughter Suri following his split from Katie Holmes, the actor's lawyer told TheWrap in a statement Wednesday.
"Top Gun" actor Cruise filed a $50 million defamation lawsuit against Bauer Publishing Company, which publishes the tabloids, in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles on Wednesday, lawyer Bert Fields said.
Also read: Tom Cruise Hits Back at Vanity Fair Piece on Wife Auditions
Fields lashed out at "Life & Style" in July over a story that blared, "Suri in Tears: Abandoned by Her Dad," calling the claim "a disgusting, vicious lie" and pointing out that Cruise had recently spent two days with his daughter in New York.
"In Touch" made a similar claim.
Now, however, the time for talk is over and the time for court action has arrived.
Also read: Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes: From TomKat to Divorce
"Tom doesn't go around suing people. He's not a litigious guy," Fields said in the statement. "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 went on to note that the actor will likely donate any damages that may be awarded to him to charity.
"These serial defamers are foreign owned companies with their global headquarters in Hamburg. They take money from unsuspecting Americans by selling their malicious garbage," Fields said. "Having to pay a libel judgment may slow them down. Tom will undoubtedly give the money to charity. He always has."
A spokeswoman for Bauer had no comment for TheWrap.
Cruise and Holmes split up in late June after five years of marriage. The pair quickly reached a divorce agreement.
The actor has gone on the offensive regarding press reports about his personal life in recent months. In September, Fields blasted a "Vanity Fair" article claiming that, in 2004, the Church of Scientology set up auditions to find a significant other for Cruise by auditioning Scientologist actresses, asking them about their sex lives and their feeling about the actor.
Pamela Chelin contributed to this report.