Tom Cruise denies abandoning daughter Suri

Tom Cruise is declaring his devotion to Suri Cruise, his daughter with ex-wife Katie Holmes, in court documents related to his $50 million (Dh184 million) lawsuit against a couple of tabloids.

It’s one of the first times the A-lister has opened up about his divorce, which went down swiftly and with little fanfare in 2012. The actor is actively fighting claims from Life & Style and In Touch publisher Bauer Publishing over stories that he “abandoned” his daughter when splitting from Holmes after six years of marriage.

The Mission Impossible star’s attorney filed documents on Tuesday to support his defamation case originally filed against Bauer in October 2012. In the documents, Cruise gave a two-page description of his relationship with Suri.

“The assertion that I ‘abandoned’ Suri after my divorce is patently false,” Cruise said in the documents. “I have in no way cut Suri out of my life — whether physically, emotionally, financially or otherwise.”

The Oblivion and Jack Reacher star, who also has two children with ex-wife Nicole Kidman, said that he and Suri have remained close despite his divorce from Holmes.

The 51-year-old and Suri, now seven, “were (and continue to be) close” even when he was filming back-to-back films overseas, listing examples of his reunions with his daughter, Cruise said in the documents obtained by TMZ.

“As my numerous e-mails with Suri’s mother during this time period demonstrate, I was a constant presence in Suri’s life during the time that defendants claim falsely that I abandoned her,” he said.

He said they “spoke on the phone nearly every day” and that he “regularly asked for and received updates concerning her friends and school life,” which he then discussed with her during their “regular phone calls”.

He concluded by saying that the headlines published by the magazine were “patently false”.

“I also understand that defendants claim that Suri was ‘feeling abandoned’ during this time period. This is also patently false,” he said. “While I’m sure my daughter misses me when I am not with her (as I miss her), she is a very happy child, and we have a wonderful relationship and cheerful phone calls.”

He finished by saying that Suri “has never indicated, in words or substance, that she has ever felt abandoned by me”.

— Los Angeles Times