Personal information about Tom Cruise’s Scientologist faith and his relationship with his youngest daughter, Suri, with ex Katie Holmes has been exposed after a deposition transcript from Cruise’s current lawsuit was leaked.
Cruise is currently suing Bauer Publishing for $50 million after their publication, In Touch published a cover story that alleged Cruise had “abandoned” his daughter after his divorce from Holmes in 2012. The deposition took place in early September, but the transcript had not been published until this week.
In the deposition, Cruise answers questions about the circumstances surrounding his divorce and what kept him away from Suri, now 7, immediately following the split. Attorney Elizabeth McNamara, working for Bauer’s defense, questioned Cruise and pointed out that, while Cruise had been too busy to see Suri for 100 days, he found the time to travel to a Scientology event during that time.
According to the deposition, Cruise traveled from the Pittsburg set of Jack Reacher to London to attend an International Association of Scientology (IAS) event on Oct. 15, and immediately returned to set the next day.
McNamara continued to question Cruise about why he flew from Pittsburgh to London in 24-hours, but did not do the same for his daughter to defend the article in question, which alleged that Cruise had “chosen Scientology over Suri.“
"Listen, when there is a divorce – if you look at this also in terms of Suri coming to me and certain agreements that you have, when a divorce occurs things change. And it’s more complicated, as everyone knows when that is, when that occurs, and there are certain agreements; now you have to ask for permission and organize schedules to make things happen. So it wasn’t – it’s not an ideal scene. It’s not an ideal situation,” Cruise said.
According to the deposition, Cruise admitted that between June 18 and Thanksgiving 2012, he had only seen his daughter for a total of ten days. Still, Cruise insists that his physical absent does not constitute abandonment. Cruise claims he spoke to his on the phone daily and said that, if Suri ever asked him to go to her, he would find a way.
“And the situation, you know, when you’re thinking of your child and thinking what is the best thing for them, and of course respecting Kate’s wishes in terms of Suri’s scheduling, the nature of making that film, the nature of having finished one film and kind of – agreements change, you know. That wasn’t how the thing was set up. As I said, things change. Things change. And certainly what doesn’t change is the love that I have for my daughter, the fact that I didn’t abandon her emotionally, physically or otherwise. And in terms of how I feel about her in terms of the responsibility that I feel towards my child is not – is not waned in any way,” Cruise stated.
Cruise insisted that coordinating schedules between divorced parents is especially difficult when the two parents are Hollywood actors with busy and unconventional schedules.
“Things change and there is different agreements, like in any divorce, where you work out schedules. It’s just a different set of circumstances. It certainly does not mean that I’ve abandoned my daughter,” Cruise explained.
McNamara also questioned Cruise about his controversial religion and Cruise admitted that Suri is no longer practicing Scientology. Other topics discussed in the deposition include Cruise’s use of private jets for travel.
McNamara also angered Cruise by drawing a comparison between him and his father, who abandoned his family and was not present in his life.
“My father didn’t pay money. He didn’t call,” Cruise said.
The deposition also sheds light on why Cruise feels so adamantly about pursuing the lawsuit in the first place. Cruise says that, when an initial story claiming he had chosen his religion over his daughter was published, he asked the magazine for a retraction and apology, and was not only denied, but completely disregarded when the magazine published yet another story on the subject.
“The one thing that – all I wanted basically was for them not to print that I abandoned my daughter, that’s what I want… That is what I wanted. I wanted an apology. They didn’t do it. And they did it again. Is that ethical?” Cruise asked.
The next hearing for the case will be held on Nov. 26.
– Olivia Truffaut-Wong
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