Cruise threatens to sue mag for 'publishing intimate details of split'

The Hollywood Reporter has posted a letter on its website from Cruise's Los Angeles lawyer, Bert Fields, in which he slammed American Media Inc, parent of the magazine, for what he calls "false and vicious lies" he said that will cause "hundreds of millions of dollars" in damages to Cruise.

Tom Cruise. Pic/Santa Banta

"As you were notified in advance, your current issue of National Enquirer makes numerous false and defamatory assertions about our client Tom Cruise," the Telegraph quoted the letter assaying.

The letter has drawn attention to disparaging descriptions of the 50-year-old actor in the Enquirer's issue that hit news-stands on Wednesday, with Fields writing, "These are all lies - vicious, hurtful, damaging lies."