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Inside.com reports that Cruise filed the suit against Chad Slater, who also goes by the name Kyle Bradford, on Wednesday to stop him from repeating his account of an alleged affair between the two -- a tale Slater has told to a number of European publications.
The suit says Slater "has concocted and spread the completely false story that he had a continuing homosexual affair with Tom Cruise and that this affair was discovered by Mr. Cruise's wife, leading to their divorce," Inside.com quoted the statement of claim.
Slater boasted of the affair in the magazines Acustar and TVyNovelas, saying Cruise used the alias Tom Finigham when he arranged a liaison with the porn star. The articles claim that just days before Cruise and Kidman announced their divorce, she walked in on Cruise and Slater "while they were having a romantic encounter," Inside.com quoted the article.
Cruise's lawsuit denies there was ever a relationship with Slater, and says further that the two have never met. Cruise's lawyers will argue in the case that the false stories about his sexuality will undermine his macho image.
"Because Cruise is a motion picture actor, he is dependent upon worldwide public acceptance of his films," the statement of claim says, according to Inside.com.
"Losing the respect and enthusiasm of a substantial segment of the movie-going public would cost Cruise very substantial sums. While plaintiff believes in the right of others to follow their own sexual preference, vast numbers of the public throughout the world do not share that view and, believing that he had a homosexual affair and did so during his marriage, they will be less inclined to patronize Cruise's films, particularly since he tends to play parts calling for heterosexual romance and action adventure."
Cruise and Kidman announced their split in February, citing the pressure of their divergent film careers. Cruise's lawyer told Reuters the star was prepared to pay his wife "tens of millions" in the divorce.
"Tom will provide Nicole with one-half of the community property, consisting of tens of millions of dollars. Tom said to me: 'She's the mother of our children and I will always wish her well.'"
The couple successfully sued a British paper that published claims they had to hire a sex therapist to train them how to behave sexually together for scenes in Stanley Kubrick's film "Eyes Wide Shut."