Cruise sues porn actor for affair claim

Happier times at the Venice Film festival 1999

Actor Tom Cruise has filed a $100m (£69.7m) defamation suit against the porn film actor who claimed that their gay affair led to the breakdown of Cruise's marriage to Nicole Kidman.

The suit contends that Chad Slater - also known as Kyle Bradford - told French magazine Actustar that Kidman ended the marriage after discovering that Cruise had a continuing homosexual relationship.

This article was then translated and appeared in a Spanish-language magazine, Cruise's suit adds.

Kidman at the April US premiere of her latest film Moulin Rouge

But the suit - filed on Wednesday in in Los Angeles Superior Court - states that Cruise "had no relationship of any kind with Kyle Bradford and does not even know him".

Glamour

Cruise's attorney, Bert Fields, said that Actustar has agreed to publish a retraction.

Cruise filed for divorce from Kidman in February after 10 years of marriage.

Given Cruise's position as one of Hollywood's most bankable stars and Kidman's unmistakable glamour the split caused a media furore around the world.

In an interview with the The Mirror on 3 May, Kidman said she still does not know why Cruise abruptly ended their marriage and filed for divorce.

The couple starred in Stanley Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut

Kidman spoke about her miscarriage after two months of pregnancy.

She said there was no question but that the child was Cruise's but that he made no attempt to contact her.

"I'm very lucky to have a mother and father who are always there for me," she said.

'Highly publicised'

She added that she was devoting herself to shielding their two adopted children, eight-year-old Isabella and six-year-old Conor, from as much publicity as possible.

"Both Tom and myself are still very dedicated to not making them part of Hollywood," she said.

The divorce case is still pending, but Cruise's divorce lawyer, Dennis Wasser, issued a statement on Wednesday.

Cruise presented Cameron Crowe with a 'Dream Director' award last week

This said: "Tom will provide Nicole with one-half of the community property, consisting of tens of millions of dollars."

Wasser added that Cruise had told him: "She's the mother of our children and I will always wish her well."

Wasser said that the statement about the divorce was unrelated to the Slater lawsuit.

"Bradford's concocted the entire story and issued it to the international media at a time when he knew Cruise was going through a highly publicised marital separation," he said.

"Bradford did so for the purpose of publicising himself at Cruise's expense."