Response From Cruise and Church of Scientology
The Daily Mail and The Daily Telegraph reported that lawyers for Cruise are preparing a lawsuit against publisher St. Martin's Press, seeking USD$113 million in damages. Bertram Fields stated "It's not being published in England. The American publishers criticised the libel laws in Britain because they require an author to tell the truth. Well, thank God for the British libel laws." Eliot Abelson, general counsel for the Church of Scientology, discussed the possibility of litigation from the Church in statements to the Daily Mail "We are seriously considering legal action and will wait to see the public reaction. It is something which will be discussed in the next few days." An article in The Times wrote "The Church of Scientology is reported to be considering filing suit against the US publishers."
The book has been criticized by representatives for both Tom Cruise and the Church of Scientology. In an interview with The Daily Mail, attorney Bertram Fields called the book a "boring, poorly researched book by a man who never talked to anyone involved in Tom Cruise's life or anyone close to him," and criticized what he believed to be Morton's lack of independent research for the work. Fields said that Cruise would not read the book, saying "He has no intention of reading it. He's very, very busy with a lot of things right now." Paula Wagner, Tom Cruise's business partner in their company Cruise/Wagner Productions, released a statement supporting Cruise and criticizing Morton's work. Wagner called the book "a disgraceful piece of gossip-mongering, filled with distortions and outright lies that no sensible person will take seriously."
Eliot Abelson said that the Church had attempted to contact Morton and give him a tour, but "received nothing." Abelson stated "This was a pre-ordained mission to trash Tom Cruise. He didn't ask to speak to David Miscavige and wrote some horrible things about him which are totally untrue. No one has ever made complaints of that kind," and denied that Cruise was second-in-command of the Church of Scientology "He is a parishioner, a well respected parishioner, but that's what he is. The only person who runs the Church and makes policy decisions is David Miscavige." "It's not too late for St. Martin's Press to pull this book," Abelson said.
On January 14, 2008, Church of Scientology public affairs director Karin Pouw released a 15-page statement criticizing the book. In the statement, the Church of Scientology called the book "a bigoted, defamatory assault replete with lies," and said that Cruise "is a Scientology parishioner and holds no official or unofficial position in the Church hierarchy," and that "Accuracy and truth were not on Morton's agenda." Cruise's publicity firm Rogers & Cowan, also issued a statement, which criticized Morton for not interviewing "one person who has known or worked with Tom" in the past 25 years, and also criticized Morton for writing "outlandish and malicious lies to sell books."
In January 2008 the niece of David Miscavige, the head of the Church of Scientology, released a statement on the internet in favor of Morton's book. Jenna Miscavige Hill, whose father Ron Miscavige is the older brother of David Miscavige, criticized Pouw's statement about the book. Hill stated: "I am absolutely shocked at how vehemently you insist upon not only denying the truths that have been stated about the church in that biography, but then take it a step further and tell outright lies." Hill's statement was part of an open letter to a Church of Scientology official which described how her family had been broken apart by Scientology policies. In response, Karin Pouw told the Agence France-Presse "The church stands by its statement of 14 January. The church does not respond to newsgroup postings." Hill told the Agence France-Presse that she had released the statement in a public forum to draw attention to the Scientology practice of disconnection.
The book's publisher, St. Martin's Press, called the possibility of a lawsuit from Tom Cruise and the Church of Scientology "unfortunate", stating "It is unfortunate that lawyers for both Mr. Cruise and Scientology have felt the need to threaten us with legal action at every step of the way." In a statement to Usmagazine.com the publisher supported Morton's research on the book: "In the two years that we have worked with Andrew Morton on this book, we have been deeply impressed by his commitment to going beyond the rumors to get the facts that would enable him to paint a balanced and accurate portrait of such an enigmatic public figure."
Read more about this topic: Tom Cruise: An Unauthorized Biography
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