Katie Holmes files $50 mln libel suit against magazine

LOS ANGELES, (Reuters Life!) – Actress Katie Holmes  yesterday filed a $50 million lawsuit, accusing celebrity  magazine Star of libel for a cover story that falsely suggested  she was a drug addict.

Katie Holmes

The lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles federal court, is over a  January edition of the magazine with the cover line “Addiction  Nightmare. Katie Drug Shocker!”

The inside story claimed that Holmes, the wife of Tom  Cruise, was “trapped in a cycle of addictive treatments”, but  made no allegations of drug use. Instead it talked of  counseling sessions in the Church of Scientology, according to  the lawsuit.

Cruise is one of Hollywood’s leading Scientology  followers.

“Star Magazine’s malicious claims about Katie are untrue,  unethical and unlawful. Not only do they cruelly defame Katie,  they play a cheap trick on the public, making ridiculously  false claims on the cover unsupported by anything inside,”  attorney Bert Fields said in a statement.

Holmes, 32, is seeking $50 million in damages.

Star magazine, is published by Florida-based American Media  Inc, whose group includes tabloid weekly The National  Enquirer.

A spokeswoman for American Media said on Tuesday that the  company would “vigorously defend” the lawsuit and that its  attorneys “look forward to deposing Ms. Holmes about her  experiences with Scientology.”

Lawyers for Holmes said the actress was forced to file the  lawsuit to “vindicate her reputation after American Media  refused to retract its vicious lies about her.”