Christian Slater|Sued by His Father

LOS ANGELES (CN) - Christian Slater's father sued the actor Wednesday, claiming Slater defamed him in a National Enquirer story by calling him a manic-depressive schizophrenic.

Thomas Knight Slater sued his ex-wife, Mary Jo Slater, and his actor son in a pro se complaint in Superior Court, alleging slander, libel, privacy invasion and other offenses.

Thomas Slater, 80, says in the lawsuit that he is also known as Michael De Gainsborough and Michael Hawkins.

He claims his son defamed him in the Dec. 21, 2015 National Enquirer, by "describ(ing) his father as suffering from manic-depressive schizophrenia."

He claims that the article "has ruined his career in the stage, motion picture, and television industry, which he has never recovered from."

Christian Slater told Interview magazine in a June 2015 article that his father was a talented actor who introduced him to the profession.

"I haven't seen him in a few years," Christian Slater told his interviewer, Lars Von Trier, in the Interview article. "We just spoke recently. He's a manic-depressive schizophrenic. He's always had trouble - he was a fantastic actor and extraordinarily charismatic and very, very good looking, but he had a really difficult time working with directors, collaborating with people. And that made his life very challenging. He's in a place now, getting a lot of help from someone."

That article is not mentioned in the lawsuit, in which Thomas Slater claims that his son and ex-wife "caused him to be blacklisted in the show business community."

He seeks $20 million in damages.

The National Enquirer is not a party to the lawsuit.

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