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Katie Holmes Sues Tabloid for|$50 Million, Over ‘Drug’ Headline

LOS ANGELES (CN) - Katie Holmes sued Star Magazine's publisher for $50 million, claiming it defamed her in its cover photo and headlines: "BREAKING NEWS! Katie DRUG SHOCKER! ADDICTION NIGHTMARE! The real reason she can't leave Tom." Holmes, Tom Cruise's wife, says she is "neither a drug addict nor a drug user, and American Media knows it" - nor does she want to leave her husband and their young children.

Holmes' federal complaint continues: "Its [American Media's] vicious lies about plaintiff, designed to hype the sale of its sleazy tabloid magazine, were calculated to cause severe harm to plaintiff both personally and professionally.

"This kind of wrongful and unethical conduct is nothing new to American Media. It has long followed the practice of trying to sell its trashy tabloid magazines by printing false, defamatory and embarrassing stories about celebrities, relying on the fact that, although cruelly defamed, most of them will not sue. As a part of that reprehensible pattern and practice, American Media's magazines have repeatedly printed false and defamatory statements about plaintiff and her husband, actor Tom Cruise."

Holmes sued over the tabloid's Jan. 19 issue, which featured "a huge photo" of her, accompanied by the headlines already cited. She says "There is no other way to understand them [the headlines]" other than to think that "but for plaintiff's nightmare drug addiction, she would 'leave' her husband."

Every aspect of the Star cover is libelous, Holmes says: "The statements on American Media's magazine were totally and unequivocally false and defamatory. Plaintiff is neither a drug addict nor a drug user. There is no 'DRUG SHOCKER' or 'ADDICTION NIGHTMARE' concerning plaintiff. She has no intention of leaving her husband, and is not prevented from doing so by any drug addiction. There is no drug addiction. Nor was there any 'BREAKING NEWS' on any of those subjects. American Media's false statements are particularly hurtful, in that plaintiff and her husband are outspoken in their anti-drug views and in that they have minor children, who will be humiliated and embarrassed by these vicious lies about plaintiff."

She says the story, which begins on Page 42, repeated the defamatory "DRUG SHOCKER!" headline, adding the words, in bold type, "Like a heroin addict, you want another dose" and "Katie Holmes is trapped in a cycle of addictive treatments. Friends and family are terrified, but will she ever escape?"

"The 'story' added that plaintiff has 'glazed eyes and a vacant expression,' and other headlines, in bold letters, announced 'SHE ALWAYS LOOKS SO SPACEY!' and 'HER CAREER IS STRUGGLING.'"

All of this is nonsense, and defamatory nonsense, Holmes says.

She seeks $50 million, and punitive damages. She is represented by Bert Fields, with Greenberg Glusker Fields Claman & Machtinger.

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