Tom Cruise says he 'did his best' to see Suri after he split from Katie Holmes
IN LEAKED deposition transcripts, Tom Cruise justified why he couldn't see his daughter Suri for an extended period of time immediately after he split from Katie Holmes.
A HIGHLY defensive Tom Cruise was forced to explain why he blew off daughter Suri for 110 days shortly after he and ex-wife Katie Holmes split up.
The incredibly private actor insisted he did his best to see Suri as much as possible, while making no apologies for his busy schedule in summer 2012, filled with movie shoots and Church of Scientology functions, according to deposition transcripts obtained by RadarOnline.
"Listen, when there is a divorce … things change," Cruise told lawyers representing two magazines he's suing for libel over reports that he had "abandoned" Suri following his divorce from Katie Holmes last summer.
"It's not an ideal scene. It's not an ideal situation."
A lawyer for In Touch and Life & Style magazines asked Cruise if there had been any agreement with Holmes that prevented him from seeing Suri for those 100-plus days.
The Mission Impossible actor said it was simply a case of schedules not matching up.
"Unfortunately, in this situation it was impossible," Cruise said during the Sept. 9 legal grilling in Los Angeles.
The magazine's lawyers were particularly interested in Cruise's whirlwind trip to London on Oct. 14, 2012, for the annual International Association of Scientology conference.
"It was an important event," said Cruise. "I felt it was important."
The magazines' lawyer Elizabeth McNamara asked: "Based upon this, you could fly from the East Coast (of the United States) to London for 24 hours. Is that right?
"In that situation, yes," Cruise said.
"But you didn't do it for Suri … isn't that right?" McNamara countered.
"When did I not do it for Suri?" Cruise said.
"In July, August, September, October," McNamara answered.
"That's not true … different situation," said Cruise.
"There was no 24 hour period of time that you couldn't have flown to see Suri?" McNamara shot back.
That's when Cruise launched into a long defence of his parenting and difficulties of navigating a sensitive divorce.
Cruise said: "Listen, where there is a divorce - if you look at this also in terms of Suri coming to me and certain agreements that you have, when a divorce occurs thing change. And it's more complicated, as everyone know when that is, when that occurs, and there are certain agreements; now you have to ask for permission and organise schedules to make things happen. So it wasn't - it's not an ideal scene. It's not an ideal situation."