LOS ANGELES (October 24, 2012)--An attorney for Tom Cruise says the actor has filed a $50 million defamation lawsuit against the publishers of Life & Style magazine for articles that said Cruise has abandoned his 6-year-old daughter Suri.

Bert Fields said the lawsuit was filed Wednesday in Los Angeles federal court.

Fields said Cruise doesn't like to file lawsuits but that the assertion that the actor has abandoned his daughter is a "vicious lie."

If Cruise prevails, Fields says his client would give the money to charity.

An e-mail message left for a spokeswoman for Bauer Publishing, which produces Life & Style, was not immediately returned.

Cruise and Siri's mother, Katie Holmes, were divorced earlier this year after six years of marriage.