Cruise Control: Wins Retraction in Court

By Stephen M. Silverman

12/03/2001 at 12:40 PM EST

Tom Cruise has dropped a $100 million defamation lawsuit against publisher Michael Davis of "Bold" magazine after Davis stated that he does not have a videotape showing the actor engaging in a sex act with another man. "Cruise does not appear on the videotape to which said defendant referred," part of a Superior Court stipulation said. "(Cruise) is not, and never has been, homosexual and has never had a homosexual affair." Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Emilie Elias approved the stipulation on Thursday. Cruise's lawsuit, filed June 4, accused Davis of dispatching news releases to at least a dozen U.S. media organizations alleging that the star engaged in a gay relationship during his marriage to Nicole Kidman. Under terms of the settlement, Davis must pay his own legal fees and is prohibited from "issuing or authorizing the issuance of any statement contrary to any of the foregoing findings." Davis's attorney, Edward Pilot, said that his client is satisfied with the result. "My client was sued for $100 million. As it turned out, he did not pay Mr. Cruise a penny, so obviously we are pleased with the outcome," Pilot said. Cruise's attorney, Bertram Fields, claimed that his client, 39, also was satisfied. "Essentially, what Tom was after was the very finding that the court made," said Fields. "The story was false. He's not gay, and the judge so ruled."