Although their acrimonious divorce became final more than a year ago, Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman teamed up Wednesday to sue the national cosmetics chain Sephora USA, claiming the company used their images in a Valentine's Day 2001 ad without their consent, the Associated Press reports.
The lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, claims Sephora's "Celebrity Scents" ad campaign created the misleading impression that Cruise, 40, and Kidman, 38, "used, preferred, endorsed or sponsored Sephora's products."
"Tom & Nicole -- The red carpet glamour of Hollywood's royal couple never fails to leave us with eyes wide open," said the ad copy, which then directed customers to select Sephora scents supposedly based on the stars' individual personalities.
According to the plaintiffs' legal papers, Sephora effectively turned Cruise and Kidman into "involuntary models without pay." Had they actually endorsed the products, the lawsuit states, they "would have been paid a very large sum of money."
The suit seeks $15 million in damages against the chain's French owner, Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton, and asks that the award be tripled because of alleged violations of the Lanham Act, which governs such intellectual property rights as patents, trademarks and copyrights.
Cruise is no stranger to litigation. In addition to divorce paperwork, he filed two separate $100-million defamation lawsuits last year against two men who allegedly suggested he was gay. In both cases, the men soon issued denials of their earlier statements.
Cruise, Kidman Say Scent Ad Stinks
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