Tom Cruise is known for giving some truly bizarre statements about his life and career in Hollywood, but perhaps his strangest yet were revealed in leaked legal documents obtained by TMZ, in which the 51-year-old actor claims his job is as difficult as fighting in Afghanistan and training for the Olympics.
The actor recently sat for a deposition on his $50 million libel lawsuit against Life & Style and In Touch magazines for claims made that he abandoned daughter Suri, during which he said that location shooting during movies were akin to serving a tour in Afghanistan.
"Certainly on this last movie, it was brutal. It was brutal," Cruise allegedly said, but the controversy didn't end there, as he went on to add: "There is difficult physical stamina and preparation. Sometimes I've spent months, a year, and sometimes two years preparing for a single film. A sprinter for the Olympics, they only have to run two races a day. When I'm shooting, I could potentially have to run 30, 40 races a day, day after day."
While the star admitted to the court that he was busy shooting two different films at the time that In Touch ran their salacious headline, "Abandoned by Daddy," he defended his parenting skills with claims that he was in constant email contact with ex-wife Katie Holmes during that time and remained "a constant presence in Suri's life," according to TMZ, as he likes to have "vivid" conversations with his daughter over the phone.
"I've gotten very good at [talking on the phone]. I've gotten very good at it. I tell wonderful stories and they like hearing it." he said of his telephone skills.
Cruise also reportedly got upset when asked if Katie Holmes had left him in order to protect seven-year-old Suri from the Church of Scientology.
"Listen, I find that question offensive," Cruise said, according to a 36-page deposition transcript. "I find it, those statements offensive. Like with any relationship, there are many different levels to it. You know, I, I find it very offensive. There is no need to protect my daughter from my religion."
