Yesterday Cruise's lawyer Bert Fields said the actor would sue Morton and New York-based publishers St. Martin's Press if they used the letter he wrote in response to try to cast aspersion on Cruise's sexuality.

"I wrote a letter to Mr. Morton back in November and said he obviously was entitled to write the book but 'make sure you check your facts'," Mr. Fields said. "If he tries to use my letter to create the impression that Mr. Cruise did have a gay affair, we will certainly sue ... because the story is false.

"Mr. Cruise is not gay."

A friend of the actor said: "Morton is scraping the bottom of the barrel. If Baresi is the best Morton can come up with, that just goes to show how low Andrew Morton has sunk."