Katie vs. Tom: The Battle Lines Are Drawn

By Kat Giantis

July 4, 2012

Warning: Injury from an over-the-top eye rolling may occur after you read the following … After six years of PDA-heavy and Suri-inclusive photo ops with Katie Holmes, Tom Cruise is playing the privacy card in what is shaping up to be a contentious divorce proceeding.

"It's not Tom's style to do this publicly," declares his attorney, Bert Fields (via BBC News). "He is really sad about what's happening."

But Cruise apparently isn't sad enough to keep his lawyer from throwing a dig at his estranged wife, who reportedly blindsided him last week by filing for divorce in New York and asking for sole legal custody of 6-year-old Suri.

"Tactically, we can't say where Tom will file a divorce case and if he'll be seeking joint custody of Suri," continues his lawyer. "We are letting 'the other side' [i.e., camp Katie] play the media until they wear everyone out and then we'll have something to say."

Fields is presumably referring to how "the other side" has portrayed Katie as a concerned mom who wants her daughter out of the clutches of Scientology, in which Cruise is a high-ranking member.

Holmes, who allegedly fears she's under surveillance because the church "now views her as a threat to the organization," might want her point of view out there, but her lawyer denies reports that she filed for an emergency (and public) custody and child support hearing.

Meanwhile, more details are emerging on how the actress extricated herself from her suspicion-clouded union. Click on for the "Mission: Impossible"-style intrigue …