Andrew Morton says Tom Cruise should thank him for writing his biography

Andrew Morton has insisted that Tom Cruise should THANK him for writing his controversial biography.

Morton says he decided to write his hard-hitting book after seeing the superstar jumping on Oprah's coach and declaring his love for Katie Holmes.

But he insists the star should be grateful that he still took him seriously enough to write a book while the rest of the world merely mocked him.

"Tom Cruise for the last couple of years has been treated as a figure of fun," Morton said, referring especially to the Oprah incident.

"I've given him the respect of treating him seriously, and treating his religion seriously - and fairly. "I think I do him a service in treating him seriously. I think I do him the service of trying to understand him.

"He is a man who deserves attention.

"He is a controversial figure, and by definition this book is controversial."

He says the book idea came the second he saw Cruise on Oprah. "I saw him jumping on the coach and thought, 'What is a 42-year-old man, who's already been married twice, doing jumping on a coach, with his children watching, about a woman he's known for just a few days?'," he said.

"I tried it at home and just about did my knee in. So it's no mean feat to jump backwards onto a sofa on prime time TV."

Morton confirmed that he had been "bombarded with legal letters" over the book, but insisted: "I'm prepared to defend my book."

But he denied he was going into hiding or that he sold his house through his fears.

"I sold my property but it has nothing to do with Tom Cruise or Scientology," he insisted.

Asked if he expected to get sued he insisted; "I hope not.

"I think this is a fair, even handed account of Tom Cruise's life."

He says even if he had not written the book, it was a book crying out to be written.

"This is a man who came from nowhere, from New Jersey - not from an established family, from a modest background - and he went on to become one of the towering figures of the last 25 years in the movie scene," he said.

"And he's now moved on from there to being one of the most powerful figures in Hollywood - and now shaping the future of Hollywood with his own studio."

By Owen Williams, Jan 15 2008 © Copyright 2008 - Showbiz Spy