Tom Cruise likens career as actor to soldier away from family in Afghanistan: court docs

To Tom Cruise, being away from his daughter while shooting a big-budget action movie “feels like” serving in Afghanistan.

The “Top Gun” actor was responding to a lawyer’s question comparing the extended time away from Suri while filming a movie to a soldier’s tour in Afghanistan, according to legal papers obtained by the Daily News.

“That’s what it feels like,” Cruise responded during the deposition stemming from his $50 million lawsuit accusing Life & Style and In Touch magazines of defaming him in 2012 cover stories claiming he abandoned his daughter.

“And certainly on this last movie, it was brutal. It was brutal.”

Tom Cruise makes an impossible climb in the latest ‘Mission Impossible’ movie. (Credit: Industrial Light Magic/©Paramount/Courtesy Everett Col)

Incredibly, the Scientologist’s sob story didn’t stop there.

In the deposition, the “Mission: Impossible” star also compared his Hollywood hamming to Olympic training.

“There is difficult physical stamina and preparation,” he whined. “Sometimes I’ve spent months, a year, and sometimes two years preparing for a single film.

Tom Cruise in a scene from ‘Mission: Impossible III.’ (STEPHEN VAUGHAN/AP)

“A sprinter for the Olympics, they only have to run two races a day,” he continued. “When I’m shooting, I could potentially have to run 30, 40 races a day, day after day.”

Cruise also listed off blockbusters such as “Rock of Ages,” “Jack Reacher,” “Oblivion” and the upcoming “Edge of Tomorrow” as physically and mentally taxing films for which he busted his behind.

Cruise’s lawyer said the analogies were being taken out of context.

Tom Cruise agreed that being away from his daughter on movie sets ‘feels like’ serving in Afghanistan. (BOB STRONG/REUTERS)

“The assertions that Tom Cruise likened making a movie to being at war in Afghanistan is a gross distortion of the record,” lawyer Bert Fields emailed The News in a statement. “What Tom said, laughingly, was that sometimes ‘that’s what it feels like.'”

Fields continued that a video of the deposition shows Cruise and his lawyers were laughing at his answer.

When Cruise was later asked if the situations were comparable, he said, “Oh, come on.”

Tom Cruise in the science fiction epic ‘Oblivion,’ his latest film.

“Tom is a staunch supporter of our troops and would never say that making a movie was even remotely comparable to fighting in Afghanistan,” Fields added.

Also during the Sept. 9 sitdown, Cruise was grilled on whether he or his lawyers accused Bauer Media, which publishes the two celeb magazines, of being pro-Nazi and anti-Semitic.

Cruise said he “didn’t authorize” his attorneys to make those allegations.

Tom Cruise poses for photographs and signs autographs while attending the ‘Oblivion’ Japan premiere at Roppongi Hills last year. (Adam Pretty/Getty Images)

Attorneys also asked him to define “a suppressive person” in Scientology, which Cruise said is someone who is antisocial and dishonest.

When asked if Holmes was an “SP,” he dodged the question by saying there were “many different aspects to it.”

The superstar actor had admitted Holmes dumped him to spare their daughter from Scientology, according to the deposition.

Tom Cruise visits the Mutianyu Great Wall in Beijing last year. (STR/AFP/Getty Images)

But he later backtracked off that and said “Katie has never told me that this was a reason for our divorce.”

In the faceoff with lawyers, Cruise copped to not seeing his daughter for 110 days after his split with Holmes.

He admitted he only saw his child 10 times between the middle of June until Thanksgiving.

Tom Cruise also compared his preparation for movies to Olympic training: ‘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.’ (Alessandra Tarantino/AP)

“As I’ve said, I’ve gotten pretty good at communicating and I also find that, you know, Suri, you know, is a very happy child and confident and has a good sense of herself.”