One word: Discovery.
Bingo. Basically Cruz is going to have to bend over and take this from the NE,,and if he has had affairs, hope they don’t have the goods on him, otherwise it’s game over. Informative article from 1991 in the Times explains why celebrities never sue.
http://www.nytimes.com/1991/01/04/news/how-the-supermarket-tabloids-stay-out-of-court.html
I'm reading up about 'discovery' right now.
A landlord would send a list of written questions to the tenant, and the tenant would have to answer them honestly, in writing, and under oath.
The under oath part is important – that means if you lie in your answers it is perjury, which is a crime.
Quite a lot of otherwise private things are the business of the other side if you are engaged in litigation. This is one of the many many reasons not to get involved in litigation unless you absolutely have to. Anything that might be “reasonably calculated to lead to admissible evidence” – meaning anything that could arguably be used in court – is ‘discoverable’ and therefore fair game for the asking.