While Nicole Kidman and Tom Cruise’s 11-year marriage ended a whopping two decades ago, whispers around their relationship are still present today. And understandably, Kidman is well-and-truly ready to put them to rest.
In an interview with The Guardian, the 54-year-old actress spoke candidly about her latest film, Being the Ricardos, a biopic where she stars as the late comedy icon Lucille Ball. For the unacquainted, Being the Ricardos follows the overwrought romance between Ball and Arnaz, that saw the I Love Lucy stars separate by 1960.
However, the interview saw Kidman calling out the interviewer for attempting to compare Ball and husband Desi Arnaz’s relationship in the film to her real-life marriage to Cruise.
“It’s about a creative and romantic relationship that doesn’t work out. But from it come some extraordinary things. And I love that. I love that it’s not a happy ending,” Kidman told the publication.
“This film says you can make an extraordinary relationship thrive and leave remnants of it that exist forever. Yeah, that’s really gorgeous. You can’t make people behave how you want them to, and sometimes you’re going to fall in love with someone who isn’t going to be the person you spend the rest of your life with.
“And I think that’s all very relatable. You may have kids with them. You may not, but they were very much in love.”
But it was then that interviewer Eva Wiseman eased into asking if that was her “way of talking about Tom Cruise”. And naturally, Kidman had an issue with the false assumption.
“Oh, my God, no, no. Absolutely not. No. I mean, that’s, honestly, so long ago that that isn’t in this equation. So no,” Kidman replied.
“And I would ask not to be pigeonholed that way, either. It feels to me almost sexist, because I’m not sure anyone would say that to a man. And at some point, you go, ‘Give me my life. In its own right’.”
As many already know, Cruise and Kidman met on the set of Days Of Thunder and were married in 1990. Adopting two children together—Isabella Jane (born 22 December 1992), and son, Connor Anthony (17 January 1995)—the couple ultimately split in 2001.
By 2006, Kidman had met and married musician Keith Urban, whom she shares two daughters, Sunday Rose and Faith Margaret, with.
In an interview with Harper’s BAZAAR in 2021, Kidman opened up about her thoughts on the media’s laser-sharp focus on her personal life and relationships.
“Maybe I’ve gotten a bit more trepidatious, but I’m always trying to be as open as possible. I just prefer to live in the world that way,” she explained.
“I’m wary at times, and I’ve been hurt, but at the same time I much prefer a warm approach rather than a prickly shutdown approach. My husband, Keith, says that when he met me, he said, ‘How’s your heart?’ And I apparently responded, ‘Open’.”
