Nicole Kidman is looking back at her whirlwind marriage to ex-husband Tom Cruise.
“Yeah, I got married so young,” Kidman, 59, admitted to British Vogue in a profile published Thursday, August 13. “Suddenly, I was 22, 23 years old and I had this huge movie star husband, but it just seemed completely natural.”
Kidman met Cruise, 64, on the set of 1990’s Days of Thunder, getting married later that year. The two actors, who share two children, ultimately divorced in 2001.
“We just fell madly in love and it was that simple. I remember people saying to me, ‘OK, well this is really going to affect your career,’” Kidman recalled to British Vogue. “I’m like, ‘I don’t care. I’m in love. I want to be married.’ Then, I was his ‘wife’ and they were like, ‘See, we told you.’ I’m like, ‘So what? I wasn’t meant to marry the man I love? Of course I’ll throw my career away. I don’t care.’”
In the years after divorcing Cruise, Kidman enjoyed a thriving Hollywood career and, in her personal life, moved on with country singer Keith Urban. The Practical Magic 2 star and Urban, 58, were married for 19 years before they separated in 2025. Kidman and Urban, who share two daughters, finalized their divorce in January.
Without going into details of the split, Kidman hinted to the British outlet that she was still processing her new normal.
“I’ve approached my whole life like that,” the actress said, noting that she tends to maintain a “feelings-first” approach. “That’s just who I am. I don’t overthink things and I’m probably not that analytical. I’m far more feeling-centred and I lead with my heart. I just go, ‘OK, what do I feel here? I’ll give it a go.’ It throws people, because I think they think I’ll be far more measured and I’m not.”
She continued, “I can still approach things intellectually, but my desire is not to be ruled by my head. I’ve always wanted to live a well-examined life, so what does that entail? Trying things, making mistakes, failing, getting back up, moving on, embracing love, staying open, keeping the heart open and the possibilities.”
Kidman further acknowledged that she “didn’t expect” to divorce Urban, though she’s ready to embrace a new future.
“I had a different view of what my life was going to be, but this is what it is now,” she said. “You make all these plans and you have all these ideas of what it’s all going to be like and then it’s … not. You have to adjust. You adapt. The future, it’s completely unknown to me right now.”
As for Cruise, he was married to actress Katie Holmes from 2006 to 2012.
