Nicole Kidman gets candid about her divorces from Keith Urban and Tom Cruise: ‘It’s all new’
Nicole Kidman gets candid about her divorces from Keith Urban and Tom Cruise: ‘It’s all new’
Leigh BlickleyThu, August 13, 2026 at 12:54 PM UTC
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Tom Cruise; Nicole Kidman; Keith UrbanCredit: Karwai Tang/WireImage; Stefanie Keenan/Getty; Catherine Powell/GettyKey Points -
Nicole Kidman opened up about her divorces from Tom Cruise and Keith Urban.
The Practical Magic star shared how “new” both experiences were.
She noted how she’s prioritizing her family and her feelings.
Nicole Kidman is ready to reclaim her peace.
The actress spoke candidly about her recent divorce from Keith Urban, her husband of 19 years, and how it compared to her public split from ex-husband Tom Cruise in 2001, during an interview with British Vogue.
“It’s all new ... every time!” Kidman said when asked if she had anything useful to tap into this go-around after already experiencing a high-profile breakup. To her, the most important thing to prioritize is family.
“It’s an extraordinary purpose. Everything else is not important,” she shared. “These kids now, that’s what we drop everything for.”
Kidman shares two daughters, Sunday Rose, 18, and Faith Margaret, 15, with Urban. She also has two children from her 10-year marriage to Cruise, Bella, 33, and Connor, 31.
Her message to them? “‘It’s OK, we’re here. You’ve got people who love you, who are going to hold your hand and get through it.’”
Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban at the ‘Eyes Wide Shut’ premiere in 1999Credit: Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic
Kidman, 59, also spoke about how getting married young, and in the spotlight, impacted her entire view of celebrity. “Strangely enough, I feel comfortable. Is that weird? That’s so weird,” she said of turning it on for the cameras. “But you have to remember literally, because of who I married at such a young age, I was thrust into it since I was 22.”
The Oscar winner continued of Cruise, “Yeah, I got married so young. Suddenly I was 22, 23 years old and I had this huge movie star husband. But it just seemed completely natural. 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.’ I’m like, ‘I don’t care. I’m in love. I want to be married.’ And 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.’”
Of course, Kidman’s career is anything but a throwaway, in part thanks to her philosophy on her public-facing career and life: “Feelings first.”
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“I’ve approached my whole life like that,” the Practical Magic star told British Vogue. “That’s just who I am. I don’t overthink things and I’m probably not that analytical. I’m far more feeling-centered 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.”
Kidman wasn’t open to sharing too much about her divorce from Urban, which was finalized in January. But she did say her “desire is not to be ruled by my head” when it comes to life’s hurdles.
“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,” she explained. “But at the same time I’m like, ‘OK, I didn’t expect this. I had a different view of what my life was going to be, but this is what it is now.’ 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 ... Strange.”
Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban in 2024Credit: Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty
When asked if the process has been scary at all, Kidman admitted, “There was a point where I was very fearful and deeply vulnerable, which is exposing. And then at the same time [I’m] going, ‘Well, I can either really not confront it and just curl up, or I can just go forward with an enormous amount of hope.’”
Kidman said she’s thankful to have had strong female role models in her life who’ve helped guide her through the tough times.
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“I had my mother and then I have another woman who sort of helped raise me since I was 16. Part of the way they approach life was sometimes [to say to me]: ‘Nicole, you just got to take it on the chin.’ Once you accept that, instead of going, ‘Well that’s not fair or it’s unjust,’ you go, ‘Well, yes, actually it isn’t fair. Because things are not fair,’” she told British Vogue.
“I know my character. I know my talent. I know who I am,” she asserted. “If I make a mistake and it doesn’t connect, or something goes wrong in my life where it’s humiliating, it’s OK. Other people have had that and that’s OK. Take the onus off it.”
on Entertainment Weekly
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
