Nicole Kidman and Tom Cruise used to be Hollywood's "it couple," but the couple's divorce coupled with Cruise's increasing devotion to Scientology has meant that the two actors haven't shared screentime recently or even mentioned each other in interviews if they can help it. Though both Kidman and Cruise have enjoyed A-list status in their careers, their personal lives couldn't be more different. While Cruise would go on to have another high-profile divorce with actress Katie Holmes, Kidman's enjoyed a long and seemingly-happy relationship with country music star Keith Urban. Here's the real reason Nicole Kidman doesn't talk about Tom Cruise.
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00:00It has been a while since Nicole Kidman and Tom Cruise, one of Hollywood's former golden
00:05couples, made tabloid headlines as an item.
00:08Starring in three films together, Days of Thunder, Far and Away, and Stanley Kubrick's
00:13Eyes Wide Shut, the two were a true power couple — well, until they weren't.
00:18In 2001, Cruise filed for divorce, with many speculating this was due to his membership
00:23in the Church of Scientology, from which Kidman distanced herself in 1997.
00:28At the time, she spoke against the controversial religion, telling the Sydney Morning Herald,
00:32"...I wouldn't classify myself as a Scientologist."
00:36Following her divorce, Kidman threw herself into her work, winning a Best Actress Oscar
00:41for 2002's The Hours.
00:43She revealed to Entertainment Tonight in 2016 that she was, quote, "...running from her
00:47life at the time."
00:48Despite this, Kidman would find new love in 2006 and marry country star Keith Urban.
00:55In addition to the daughters she has with Urban, Sunday, and Faith, Kidman also shares
00:59children Isabella and Connor with Cruise, whom they adopted in 1992 and 1995, respectively.
01:06In spite of this, Kidman hasn't spoken publicly about her ex-husband of 11 years since 2018.
01:12Understandably, Nicole Kidman has not name-dropped Tom Cruise in interviews in years to honor
01:18husband Keith Urban.
01:19In fact, the last time Kidman discussed Cruise publicly was in a 2018 interview with The
01:25Guardian.
01:26Kidman told the outlet,
01:27"...I feel out of respect for Keith.
01:28I don't want to talk about that.
01:30Nobody would sit at a dinner party and answer questions about their ex while their current
01:34partner is sitting there."
01:35Kidman then self-deprecatingly admitted,
01:38"...I have read stuff I have said in the past and thought, bloody hell, Nicole, keep your
01:42mouth shut."
01:43Kidman also rarely speaks about her two children with Cruise, Connor and Isabella.
01:47The actor explained to Who in 2018 that she's, quote, "...very private about all that."
01:52She added,
01:53"...I just protect all those relationships.
01:55I know 150% that I would give up my life for my children, because it's what my purpose
02:00is."
02:01Given that Kidman has also not been sighted in public with her eldest two in a long while,
02:06rumors flew that she had been cut off from them by the Church of Scientology.
02:10How true was this gossip, though?
02:12Nicole and her children with Tom Cruise, Connor and Isabella, have a heavily debated relationship.
02:17Per Now to Love, the last photographed sightings of Kidman and the two were shot days prior
02:23to her June 2006 wedding to country crooner Keith Urban in Sydney, Australia.
02:28Since then, however, some have wondered if Kidman's designation as an SP, or, quote,
02:33"...suppressive person by the Church of Scientology," has seemingly driven them apart, as Connor
02:38and Isabella are members of the church like their father.
02:41Outspoken ex-Scientologist Leah Remini only fueled this rumor in her 2015 memoir, Troublemaker,
02:48Surviving Hollywood and Scientology.
02:50According to Now to Love, she wrote that when she asked Isabella in 2006 if she stayed in
02:55touch with Kidman, she replied,
02:57"'Not if I can help it.
02:58She's a f-----g SP.'"
03:00However, Tom denied to Oprah Winfrey in 2008 that Kidman was blocked from her kids, saying,
03:06"...we share custody, whenever."
03:08Connor also shut down the speculation to Woman's Day Australia in 2014, saying,
03:12"...I love my mom.
03:14I don't care what people say.
03:15I know that me and mom are solid."
03:18Kidman seemed to reinforce her supportive relationship with Connor and Isabella to Who?
03:22In 2018, she said,
03:24"...they have made choices to be Scientologists, and as a mother, it's my job to love them."
03:28Though Kidman and Cruz looked like the picture-perfect couple in red carpet photos, Nicole revealed
03:34since her 2001 divorce from Tom that she felt engulfed by his shadow during their 11-year
03:39marriage.
03:40"'It's true that the road my husband and I chose to travel on was paved with many speed
03:45bumps.'"
03:46Kidman told Glamour in 2008,
03:48"...I felt I became a star only by association.
03:51We would go to the Oscars and I would think, I'm here to support him."
03:55After meeting Cruz on the set of their first film together, 1990's Days of Thunder, Kidman
04:00told Harper's Bazaar in 2012 that she was, quote, "...deeply shy during their marriage."
04:05Furthermore, she revealed that post-divorce, she rediscovered her calling in life.
04:10She said,
04:11"...I started to do what I've been doing since I was 14, with some gravitas."
04:15Not only did Kidman win the Best Actress Oscar in 2003 for playing Virginia Wolf in The Hours,
04:21but her 2001 horror arthouse film The Others was a rare critical and commercial success.
04:27Kidman told Harper's Bazaar,
04:28"...having your work be the basis of fame, that's a far more stable feeling."
04:33Kidman's marriage to Keith Urban also reflects personal growth.
04:36She shared with the outlet that unlike her relationship with Cruz, Urban was, quote,
04:40"...more like an ocean.
04:42He took me out."
04:44Kidman's marriage to Urban was a rare critical and commercial success.
04:45She shared with the outlet that unlike her relationship with Cruz, Urban was, quote,
04:46"...more like an ocean.
04:47He took me out."
04:48Kidman's marriage to Urban was a rare critical and commercial success.