Two of the biggest names in Hollywood, and the world, Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman married in the nineties, but how did they meet?
Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman met whilst working together on the set of ‘Days of Thunder’. Kidman played the part of a neurosurgeon whilst Cruise played a racecar driver with whom she fell in love. Their on-screen romance soon became an off-screen romance and they married soon after.
Read on to learn more about their meeting, marriage, divorce, and children.
Whirlwind Romance
When Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman were together, they were one of the hottest couples in the world.
As an Australian, ‘Days of Thunder’ was Kidman’s Hollywood debut and brought her into contact with the film’s leading star, Tom Cruise.
According to Kidman, “he swept me off my feet. I fell madly, passionately in love. And as happens, my whole plan in terms of what I wanted for my life, I was like, ‘Forget it. This is it.’ I was consumed by it, willingly”.
As for Cruise, he told Vanity Fair, “it was as if a whole new life had started for me”, referring to Kidman as his “soulmate”.
Kidman played the role of a young neurosurgeon who falls in love with a racecar driver. Cruise, of course, played the part of the driver and their on-screen romance soon became the real thing.
Shot in Charlotte and Daytona Beach, Florida, the young stars soon became enchanted with one another. Swept up in the glamor of the industry, it wasn’t long before Kidman and Cruise decided to tie the knot.
They married in 1990 on Christmas Eve and adopted two children over the course of their marriage, Isabella and Connor.
The couple chose to adopt after Kidman had an ectopic pregnancy soon after they married, an experience she said was “traumatic” in an interview with Marie Claire.
During their high-profile relationship, Cruise and Kidman were constantly in the spotlight. They co-starred in two additional films together, ‘Far and Away’ and ‘Eyes Wide Shut’, and experienced a level of fame that’s unimaginable to most.
When asked in an interview with Vanity Fair about being involved in such a public marriage Kidman said, “you’re in that bubble, it’s very intoxicating, because it’s just the two of you. And there is only one other person that’s going through it,” adding “it brings you very close, and it’s deeply romantic”.
Reflecting on their marriage, Kidman recognizes how young they both were, but is the first to say that it was amazing while it lasted.
You can watch the ‘Days of Thunder’ trailer in the YouTube video below.
Divorce
Their separation came about as quickly as their marriage, with the media told that their divorce was an “amicable separation”.
Court documents reportedly showed that Cruise refused to discuss any marital issues and left hastily without prior warning.
Kidman found solace in escaping the “reality” of her life through her acting, and has said that that period of her life was the loneliest she’ve ever felt.
She tries to remain hush about the details of her divorce, primarily because she’s now in a loving marriage with Keith Urban, but there’s been a lot of speculation about whether Cruise’s scientology beliefs were at the root of the cause.
Adopted Children
When pressed about the presence of scientology in her marriage to Cruise, Kidman refuses to be lured into revealing any details, especially as her adopted children practice scientology also.
Cruise’s relationship with the Church is frequently addressed by the media, but Kidman’s relationship with their children is more private. Despite not prescribing to the same beliefs, she says it’s her “job to love them”.
Though it didn’t last forever, Cruise and Kidman will always have the memories.