Tom Cruise Makes Rare Comment About Ex Nicole Kidman
Originally appeared on E! Online
Tom Cruise's recent interview has fans' eyes wide open.
The 63-year-old made a rare—and complimentary—comment about Nicole Kidman, marking the first time he has spoken about his ex in the press in more than 20 years.
While discussing their 1999 erotic thriller film Eyes Wide Shut, Cruise recalled how he suggested to director Stanley Kubrick to cast the actress, who ended up portraying his character Bill's wife Alice.
"I suggested Nicole play the role," the actor told the British Film Institute's Sight and Sound magazine in an interview published May 9, per Deadline. "Because obviously she's a great actress."
Kidman won her first Oscar—for her leading performance in The Hours—in 2003, almost two years after she and Cruise finalized their divorce after more than 10 years of marriage.
The Mission: Impossible actor had last spoken publicly about Kidman—with whom he raised daughter Bella Cruise, 32, and son Connor Cruise, 30—in 2002 while reflecting on the reason behind their breakup.
"She knows why, and I know why," Cruise told Vanity Fair at the time. "She's the mother of my children, and I wish her well."
The actor—also dad to his and ex-wife Katie Holmes' daughter Suri, 18—continued, "And I think that you just move on. And I don't say that lightly. I don't say that with anything. Things happen in life, and you do everything you can, and in every possible way, and there's a point at which you just sometimes have to face the brutal reality."
Cruise had filed for divorce from Kidman in February 2001. At the time, their rep told multiple outlets in a statement, "Citing the difficulties inherent in divergent careers, which constantly keep them apart, they concluded that an amicable separation seems best for both of them at this time."
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The actor—also dad to his and ex-wife Katie Holmes' daughter Suri, 18—continued, "And I think that you just move on. And I don't say that lightly. I don't say that with anything. Things happen in life, and you do everything you can, and in every possible way, and there's a point at which you just sometimes have to face the brutal reality."
Cruise had filed for divorce from Kidman in February 2001. At the time, their rep told multiple outlets in a statement, "Citing the difficulties inherent in divergent careers, which constantly keep them apart, they concluded that an amicable separation seems best for both of them at this time."
Kidman—who went on marry Keith Urban in 2006 and welcome with him daughters Sunday Rose, 16, and Faith Margaret, 14—has occasionally spoken about Cruise and their divorce, most recently last year.
Also reflecting on their experience filming Eyes Wide Shut, the 57-year-old discussed whether Kubrick, who died four months before the movie was released, drew inspiration from the former couple's relationship.
"I suppose he was mining it," Kidman told the Los Angeles Times in an interview published in July 2024. 'There were ideas he was interested in. He'd ask a lot of questions. But he had a strong sense of the story he was telling. I do remember him saying, 'Triangles are hard. You have to tread carefully when it's a triangle.'"
The Big Little Lies actress also said she and Cruise shared a trailer while filming Eyes Wide Shut.
"Tom and I shared it because Stanley would say, 'You're not each getting a trailer. We can't afford it.'" she said. "Tom had a smaller area because he was running stuff. And he'd play video games. That was when [Minesweeper] was big. So there was a lot of that."
Read on for more about Cruise's family.
Marriage to Nicole KidmanIsabella CruiseIsabella CruiseConnor CruiseMarriage to Katie Holmes
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