Nicole Kidman Says Her Marriage to Tom Cruise Deterred Sexual Harassment

Before she married Keith Urban in 2006, Nicole Kidman was married to Tom Cruise from 1990-2001, a period of her life she often doesn’t discuss. She made an exception in a new interview with New York magazine, revealing that being married to Cruise afforded her a certain level of protection in Hollywood.

“Being married to Tom Cruise at 22 is something I’m always reluctant to talk about, because I’m married now to the man who is my great love [Keith Urban], and it almost feels disrespectful,” Kidman said in an essay for the magazine’s October 15-28 issue. “That said, I got married very young, but it definitely wasn’t power for me — it was protection.”

“I married for love, but being married to an extremely powerful man kept me from being sexually harassed,” she continued. “I would work, but I was still very much cocooned. So when I came out of it at 32, 33, it’s almost like I had to grow up.”

The New York magazine issue focused on women and power, and Kidman wrote that she has “had #MeToo moments — since I was little!”

The 51-year-old will soon star as Gretchen Carlson in a film about former Fox News chairman and chief executive officer Roger Ailes. In 2016, Carlson accused Ailes of sexual harassment and received a reported $20 million payout after filing a lawsuit. Ailes left the company after the accusations and passed away in 2017.

“But do I want to expose them in an article? No. Do they come out in my work? Absolutely,” Kidman wrote. “I’m open and raw. I want to have my well of experience and emotion tapped into — used, and I’m not just talking about sexual harassment. I’m talking about loss, death, the full array of life. But it has to be by the right people so it’s not abused again.”

The Oscar winner previously opened up about marrying young during an interview with Red magazine in 2016.

“I was so young when I got married,” she said. “I look back now and I’m like, ‘What?’”

“You look at Taylor Swift, I mean how old is she? She’s 26,” she continued. “I had two kids by the time I was 27 and I’d been married for four years. But that’s what I wanted.”

Cruise and Kidman met after being cast in Days of Thunder, marrying in 1990. They adopted two children together and split 11 years later. Kidman married Urban in 2006 and the pair have since welcomed two daughters.

Photo Credit: Getty / Ron Galella, Ltd.