Nicole Kidman Says Marriage With 'Extremely Powerful' Tom Cruise 'Kept Me From Being Sexually Harassed'

Nicole Kidman has revealed that her marriage to Tom Cruise offered her “protection” from sexual harassment during the early days of her career.

Nicole Kidman in NYC
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Image via Getty/Angela Weiss

Nicole Kidman in NYC

Nicole Kidman has revealed that while she was in love with Tom Cruise, their marriage also offered her “protection” from sexual harassment during the early days of her career. The two met on the set of Days of Thunder in 1990 and married that year, when he was 28 and she was 22.

“I got married very young, but it definitely wasn't power for me—it was protection,” Kidman said to New York Magazine’s The Cut. “I married for love, but being married to an extremely powerful man kept me from being sexually harassed.”

Discussing the widespread prevalence of sexual harassment and assault in Hollywood, Kidman said, “Of course I've had #MeToo moments—since I was little! But do I want to expose them in an article? No. Do they come out in my work? Absolutely.”

After adopting two children, Isabella—who is now 25—and Connor—now 23—Kidman and Cruise divorced in 2001. “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,” she shared with The Cut.

Kidman later married country music singer Keith Urban in 2006. Together, they had two daughters, Sunday and Faith, who are 10 and seven, respectively. 

Kidman is set to star in a yet-to-be-titled film about Roger Ailes, the founder and former chairman of Fox News who resigned in 2016 after allegations of sexual impropriety surfaced. Kidman will play the role of anchor Gretchen Carlson, who lodged a sexual harassment lawsuit that led to Ailes’ undoing.

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