Nicole Kidman Does Glamour Magazine (December 2008)

6 Nov

Nicole Kidman, the Oscar-winning star of Australia unloads decades’ worth of revelations, ruminations – and so many useful life lessons, you’ll want to take notes. Beneath all that unruffled exterior, there’s always been something clearly, unapologetically complicated.

Interview highlights:

On her happiness:
‘Happy’ isn’t an all-encompassing-enough word. I’m in a place of gratitude and humility. I don’t take any of it for granted. I touch wood every day. The journey of life – we all go through it: You have love, you lose love, you find new love. To have love again is a beautiful thing.”

On who Sunday looks like:
Keith! It’s fine by me, having a little Keith-ette. When he goes away, I can look at her and see him.

On the birth of Sunday:
Keith was my rock during childbirth. I’d heard horror stories of 40 hours of labor, and I was sure that would be me, but I had a very easy labor. And through it all, Keith’s eyes gave me such strength.

On how Connor and Isabella are reacting to their new sibling:
They’re very adoring of her. They’re used to having a little one around, because of Suri [Cruise’s daughter with Katie Holmes]. Bella is very maternal. Connor would like one of us to have a boy. He wants that boy. [Pauses.] Katie…? [Laughs.]

On Keith’s alcohol addiction:
It brought us to our knees.… Addiction is very prevalent in our society, and it can be shattering to both people in the relationship. But working through it together was an extraordinary path. It’s very easy for a couple to experience joy together. But when you experience pain together, it can lead to such depth and such union. That is when you fuse.… As a couple, we are in a place of deep gratefulness. The experience gave us deep honesty – and greater love.”

On being married to Tom Cruise:
I felt I became a star only by association. I didn’t think [the early movies] were very good, which is why I would always cower in the background. I thought, I don’t deserve to be here. We would go to the Oscars and I would think, I’m here to support him. I felt it was my job to put on a beautiful dress and be seen and not heard.”

On the divorce:
I went six years alone. I’m not saying it’s for everyone, but it’s better to be alone than in a lousy relationship. Work was my escape. I was existing more strongly in my creative world than in my own world… [I learned] how to stand on my own two feet. I had to find my own identity, and my own reason for being here, and it couldn’t be because of another person.”