Nicole Kidman calls out 'sexist' question about Tom Cruise
Nicole Kidman may not be annoyed by the public's fascination with her marriage to Tom Cruise, but that doesn't mean she's eager to talk about her ex-husband all the time.
The Oscar-winning actress balked at a reporter's question about Cruise while promoting her new film Being the Ricardos. Kidman, who plays Lucille Ball, was discussing the I Love Lucy star's relationship with Desi Arnaz when the awkward moment happened.
"It's about a creative and romantic relationship that doesn't work out. But from it come some extraordinary things. And I love that. I love that it's not a happy ending," Kidman told The Guardian of the film, which examines Ball and Arnaz's relationship. The iconic pair called it quits in 1960 after more than 20 years of marriage.
"This film says you can make an extraordinary relationship thrive and leave remnants of it that exist forever. Yeah, that's really gorgeous," she continued. "You can't make people behave how you want them to, and sometimes you're going to fall in love with someone who isn't going to be the person you spend the rest of your life with. And I think that's all very relatable. You may have kids with them. You may not, but they were very much in love."
The female journalist asked Kidman "with exquisite care" if this was her way of talking about Cruise.
"Oh, my God, no, no. Absolutely not. No. I mean, that's, honestly, so long ago that that isn't in this equation. So no," the 54-year-old actress replied, a bit angry. "And I would ask not to be pigeonholed that way, either. It feels to me almost sexist, because I'm not sure anyone would say that to a man. And at some point, you go, 'Give me my life. In its own right.'"
It's hard not to notice similarities between both relationships as Cruise and Kidman were one of the biggest celebrity couples on the planet in the '90s. The actress filed for divorce in 2001 after 11 years of marriage and two kids together. Despite jumping for joy after the divorce was finalized, Kidman went through a period of depression after the couple's split.
In a different interview, Kidman opened up about her own dark period while filming 2002's The Hours. It helped connect her to her character, Virginia Woolf, who struggled with mental health issues.
"I think I was in a place myself at that time that was removed, depressed, not in my own body," Kidman shared on BBC Radio 4's This Cultural Life, per The Independent. "So the idea of Virginia coming through me, I was pretty much an open vessel for it to happen. And I think [director Stephen Daldry] was very delicate with me because he knew that. I was open to understand it, which I think is probably the beauty of life as an actor."
It's true Kidman fields more questions about Cruise, though, than he does about her. The Australian star, now happily married to Keith Urban, was recently asked by Harper's Bazaar whether she feels annoyed by the press focusing so maniacally on the relationship.
"I was young. I think I offered it up?" she replied. "Maybe I've gotten a bit more trepidatious, but I’m always trying to be as open as possible. I just prefer to live in the world that way."
MORE: Aaron Sorkin "very comfortable" with casting choices in Being the Ricardos, despite backlash
