Days Of Thunder

At 50, Nicole Kidman may be living her best life with doting husband Keith Urban, their two daughters and a thriving career. But before her fairy tale there was a precarious marriage to Tom Cruise, the Church of Scientology, a strained relationship with her adopted kids and a battle with infertility

- Eulogi Rheeder

It was early 2001 when ‘it’ couple Nicole Kidman and Tom Cruise announced that they were splitting up. At the time, Nicole was filming The Hours, in which she played Virginia Woolf – the feminist writer who battled with mental illness and eventually committed suicide. Nicole recalls shooting the suicide scene for the movie, where she had to walk into a river multiple times for various takes. Like Virginia in real life, Nicole lined her coat pockets with stones. While this would lead to Virginia’s drowning, it brought Nicole back to life. ‘Walking into the river with those stones in my pockets – I chose life. At the time, I was at a low point and playing her put me into a place of appreciating life.’

Nicole was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, raised in Australia and eventually moved to Los Angeles to pursue her acting career. This is when she met Tom, in 1990, on the set of her first big Hollywood movie, Days of Thunder. ‘I remember being so nervous and seeing Tom drive up in a Porsche… He got out of the car and walked through the door, and I was like, “Ah!” My jaw dropped.’

It was love at ftrst sight for Tom too and, a year after meeting, they were married. ‘He basically swept me off my feet. I fell madly, passionately in love.’