Nicole Kidman Recalls Being Warned That Marrying Tom Cruise Would Wreck Her Career: "I Didn't Care"

Nicole Kidman says she was repeatedly warned that marrying Tom Cruise could ruin her career — and she did not care for a second.

"I remember people saying to me, 'OK, well this is really going to affect your career,'" Kidman told a new British Vogue cover story published 13 August 2026. "I'm like, 'I don't care. I'm in love. I want to be married.'" The interview, headlined "Nicole Kidman Is Keeping Her Heart Open" and written by Giles Hattersley, appears on the cover of British Vogue's September 2026 issue (British Vogue).

Kidman and Cruise met in 1989 on the set of Tony Scott's "Days of Thunder," which marked her Hollywood feature debut. They married a year later and stayed together for 11 years, making two films as co-stars during that time: "Far and Away" (1992) and Stanley Kubrick's "Eyes Wide Shut" (1999). Cruise told Sight & Sound magazine that he was the one who suggested Kidman for the Kubrick film (Variety). The couple announced their separation in February 2001, with Cruise filing for divorce that same month, citing irreconcilable differences.

Looking back, Kidman said the marriage — and the tabloid scrutiny that came with it — taught her how to survive under the spotlight. She was 22 when she married Cruise, and told the magazine that being "thrust into the spotlight" at that age shaped everything that followed. "Strangely enough, I feel comfortable," she said of life in the public eye. "Is that weird? That's so weird" (British Vogue). In a 2013 Vanity Fair interview, Kidman had already reflected that one reason the marriage failed was how young she was when it began.

The British Vogue story arrives at a complicated moment. Kidman told the magazine that, being newly single, the past year has not been the easiest for her. She also spoke about her divorce from country musician Keith Urban (Parade). The interview's refrain is one of resilience: "Trying things, making mistakes, failing, getting back up, moving on," she said (British Vogue).

Kidman has consistently declined to frame the Cruise years as a mistake. In a 2015 vogue.co.uk article, she asserted that she harbours no regrets about the marriage (British Vogue). The new cover story extends that posture: "We just fell madly in love and it was that simple," she said (British Vogue).

For a performer whose career has now spanned more than four decades, the British Vogue interview offers a rare, unguarded look at the personal cost of two of Hollywood's most publicised relationships — told, characteristically, without apology.