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The actress reveals why she's "reluctant" to talk about their marriage and what it meant for her.
Tom Cruise acted as a bit of a shield for Nicole Kidman when they tied the knot in 1990, she reveals in a new interview with The Cut.
Speaking to the publication, the now 51-year-old Oscar-winner revealed how being married to the actor protected her in her twenties, as well as why she prefers not to speak about him in interviews now.
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Nicole Kidman Recalls Meeting Tom Cruise for the First Time
View Story"Being married to Tom Cruise at 22 is something I'm always reluctant to talk about, because I'm married now to the man who is my great love [Keith Urban], and it almost feels disrespectful," she explained.
"That said, I got married very young, but it definitely wasn't power for me — it was protection," Kidman continued. "I married for love, but being married to an extremely powerful man kept me from being sexually harassed. I would work, but I was still very much cocooned."
The couple eventually filed for divorce in 2001, with Kidman noting that "when I came out of it at 32, 33, it's almost like I had to grow up."
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Nicole Kidman Reflects on Tom Cruise Marriage -- Does She Have Any Regrets?
View StoryWhile she had some armor while married to Cruise, Kidman said that she, "of course" has had #MeToo moments in her life, "since I was little!"
"But do I want to expose them in an article? No. Do they come out in my work? Absolutely," she continued. "I'm open and raw. I want to have my well of experience and emotion tapped into, used — and I'm not just talking about sexual harassment. I'm talking about loss, death, the full array of life. But it has to be by the right people so it's not abused again."
Read Kidman's full "Women and Power" piece at The Cut.
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