Nicole Kidman Calls Out Journalist For Asking “Sexist” Question About Tom Cruise
"I’m not sure anyone would say that to a man," Kidman said to an interviewer who compared her relationship with Cruise to Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz's marriage.
Though Nicole Kidman and Tom Cruise's marriage ended two decades ago, their relationship still looms large in pop culture–and, frankly, Kidman is over it.
Speaking with the The Guardian about Amazon Studios's Being the Ricardos, a dramatic biopic in which she stars as the late comedy icon Lucille Ball, Kidman called out the reporter for drawing a parallel between the movie's central relationship and her in-real-life marriage with Cruise.
Being the Ricardos explores the fraught romance between Ball and husband Desi Arnaz (played by Javier Bardem), the I Love Lucy sweethearts who ultimately separated in 1960.
Related article: Nicole Kidman Is “Astounding ” As Lucille Ball’
“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 outlet. “This film says you can make an extraordinary relationship thrive and leave remnants of it that exist forever. Yeah, that’s really gorgeous. 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.”
In response, interviewer Eva Wiseman gently asked if this was Kidman's "way of talking about Tom 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,” Kidman replied. “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.’”
Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman pose for a photo together in 1992. (Photo: Vinnie Zuffante/Getty Images)
Related article: ‘Nine Perfect Strangers’: What To Know About Nicole Kidman’s Next TV Hit
Cruise and Kidman married in 1990 after meeting on the set of Days of Thunder. The couple adopted two children together and ultimately split in 2001.
In 2006, Kidman married Keith Urban, with whom she shares daughters Sunday Rose and Faith Margaret.
For BAZAAR's October 2021 cover story, Kidman spoke about her thoughts on the press's intense interest in her personal relationships.
“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,” she says. “I’m wary at times, and I’ve been hurt, but at the same time I much prefer a warm approach rather than a prickly shutdown approach. My husband, Keith, says that when he met me, he said, ‘How’s your heart?’ And I apparently responded, ‘Open.’”
This article originally appeared in Harper's BAZAAR US