Already have an account?
Get back to the

Nicole Kidman on Marrying Tom Cruise When She Was ‘So Young’: I Look Back Like, ‘What?’

Nicole Kidman was just 23 when she married Tom Cruise more than two decades ago. The Big Little Lies actress, 49, looked back on their relationship in Red magazine’s November 2016 issue, and marveled at how young she was when they tied the knot. (Watch an amazing throwback video above of Kidman and Cruise at the Blockbuster Awards in 1996!)

Nicole Kidman Tom Cruise
Nicole Kidman and Tom Cruise during American Cinematique Honoring Rob Reiner at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills on Sept. 9, 1994. S. Granitz/WireImage.com

“I was so young when I got married. I look back now and I’m like, ‘What?’” Kidman told Red of her relationship with Cruise. “You look at Taylor Swift, I mean, how old is she? She’s 26. I had two kids by the time I was 27 and I’d been married for four years. But that’s what I wanted.”

Related: PHOTOS: Nicole Kidman's Best Red Carpet Moments

Kidman and Cruise, 54, met on set of Days of Thunder and were married from 1990 to 2001. They share son Connor, 21, and Bella, 23. (The Top Gun actor also has daughter Suri, 10, with Katie Holmes, his wife from 2006 to 2012.) After their split, Kidman wed country singer Keith Urban, with whom she now shares daughters Sunday, 8, and Faith, 5. They celebrated their 10th anniversary this year.

“That’s really big for us. It was really up and down for the first three months. We’ve been through a lot for 10 years. And we’re stronger than ever. I say that while touching wood, and no way in a boastful way. I just say it with wonder. Absolute wonder,” she told the mag.

Nicole Kidman Keith Urban
Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban attend the 2016 CMT Music Awards at the Bridgestone Arena on June 8, 2016, in Nashville. Taylor Hill/FilmMagic

Related: PHOTOS: Celebrity Couples and How They First Met: Love Story Beginnings

“When you’re older, you’ve been through things, you’ve made mistakes,” she continued. “So you come into [a second marriage] still giddy, but wanting it to last. We always consider the ‘us.’ We say, ‘Is this going to be good for us?’ It’s the simplest phrase, but it works.”

Kidman and the country superstar, 48, met in 2005 and exchanged vows one year later in Sydney in June 2006. In a December 2014 interview with Elle, the Top of the Lake star explained why they walked down the aisle so soon after they started dating.

Nicole Kidman
Nicole Kidman

Related: PHOTOS: Love on Set

“I’m spontaneous. I jump in,” she said at the time. “I kind of like getting married and then getting to know each other; I know that it sounds incredibly strange, but to me, it’s a more natural process.”

Back in May, Urban opened up about their marriage during an appearance on CBS’s Sunday Morning. “Meeting her and getting married [is when my life began],” he told host John Blackstone. “[It] wasn’t life-changing, it was life-beginning. It was literally, like, ‘OK, life starts.'”

In this article

Got a Tip form close button
Got a tip for US?
We're All Ears for Celebrity Buzz!