‘Practical Magic 2’ Star Nicole Kidman Reflects on Marrying Tom Cruise Young: “I Wasn’t Meant to Marry the Man I Love?”

Nicole Kidman has spent decades navigating public fascination with her personal life, often choosing to speak about her past relationships only on her own terms and at moments she felt ready. That careful approach has made her rare moments of candor about her early adulthood all the more notable when they surface.

Kidman’s marriage to Tom Cruise began in 1990, when the actress was just 23 years old and Cruise was already one of Hollywood’s biggest stars following the success of films like ‘Top Gun.’ The couple went on to spend eleven years together before divorcing in 2001, a period that coincided with Kidman’s own rapid rise from relative unknown to internationally recognized actress.

Now, in a new interview with British Vogue tied to her September 2026 cover story, Kidman is opening up about what it actually felt like to become a young bride to one of the most famous men in the world. Reflecting on that period, Kidman recalled suddenly being 22 or 23 years old and married to a massive movie star, describing how completely natural the whole situation felt to her at the time despite its scale.

She went on to explain that she and Cruise simply fell madly in love, and that the simplicity of that feeling was really all there was to it for her. Kidman recalled people around her warning that the marriage would inevitably affect her career, a concern she brushed off entirely at the time, insisting she didn’t care because she was in love and wanted to be married.

Kidman didn’t shy away from addressing how her identity shifted once she became known primarily in relation to her husband. She recalled becoming known simply as his wife, and how people would later point to career setbacks as proof that the warnings had been right all along.

Her response, even now, remains defiant. Kidman pushed back on the idea that she should regret the choice, asking rhetorically whether she wasn’t meant to marry the man she loved, and stating firmly that of course she’d throw her career away for that, adding that she doesn’t care about the trade-off even in hindsight.

That perspective fits within a broader pattern of how Kidman has discussed her relationship with Cruise over the years, often balancing acknowledgment of the pressures that came with the marriage against a refusal to frame the relationship itself as a mistake. Coming so soon after her own more recent divorce from Keith Urban, this latest reflection adds another layer to how Kidman is publicly processing love, identity, and reinvention across different chapters of her life.

This new interview arrives as part of Kidman’s British Vogue September cover story, titled “The Indomitable Nicole Kidman,” conducted by Giles Hattersley in London and centered around themes of power, fashion, and fresh starts. The timing lines up closely with the upcoming release of ‘Practical Magic 2,’ which reunites Kidman with Sandra Bullock nearly three decades after their original film became a cult favorite, giving the profile a natural anchor point beyond personal reflection alone.

Kidman’s willingness to revisit her early marriage so openly within this particular profile suggests the interview leans heavily into retrospection, using her past choices as a lens for how she’s approaching the current stage of her life and career. For an actress who has often kept her most personal relationships tightly guarded in interviews, this level of candor stands out.

As the full British Vogue profile continues to roll out, Kidman’s reflections on love, identity, and career sacrifice offer a rare, unfiltered look at how she’s making sense of her own history on her own terms.

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