Nicole Kidman covers the October issue of Harper’s Bazaar. The editorial is kind of strange? I’ve gotten so used to seeing Nicole in a variety of wigs and weaves, seeing her naturally curly red hair took me by surprise. But that’s not it – she seems frozen in time and kind of depressed about it in this photoshoot. It’s weird. Nicole is promoting Nine Perfect Strangers in the interview, but mostly she’s just chatting about her life and times. She’s been in and out of Australia throughout the pandemic, getting special government authorization to quarantine in her home when she’s coming and going. She’s basically Aussie royalty, or at least that’s how she’s treated. Some highlights from this Bazaar interview:
Why she’s spent so much time in Australia: “Grandma’s 81. I’m going to do this little job, but primarily Grandma is here and she needs to have her family around her.”
Working in a bubble on Nine Perfect Strangers in Oz: “We just really bonded, and that’s unusual for this day and age. Because a lot of times people are coming in and leaving and you don’t get that camaraderie and friendship.”
To be a woman making art: “I suppose the artist spirit, a lot of times, is saying, ‘I don’t care what it’s gonna cost me as a human being, because my thrust is deeply artistic.’ If you’re really dedicated to it over a lifetime, that push-pull will collide with your existence and your connections with your family and all the people in your life. How much will that cost them? How much will it cost you personally? And how important is that artistic contribution?”
How she manages to work so much: “[I do] not have a big social life. I have my work, I have my family, I have my own inner landscape that I explore. I choose that probably more than I choose to be out partying.”
On her divorce from Tom Cruise: (Was it over Scientology? Only she knows.) But when I ask whether she felt annoyed by the press focusing so maniacally on her relationship, she says simply, “I was young. I think I offered it up? 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. 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.’”
Her marriage to Keith: “We’re always working through stuff, but it’s very much love based, so there’s an enormous amount of give and take/ I want him to have the best life he can have, and he responds the same way. We really love parenting together.”
Working during the pandemic: “I’ve seen the effects on the arts firsthand. My husband, who’s a musician, really did not work for two years. We’re all having to shift right now but still trying to create art through this process.”
I was surprised that Bazaar even mentioned Cruise and Scientology in the piece, although it doesn’t seem like they asked Nicole specifically “did your marriage end because of CoS?” At this point, magazines know not to ask that, although I would still like to know and I do wonder if Nicole will ever really talk about it. It was 20 years ago though, surely it’s kind of weird to still ask her questions about it. She’s gotten really good at deflecting about Cruise and people rarely even mention Bella and Connor either. As for not having much of a social life… she really doesn’t, at least not that I can see. I think she’s really family-oriented and happiest with her daughters, her sister, her mom.
Covers and IG courtesy of Harper’s Bazaar.
I don’t think she’ll talk about scientology while he is still alive and she is still estranged from the kids. Once that scenario changes, she’ll talk.
While the pictures have been heavily photoshopped this is the closest Nicole has look like her original self in years.
Was just going to say, she looks so much better, almost like she did back in Dead Calm days. I hope she keeps her hair more natural and her face less frozen.
I think she is trying to look like her “Dead Calm” days on purpose to look a little more youthful as her blond straight hair days was aging her.
If that’s true I wish someone would have to her that years ago, she could have a voided all of the work she’s had do to her face.
She really does look like she did in all her 80’s and early 90s films.
And you can really see the resemblance to her sister, Antonia here too.
She looks fantastic, despite the dreadful editorial.
So happy to see her red coils. I always hated that she went blonde and straight. I love her natural texture.
She does look so much more like herself, although in the first photo of the slides posted by Harper’s Bazaar, she looks rather frozen. When she says “Grandma,” is she referring to her mother? It seems impossible that at 54, she has an 81-year-old grandmother.
That’s what I was trying to figure out! She must mean her mother/her kids grandma.
She’s a wonderful actor and I’m so happy for her that she escaped that psychotic cult. With that said, “How’s your heart?” “Open” made me almost spit out my coffee. She and Keith are so extra.
She always comes across as very thoughtful, open and friendly in interviews. She interviews very very well.
This isn’t uncommon. Some people, once they have their families, have no interest in friends.
It’s not that they have no interest in their friends. It’s that kids take up a lot of your time, especially young kids. And between work, home, kids – its difficult to find time to meet up with your friends. And your friends have the same schedule restraints as well. So to find time with everyone can meet up physically is tough especially with pandemic going on.
I remember reading that Nicole and Naomi Watts were really close. I wonder if they still keep in touch or have drifted apart.
I think friendships, like any other relationship, need work. And if you think it’s important to have friends outside of your immediate family, you’ll make time for them. So I think Bobbie is right, and Nicole just doesn’t have any interest in having friends.
I don’t disagree, but I’ll amend it to say that some people, once they have their families, prioritize their families over friends and get exhausted in the process.
I keep thinking back to life when I was single and when I married and had children (who are still very young). Although I am happy with my life, the smallest things can be so freeing. Swimming in the pool by myself for a hour felt like an absolute luxury, and I was positively giddy afterwards. I would love nothing better than a regular girls night, and my husband and I routinely invite our single friends to any shindig we throw, so we’re very much interested in keeping our friends, but after a long day fulfilling the needs of two kids, sometimes all you want to do in your downtime is chill. I liken it to those who work a desk job vs a physically strenuous one: the former is me when I was single and my social life was active/very much something to look forward to; the latter is me now, just Netflix and chilling the nights away (when the kids are finally asleep). You only have so much energy to give, especially if you’re an “outgoing” introvert to begin with.
I love that she defines herself as an artist, and that you have the feeling her work is important to her: a lot of successful women play themselves down with “but I’m a mom, mostly”, even when they clearly invest time and effort in their careers – Nicole openly talks about how she hopes to leave an important artistic contribution to the world, while also coming across as a warm spouse and mother.
She’s a great role model as an artist.
I like her very much, starting from Bangkok Hilton! She is wonderful. And Im still amazed , what she saw in her husband! She could have such a choice, and her husband is so strange, in my opinion… like, he doesn’t look like a man so much… And add the drug problems… like, why would you want to conceive children from a former addict??…. I know it’s none of my business, but just so puzzled. Maybe she was so traumatised by Cruise/ Scientology, that she just fell for the first one who seemed “nice and harmless?”….
I remember casting major side-eye when Keith spent their honeymoon in rehab, but somehow he and Nicole have managed to make it work. They’re very supportive of each other’s careers; she goes on tour with him, and he shows up to her red carpet events whenever he can. And even after all these years, he still looks at her like she hung the moon. If that’s “strange,” then I’ll have some of that, please!
@Lana86 Believe it or not, former addicts are people and many of them have children. What you are saying makes as much sense as saying “Why would someone want to conceive a child with someone who has had cancer.”
I really hope that you reconsider your thoughtless words. Some here may be former addicts, some may be current addicts, some may be parents, and some may be children of addicts. They all are deserving of happiness and are not used goods sheesh.
Yes, I agree, my words may have sounded cynical. Any one of us is vulnerable to addiction or illness. But still, given what choice she had, it is just surprising for me. To have a child, I would choose the genetically healthiest guy possible, if I was as rich as her. It is a health risk for the children, isn’t it?
“ Why would someone want to conceive a child with someone who has had cancer.” – actually, if you want to have children, indeed it is much fewer chance for a healthy child, unfortunately.
I didn’t mean to offend anyone, simply this topic is sensitive to me, given how many women have trouble to conceive, and I may be one of them. So I may sound very selfish in this respect. If I was rich and powerful, I would date the healthiest guys, to improve my chances, lol… Still, she has lovely kids, so this gives me hope, that the parents’ health is not so crucial for conception…
Nicole is cute at any age. She is not rude at all and I love that. I think people want to ask her still about tom cruise (I’m still curious about what happened) but I think we have such a nice and fragile image of her that nobody wants to hurt her or have her answer any questions that could potentially put her in a hard place. Good for Nicole that people care enough for her to consider that.
Nicole is a A lister she decide what questions get asking what questions don’t get ask. It has nothing to do with not wanting to hurt her feelings.
It is a luxury not all actresses and actors that to be at that level.
Love her with the curly hair, wish she’d wear it that way more often!
Yikes, I am not a fan of those covers/editorial shots. Not very flattering IMO.
I really enjoyed her on Nine Perfect Strangers. It was a really entertaining little miniseries that ended up being surprisingly moving.