Nicole Kidman: From ‘intoxicating’ fame to low-key Nashville life

Nicole Kidman had her share of an “intoxicating” level of fame when she was married to Tom Cruise — but 12 years later, she’s not upset that that has faded.

Kidman, 46, now lives in Nashville with her husband, country star Keith Urban, and their two daughters.

“[W]ith no disrespect to what I had with Tom” — whom she married when she was only 23 — “I’ve met my great love now,” she says in the December issue of Vanity Fair, which she covers. “And I really did not know if that was going to happen.

“I wanted it, but I didn’t want it for a while, because I didn’t want to jump from one relationship to another. I had a lot of time alone, which was really, really good, because I was a child, really, when I got married. And I needed to grow up.”

Still, before that period of reflection rolled around, for more than 10 years with Cruise she lived a life very few on the planet can understand. By way of explanation, she invokes another mega-famous couple, Brangelina.

“There is something about that sort of existence that, if you really focus on each other and you’re in that bubble, it’s very intoxicating, because it’s just the two of you,” Kidman says. “And there is only one other person that’s going through it. So it brings you very close, and it’s deeply romantic. I’m sure Brad and Angelina have that — because there’s nobody else that understands it except that person who’s sleeping right next to you.”

But for her, life in Nashville is different. She says that after experiencing “extreme fame,” she’s now always surprised when she goes somewhere and people know who she is. But, though she sometimes has to explain what’s going on to her children, it’s a welcome change.

“[I]t was such a blessing that I found somebody who said, ‘Well, are you willing to move to Tennessee?’ And I was ‘Oh, am I willing to move!’”

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