Nicole Kidman Claps Back at ‘Sexist’ Question About Ex Tom Cruise: Would Anyone ‘Say That to a Man?’

Stop asking about Tom. Nicole Kidman quickly clapped back at a journalist who asked the actor a “sexist” question regarding her marriage with Tom Cruise — all while keeping it classy.

“It’s about a creative and romantic relationship that doesn’t work out,” Nicole, 54, told The Guardian regarding her latest film, Being the Ricardos, a movie documenting Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz’s relationship. “But from it, [came] some extraordinary things. And I love that. I love that it’s not a happy ending.”

“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,” the Big Little Lies actress continued. “And I think that’s all very relatable. You may have kids with them. You may not, but they were very much in love.”

Here, the female journalist asked if this was Nicole’s way of talking about her ex-husband, Tom, 59, to whom she was married when the Eyes Wide Shut actress was just 23 in 1990. The marriage lasted 11 years; they share two adopted children, Isabella Cruise, 29, and Connor Cruise, 26.

“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,” Nicole responded in ‘anger,’ according to the journalist. “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.’”

“It is a more than fair point,” the Guardian author wrote following the remark. 

Nicole married country music star Keith Urban in 2006 and shares two children with him, Sunday Rose, 13, and Faith Margaret, 11.

In October 2021, the Nine Perfect Strangers star discussed with Harpers Bazaar about her relationships. 

“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,” she said at the time. “My husband, Keith, says that when he met me, he said, ‘How’s your heart?’ And I apparently responded, ‘Open.’”

“[Keith and I are] always working through stuff, but it’s very much love-based, so there’s an enormous amount of give and take,” the Oscar winner said. “I want him to have the best life he can have, and he responds the same way.”