The Real Reason Nicole Kidman Doesn't Talk About Tom Cruise

It has been a while since Nicole Kidman and Tom Cruise — one of Hollywood's former golden couples — made tabloid headlines as an item. Starring in three films — 1990's "Days of Thunder" (on which they met and fell in love), "Far and Away," and Stanley Kubrick's "Eyes Wide Shut" — together, the two were a true power couple. Well, until they weren't. In 2001, Cruise filed for divorce, with many speculating this was due to his membership in the Church of Scientology, from which Kidman distanced herself in 1997. At the time, she spoke against the controversial religion, telling The Sydney Morning Herald, "I wouldn't classify myself as a Scientologist." Instead, she said she was exploring Buddhism.

Following her divorce, Kidman threw herself into her work, winning a Best Actress Oscar for 2002's "The Hours." She revealed to Entertainment Tonight in 2016 that she "was running from [her] life at that time." Despite this, Kidman would find new love in 2006, and marry country star Keith Urban. 

In addition to her daughters she has with Urban, Sunday and Faith, Kidman also shares children Isabella and Connor with Cruise, whom they adopted in 1992 and 1995, respectively, per Page Six. In spite of this, Kidman hasn't spoken publicly about her ex-husband of 11 years since 2018. Here's why.

Understandably, Nicole Kidman has not name-dropped Tom Cruise in interviews in years to honor husband Keith Urban. In fact, the last time Kidman discussed Cruise publicly was in a 2018 interview with The Guardian. Kidman told the outlet, "I feel out of respect for him I don't want to talk about that," adding that "it has been 20 years" and "nobody would sit at a dinner party and answer questions about their ex while their current partner is sitting there." (Salient point...) Kidman then self-deprecatingly admitted, "I have read stuff I have said in the past and thought: 'Bloody hell, Nicole! Keep your mouth shut!'"

Kidman also rarely speaks about her two children with Cruise, Connor and Isabella. The actor explained to Who in 2018 that she's "very private about all that." She added, "I have to protect all those relationships. I know 150% that I would give up my life for my children because it's what my purpose is." 

Given that Kidman has also not been sighted in public with her eldest two in a long while, per Little Things, rumors flew that she had been cut off from them by the Church of Scientology. How true was this gossip, though? Keep scrolling to find out. 

Nicole Kidman and her two children with Tom Cruise, Connor and Isabella, have a heavily debated relationship. As per Australia's Now To Love, the last photographed sightings of Kidman and her oldest two were shot days prior to her June 2006 wedding to country crooner Keith Urban in Sydney, Australia. Since then, however, some have wondered if Kidman's designation as a "SP," or "Suppressive Person," by the Church of Scientology, per Little Things, has seemingly driven them apart, as Connor and Isabella are members of the church like their father.

Outspoken ex-Scientologist Leah Remini only fueled this rumor in her 2015 memoir "Troublemaker: Surviving Hollywood and Scientology." According to Now To Love, she wrote that when she asked Isabella in 2006 if she stayed in touch with Kidman, she replied, "Not if I can help it, she's a f**king SP," while brother Connor "just looked out the window." However, Tom firmly denied to Oprah Winfrey in 2008, per Reuters, that Kidman was blocked from her kids, saying, "We share custody. Whenever." Connor also shut down the speculation to Woman's Day Australia in 2014 (via E! News), saying, "I love my mum. I don't care what people say, I know that me and Mum are solid." 

As for Kidman, she also seemed to reinforce her supportive relationship with Connor and Isabella to Who in 2018. "They have made choices to be Scientologists and as a mother, it's my job to love them," she shared.

Though they looked like the picture-perfect couple in red carpet photos, Nicole Kidman has revealed since her 2001 divorce from Tom Cruise that she felt engulfed by his shadow during their 11-year marriage. "I felt I became a star only by association," Kidman told Glamour in 2008 (via Access). "We would go to the Oscars and I would think, 'I'm here to support him.' I felt it was my job to put on a beautiful dress and be seen and not heard. 

After meeting Cruise on the set of their first film together — 1990's "Days of Thunder" — Kidman told Harper's Bazaar in 2012 that she was "deeply shy" during their marriage and "didn't feel comfortable at all." Furthermore, she revealed to the publication that post-divorce, she rediscovered her calling in life. "I started to do what I've been doing since I was 14, with some gravitas." Not only did Kidman win the Best Actress Oscar in 2003 for playing Virginia Woolf in "The Hours," but her 2001 horror arthouse film "The Others" was a rare critical and commercial success. "Having your work be the basis of fame, that's a far more stable feeling," Kidman told Harper's Bazaar. 

Kidman's 2006 marriage to Keith Urban also reflects this personal growth. "He just gave me confidence," she mused to the outlet, adding that in contrast to her relationship with Cruise, Urban was "more like an ocean; he took me out."