Nicole Kidman on Marrying Tom Cruise at Age 23: It was “Perfect”

Nicole Kidman is looking back on her marriage to Tom Cruise more than two decades ago at age 23.

“I was so young when I got married. I look back now and I’m like, ‘What?’ ” she told the U.K.’s Red magazine.

She added: “You look at Taylor Swift, I mean how old is she? She’s 26. I had two kids by the time I was 27 and I’d been married for four years. But that’s what I wanted.”

Kidman, 49, married Cruise in 1990 after meeting him on the set of Days of Thunder. They later adopted two children – Isabella, now 23, and Connor, now 21.

She told DuJour magazine in 2012
that her life with Cruise was “perfect” before the rapid breakdown of their relationship and subsequent divorce in 2001.

The Aussie Oscar winner is now married to country star Keith Urban – and she told Red their relationship is stronger than ever. The couple recently celebrated their 10-year anniversary together.

“That’s really big for us. It was really up and down for the first three months. We’ve been through a lot for ten years. And we’re stronger than ever. I say that while touching wood, and no way in a boastful way. I just say it with wonder. Absolute wonder,” she said.

She added: “When you’re older, you’ve been through things, you’ve made mistakes. So you come into it [a second marriage], still giddy, but wanting it to last. We always consider the ‘us”. We say, ‘Is this going to be good for us?’ It’s the simplest phrase, but it works.“

Kidman also opened up about motherhood. She has two daughters with Urban – Sunday Rose, born in 2008, and Faith Margaret, born via surrogate in 2011.

“My husband says I’m ‘deeply maternal.’ I like to take care of people. It brings me a lot of joy,” she said. “Motherhood is about the journey … There are going to be incredible peaks and valleys, whether you are an adopting mother or a birth mother. What a child needs is love.”

Kidman’s interview in the November issue of Red is on newsstands October 4.

people.com