Nicole Kidman Recalls "Running" From Her Life After Tom Cruise Split, Talks About Her 4 Kids—Watch

The two divorced in 2001 after more than 10 years of marriage and share a son and daughter

By Corinne Heller Oct 09, 2015 7:57 PMTags

Nicole Kidman is recalling the personal turmoil she underwent following her split from first husband Tom Cruise and how she felt the "loneliest" she had ever felt after winning an Oscar.

At the Women In the World Summit in London on Thursday, the 48-year-old actress talked about her life after the end of her first marriage, her husband Keith Urban and being a mother of four children, two with Cruise and two with Urban.

Kidman was asked if she thinks the "difficult time" in the years following her split from Cruise unleashed a lot of creativity within her, given that Moulin Rouge! and The Hours, which earned the actress her first and only Oscar, were released following the split. She and the now 53-year-old actor divorced in 2001 after more than 10 years of marriage.

"I was running from my life at that time," Kidman said. "I wasn't able to handle the reality of my life and as an actor, you have this wonderful thing where you can go and get lost in somebody else's life and become somebody else for a period of time. And when I look back on it, I really see that. Out of that came work that sort of was applauded and so that was an interesting thing for me.

"I then sort of embraced my own life and I got myself together and it took me a number of years and during that time, I worked a lot. The work was a great place for me to exist and then that culminated in winning an Oscar."

After winning the Academy Award, Kidman had an "epiphany."

"I was sitting in the Beverly Hills Hotel and it was all extraordinary and I was the loneliest I've ever been," she said. "And that was a very strange thing to have happened and it was a fantastic thing to have happened because I was jolted out of this, I suppose, need or desire to say, 'This is gonna heal me' and it didn't. And then I went, 'I need to really hone in on what I want as a woman and for my life.'"

Kidman has told Australia's Harper Bazaar in 2013 that winning an Oscar showed her "the emptiness" of her own life.

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During the talk, Kidman was asked about her current family life. The actress and Urban, 47, wed in 2006 and share two daughters, Sunday, 7, and Faith, 4.

Kidman said she and the country star and American Idol judge did not know each other well when they married and that she wanted to have a baby the minute they met. She gave birth to Sunday at age 41 and the two welcomed Faith via a surrogate in 2010.

David M. Benett/Dave Benett/Getty Images

Kidman and Cruise's children, Isabella and Connor (pictured below), are 22 and 20 years old. The actress, who lives in Nashville with Urban and their daughters, told DuJour magazine it is very important for her to keep in touch with all her kids.

Isabella recently got marriedWomen's Day reported. Her parents and brother did not attend the wedding, although Cruise footed the bill, People said, quoting a source close to Kidman as saying she is "very happy for Bella."

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At the Women In the World Summit, the actress was asked if there was any difference between mothering her daughters with Urban and mothering her son and daughter with Cruise.

"There's no difference, because you love...and the love is so profound and it's once you have that child and you go, 'Ah, I'm willing to die for this person,'" Kidman said. "And you see and you feel that, and that, that changes everything, doesn't it?"

Watch: Do Nicole Kidman's Kids Want Another Sibling?