It's taken almost two years, but it looks like Nicole Kidman is finally ready to dish on what caused her split with Tom Cruise.
For the first time since her divorce, the Oscar nominee talks about her marriage and its abrupt end in the December issue of Vanity Fair.
At the time of the breakup, which went down in February 2001, the couple's publicist, Pat Kingsley, blamed "divergent careers that constantly kept them apart." Cruise later issued the cryptic "Nicole knows why" comment, sparking rumors of infidelity.
Nicole seems to be sticking with the "divergent career" story.
"I think I had to choose [between her marriage and her career]. I think [the marriage] would have come down to it," she told the magazine. "I suppose it wasn't meant to be."
She also said she's just beginning to understand why the marriage had to end. "At the time I didn't," she explained.
Bloodthirsty readers hoping to watch the Aussie superstar take off the gloves and confirm the multitude of rumors surrounding the validity of the couple's marriage, sexual proclivities and more will likely be disappointed.
Nicole says the marriage was real, it was love at first sight, she was devastated by the divorce, and no one is gay. Among her revelations: "The marriage existed because it was two people in love. It's that simple," she said of the union (which was officially dissolved in November 2001). "I was willing to give up everything," she said of their meeting on the set of Days of Thunder in 1990. "He basically swept me off my feet. I fell madly, passionately in love." "My life collapsed," she said about the divorce, admitting that she went into a deep depression after the split and worried about the collapse of her career. "People ran from me, because it was 'Oh my God! It's over for her now!" "They've said I'm gay, they've said everyone's gay," she said about the persistent homosexuality rumors (and multimillion-dollar libel lawsuits filed by her ex-husband). "I personally don't believe in doing huge lawsuits about that stuff. Tom does. That's what he wants to do, that's what he's going to do. You do not tell Tom what to do. That's it. Simple. He is a force to be reckoned with." (Then again, Kidman recently joined Cruise in a suit claiming a cosmetics company illegally used their famous mugs to sell perfume.)
And while she didn't dish about her current love life, Kidman did say she hopes to find happiness again soon, with her career, her kids and possibly another love. "I just want to do my work, raise my kids, and hopefully find somebody who I can share my life with again...I don't know what my future is. But I really don't care what anybody else is saying."
For the Moulin Rouge star, living well and pursing that marriage-busting career seems to be the best revenge. Kidman has a load of upcoming films on her plate and seems to be one of Hollywood's hottest commodities these days.
Most recently, she announced she would be stepping into the lead role in a remake of the 1975 cult classic The Stepford Wives. She is also looking to cast another remake spell on an updated movie version of the hit witchy comedy Bewitched, which was a hit on the small screen from 1964 to '72.
But first, she will shoot Birth, a reincarnation drama from Sexy Beast director Jonathan Glazer, which starts shooting in New York in January, and Cold Mountain, a Civil War drama opposite Jude Law and Renée Zellweger, currently wrapping filming. Kidman also just completed Lars von Trier's experimental Dogville and, according to Tuesday's Daily Variety, has agreed to shoot two more films in what will become a trilogy. The second installment, titled Mandalay, begins production in August 2003.
Kidman will next been seen (under layers of latex) as Virginia Woolf in the Oscar-hopeful art-house drama The Hours, opening December 27.