Nicole Kidman Gets Surprisingly Candid About Choosing Tom Cruise Over Her Career

Nicole Kidman is an A-lister, but she was prepared to give it all up to become Mrs. Tom Cruise. When she met him while filming the 1990 film "Days of Thunder," she was a newcomer in Hollywood, having recently moved to the U.S. from Australia to pursue acting. But if marrying Cruise meant giving up her dream career, she wouldn't mind. "I remember people saying to me, 'OK, well this is really going to affect your career.' I'm like, 'I don't care. I'm in love,'" she told British Vogue for its September 2026 issue.

By the end of 1990, the two were married, and it looked like people's assumptions had been right about her career. While she was getting parts, Kidman was mainly known for her relationship with Cruise. But her convictions hadn't changed. "I was his 'wife' and they were like, 'See, we told you.' I'm like, 'So what? I wasn't meant to marry the man I love? Of course I'll throw my career away. I don't care,'" she recalled. Kidman's remarks about her willingness to put her husband above her career are surprising, given that she rarely discusses her first marriage.

However, this wasn't the first time she discussed her priorities during her first marriage. In December 2002, just under two years after Kidman and Cruise divorced, the Australian actor noted she would do it all over again, though she implied she wasn't proud of it. "This makes me sad, but I still would probably choose a marriage and an intact family over my career," she told Vanity Fair. As it turns out, she continued to harbor those priorities. 

Nicole Kidman's relationship with Tom Cruise didn't impact her career. In the second half of their marriage, the actor transitioned into high-profile roles, like "To Die For" and "Eyes Wide Shut." However, her career really exploded after the divorce, snagging her first Oscar nom with the 2001 musical "Moulin Rouge." Yet, she was ready to give that all up once again. After Kidman married Keith Urban in June 2006, she considered quitting work altogether to focus on raising their daughters, Sunday Rose and Faith Margaret.

That feeling was almost instant when she and Urban welcomed their eldest in July 2008. "When I gave birth to Sunday, I was like, 'Well, I think I'm pretty much done now.' I'd moved to Nashville; we were living on a farm," she told CBS News in 2024. But her mom helped change her mind. "That is when my mom said, 'I wouldn't give up completely. Keep a finger in,'" she revealed. Kidman was adamant, but her mother continued with her gentle warnings. "[She said], 'I'm not saying do it to the level you've been doing it, but I wouldn't give it up completely,'" she recalled.

Her mother's advice stemmed from her own experience with a lack of opportunities in her generation. And that helped Kidman put things into perspective and keep going. Her daughters are no longer little now, and Kidman has done the opposite of slowing down. "Why do I keep working?" she told Vogue in 2025. "Why stop? You'll have to tie me down, tie me up!" Kidman was willing to give up her career at various points, but the universe clearly had different plans.