Nicole Kidman's unforgettable celebration when she divorced Tom Cruise: sects, controversies and a historic break
The actress left an image engraved on fire that, curiously, did not belong to any film.
Believe it or not, one of Nicole Kidman's most iconic postcards does not belong to any of her films. The image of Nicole celebrating her divorce decision like a goal was burned into the anecdotes of the Hollywood scene. Literal, huh? Nicole raised her arms, gave a shout of euphoria and here, on this soccer side of the planet, we put sound and everything, imagination through: Goooooll! The paparazzi who captured the moment could sleep easy: they knew they had a shot that would be historic, so much so that, twenty-one years later, we are still talking about it.
Kidman and Tom Cruise met while filming "Days of Thunder." He was the heartthrob of the moment; she, an amazing redhead. Cruise reduced her to that same place when talking about that beginning of hers, years later, with her present: "My first reaction upon meeting Nic was pure lust, something completely physical." Nicole didn't contribute anything when she heard the phrase, she didn't even frown. Not to mention talent and intelligence, right Tom?
The couple was together for ten years, until they found themselves too close in the erotic project of "Eyes Wide Shut." In those interminable four hundred days of filming, something ended up breaking.
Nicole was more romantic when talking about the couple, just a year before the end: “Our marriage is nine years old now and we have passed the date of the fateful first seven years. When you are also loved for your flaws, you are truly safe. I don't know what I would do without Tom. We are so close that we each finish each other's sentences. We understand each other without speaking."
Wrapped up in celebrity life, extreme sports and his suspicions of homosexuality, Nicole seemed head over heels in love: “I'm addicted to Tom. He is my drug. I love it. It's very romantic. He buys me flowers, he writes me letters. He loves being married." After this declaration of love came the fateful film, where both played a couple in deep crisis; the fans saw the break there… but she denied it: “I understand that this fits with the narrative that the public has created seeing what happened next, but I definitely don't see it that way. Back then Tom and I were happily married."
Others pointed to Scientology, a sect that "sucked" Tom. A piece of information that may have influenced: Cruise filed the divorce petition days before the tenth anniversary of their marriage; It was February 25, 2001 and thus he saved himself from paying a clause in the wedding contract, which implied a payment to Nicole if the couple agreed to the decade.
The children were left in his custody and upbringing. For fans, Scientology estranged the couple's children from their mother. Who knows. This is how the end came… and the goal scene. "She was very young when I got married," Nicole said years later, downplaying it. Tom didn't talk much about those years either. Look what a good end to the article: "Years well closed." Better this way, Nicole and Tom continued their lives with no outstanding bills.
