After marrying Tom Cruise, did Nicole Kidman give up on her career?

Time for a bit of old-school Hollywood gossip that actually has some teeth. Nicole Kidman — Oscar-winner, perennial red carpet fixture, and inarguably one of the most recognisable faces in film — has been speaking out about her decision to marry Tom Cruise back when she was barely out of her early twenties. Turns out, just about everyone in the business told her it’d be career suicide. She married him anyway.

‘Of course I’ll throw my career away’

Kidman’s been reminiscing about the whirlwind romance, this time to British Vogue. Back in 1990, she was 23, bright-eyed, and still a newcomer by Hollywood standards, when she met Cruise on the set of Days of Thunder. The relationship took off so dramatically that the two got hitched on Christmas Eve the very same year. Apparently, agents, managers, and assorted industry types weren’t thrilled at the prospect, warning her that tying herself to the world’s biggest male film star would spell the end for her own ambitions.

Here’s how she sums up her thinking at the time, looking back on it all in the interview:

I had this huge movie star husband. But it just seemed completely natural. We just fell madly in love and it was that simple. 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. I want to be married.’

Later, when the naysayers claimed vindication, she didn’t exactly disagree — she just didn’t care. In her own words:

And then 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.'

Hollywood power couple, and after

For a good decade, the Kidman-Cruise juggernaut was front and centre in Hollywood. They weren’t just arm candy, either — they actually co-starred in a couple of big-ticket projects, namely Far and Away (Ron Howard’s 1992 western romance) and Eyes Wide Shut, Stanley Kubrick’s famously fraught final film, released in 1999. Anyone around for the tail end of the 90s will remember the tabloid frenzy. The marriage lasted until 2001, eventually ending in divorce — and after some time, Kidman married Australian country superstar Keith Urban in 2006. That union, in a twist most fans didn’t see coming, actually wrapped up officially just last year.

Back to the magic

Not one to stay out of the headlines for long, Kidman’s diving back into some nostalgia-laced territory — starring in the Practical Magic sequel, which is set to drop in cinemas on Friday, 11 September 2026. This time, it’s helmed by Susanne Bier, and Kidman’s reuniting with Sandra Bullock to reprise their iconic roles as witchy sisters Gillian and Sally Owens. For those counting, the story picks up a full 25 years after the original, which, frankly, is enough to make anyone feel a bit ancient.

Practical Magic 2 arrives in cinemas on 11 September 2026, 25 years after the first film.