"The greatest thing you’ll ever learn is just to love and be loved in return," Nicole said after she found someone who made her feel loved and secure.
She's suave, she's glamorous, and she's a brilliant actress. Watching Nicole Kidman on screen is like being sucked into a whole new world.
But there's far more to Nicole than many know. Beneath that put-together exterior is a woman who had to beg the man she loved not to walk out of her life, feel the anguish of being lonely after a divorce that would break others, and suffer the heartbreaking loss of losing her unborn babies. She was trapped in a whirlwind of pain, until a certain gentleman by the name of Keith Urban made his way into her life and showed her what love is really meant to be like.
When Nicole and Tom Cruise were together for 10 years, they were known as one of the "hottest" couples in Hollywood. She was just 23 years old when she was married to him in 1990. She called their relationship "perfect" until he dropped divorce papers on her in February 2001, reports E!Online. And it shattered her. “I fell madly, passionately in love,” Nicole Kidman, told DuJour magazine, according to People. "...I would have gone to the ends of the earth for him."
“It took me a very long time to heal. It was a shock to my system," she said, according to The Cheat Sheet. "That was a great relationship. I think it ran its course. I was really damaged and not sure whether [love and marriage] was ever going to happen again to me."
What pushed her even more to the brink was when she suffered a miscarriage. "I know the yearning. That yearning. It’s a huge, aching yearning. And the loss! The loss of a miscarriage is not talked about enough," the actress said, according to another People article. "That’s massive grief to certain women."
And all of that culminated into such intense loneliness that when she won an Oscar in 2003, she realized that no amount of success would fill the void in her. Nor would it change how lonely she felt without love in her life. "I was holding a gold statue and I was the loneliest I'd ever been," she told Red magazine, reported Insider. Until the aforementioned gentleman became a part of her life. When Keith Urban walked in, her entire world transformed.
It all started at the G'Day USA gala in 2005 where she laid eye on Keith for the first time. It wasn't instant sparks at the time for him, or so she thought because it was, though he didn't show it at the time. Around four months later, one phone call from him led to something more. And each meeting brought them closer together.
A short six months later, Nicole knew that this was the man for her and that knowledge was embedded in her memory. “It was my [38th] birthday, and he stood outside with gardenias at 5 a.m. on my stoop in New York,” she said. “That is when I went, ‘This is the man I hope I get to marry.'”
Almost a year after that, they exchanged vows and since then, there's been no looking back. They even expanded their family when they brought two daughters into their world. But perhaps the most wondrous thing about them is that 13 years later, they still look as in love as they were when they first got together.
He brought her out of the emotional downward spiral that she was in for years by being gentle, devoted and completely supportive. She too helped him with his own demon - alcohol abuse. Keith Urban said to People, "She said early on that she wanted to be brave with me. I feel there was something else at work, bringing us together and then just continuing to watch over us."
They bring out the best in each other. Keith admitted that she makes him want to be a better man. "We know every part of [our relationship] because we’ve built it. Just the two of us. It’s beautiful..." he said. "Nicole listened to her heart and did what she felt was the right thing to do. To see that kind of love in action, that’s very moving and deeply inspiring and just makes me want to be a better man."
The years gone by have not diminished the spark of love they have. Nicole Kidman posted on Instagram, "The greatest thing you’ll ever learn is just to love and be loved in return."
References:
https://people.com/celebrity/tom-cruise-divorce-was-a-shock-says-nicole-kidman/
https://www.insider.com/how-did-nicole-kidman-and-keith-urban-meet-2017-9
https://people.com/parents/nicole-kidman-pain-suffered-past-miscarriage/
https://people.com/movies/nicole-kidman-reveals-moment-keith-urban-love-my-life/
https://people.com/archive/cover-story-keith-urban-i-was-going-to-lose-it-all-vol-68-no-20/
