The actor, unlike many in the industry, was open about her struggles with infertility.
Editor's note: This article was originally published on January 28, 2022. It has since been updated.
Career or family? This is just one of the critical choices that a woman is forced to make.
If they choose their career, then their plans to start a family may have to be put on the back burner, and if they choose their family, they might have to bid farewell to the career they worked hard to build. This holds true for many women, even celebrities like Academy Award-winner Nicole Kidman.
The actor is now married to singer Keith Urban, 55. The two are parents to two kids, and she also has two adoptive children from her previous marriage to Tom Cruise, 60. It's safe to say she's got a good thing going on for her, isn't it? But, the heart wants what it wants, and the only thing that Kidman regrets is not having a bigger family.
“I wish I’d had more children, but I wasn’t given that choice,” the mother-of-four said in an interview for Marie Claire Australia’s 25th birthday Issue. “I would’ve loved 10 kids,” admits Kidman. “But that’s OK because I get to mother other children. I have six nieces and nephews and I’m godmother to 12. I love mothering, I love kids: they’re quirky, funny, and unfiltered. And then you get to see them grow and send them on their way.”
In 2019, the Big Little Lies star revealed that she wishes she'd met Urban sooner, so she could have more kids with him, per TODAY. "We go, 'Oh, gosh, I wonder if we met when we were 25, then we could’ve had 10 of them!'" Kidman said. The couple wed in 2016. But, her husband helped her to stop dwelling on those thoughts.
"Keith says, 'Stop the wanting mind,'" she shared. "It’s far better to be completely in love and satiated with what you’ve been given, what we’ve been given."
Kidman has always been open about her struggle with infertility. When she was married to Cruise between 1990 and 2001, Kidman, who was then in her 20s, suffered an ectopic pregnancy and a miscarriage. She was subsequently told it would be hard for her to conceive.
After the miscarriages, Kidman and Cruise adopted their children, according to ET. When the actress married Urban, she gave birth to their elder daughter and later welcomed her youngest via surrogate. In 2018, Kidman opened up about the miscarriages she suffered, to Tatler.
"I know the yearning. That yearning. It's a huge, aching yearning," she described about wanting to have kids. "And the loss! The loss of a miscarriage is not talked about enough. That's massive grief to certain women. There's an enormous amount of pain and an enormous amount of joy on the other side of it. The flip side of going through so much yearning and pain to get there is the feeling of 'Ahhhh!' when you have the child."
Kidman has, and probably will always love kids, which is why she was over the moon when her sister Antonia and three of her kids moved in with Kidman's family while she shot the new series Nine Perfect Strangers in Australia, says Glamour.
"I just love kids. I said once, 'I prefer children to adults.' I like adults more now, not more than kids, though," she said at the time. "I love being around children and we've got five kids living with me now because Keith had to go back [to Nashville] to release his album. So, my sister moved in to help me while I'm filming, and we have three of her younger kids — she has six — living with us."
"It's just fun because I just find their perspective not so heavy," continued Kidman. "It puts you in a more childlike place where you go, 'I can move through this and it can be fleeting. It doesn't have to become a massive weight.'"
References:
https://www.marieclaire.com.au/nicole-kidman-nine-perfect-strangers-cover-story
https://www.today.com/parents/nicole-kidman-reveals-1-her-biggest-regrets-i-wish-i-t228783
https://www.etonline.com/nicole-kidman-says-she-regrets-not-having-more-children-170821
https://www.tatler.com/article/nicole-kidman-tatler-interview
https://www.glamourmagazine.co.uk/article/nicole-kidman-glamour-cover-interview-2020
Cover Image Source: Getty Images | Photo by Getty Images
