Nicole Kidman says marriage to Tom Cruise offered 'protection' against sexual harassment

Nicole Kidman will have a busy year-end as she stars in two award-hopefuls 'Boy Erased' and 'Destroyer.' Talking about her own power in Hollywood Kidman joined New York Magazine’s The Cut to share an essay where she says her marriage to Tom Cruise shielded her from the rampant sexual harassment that plagued Hollywood, due to his star-power.
"I got married very young, but it definitely wasn’t power for me – it was protection," Kidman writes in the New York Magazine's latest issue on women and power.

"I married for love, but being married to an extremely powerful man kept me from being sexually harassed. I would work, but I was still very much cocooned," 51-year-old Kidman continues. Kidman and Cruise began a whirlwind romance after meeting on the set of 1990's 'Days of Thunder.' The co-stars said "I do" that year and went on to adopt two children together.
Their marriage came to an end more than a decade later in 2001. "Being married to Tom Cruise at 22 is something I’m always reluctant to talk about, because I’m married now to the man who is my great love (Keith Urban), and it almost feels disrespectful," she writes.

Kidman married the country singer in 2006 and they have two daughters together. But, the “'Big Little Lies' star says she was forced to "grow up" after splitting with Cruise during her early 30s.
"Of course I’ve had #MeToo moments," she reveals. "Do I want to expose them in an article? No. Do they come out in my work? Absolutely."

"I’m open and raw. I want to have my well of experience and emotion tapped into, used – and I’m not just talking about sexual harassment. I’m talking about loss, death, the full array of life. But it has to be by the right people so it’s not abused again," Kidman continues further.
"Winning an Oscar for The Hours, in 2003, I didn’t even notice the power then. I don’t know if it’s my self-esteem, but I still struggle to stand in that place and say, I’ve earned this. That’s probably good, because it keeps me in a state of wonder and humility and going, Wow! You want me?" she concludes.