Almost 25 years after their separation, Mission: Impossible actor Tom Cruise has made a series of rare, and surprisingly heartfelt, comments about his ex-wife Nicole Kidman.
After meeting on the set of the 1989 film Days of Thunder when Nicole was just 22 and Tom was just 28, the couple enjoyed a whirlwind romance before tying the knot on Christmas Eve in 1990.
Ultimately, however, after 11 years together, their marriage ended in divorce in August 2001.
While both parties have remained tight-lipped over the years about their time together and rthe easons behind their split, many have speculated that Tom’s involvement with the church of Scientology played a key role, especially after the dissolution of his second marriage to Dawson’s Creek star Katie Holmes.
A now-famous photo of Nicole exiting the courthouse after her divorce was finalised, whooping in jubilation, has also led many to speculate that the couple didn’t part on the best of terms.
But in a candid new interview with Sight and Sound magazine to promote the eighth and final Mission Impossible movie, the 62-year-old described Nicole as a “great actress” when discussing the 1999 erotic thriller Eyes Wide Shut in which they both starred.
“I flew to his house, and I landed in his backyard. I read the script the day before, and we spent the day talking about it. I knew all of his films,” Tom recalled of his experience with movie director Stanley Kubrick.
“Then it was basically he and I getting to know each other. And when we were doing that, I suggested Nicole play the role [of Alice]. Because, obviously, she’s a great actress.”
While Nicole has previously said that she and Tom were “happily married” during filming, it didn’t stop fans from speculating that the marital strife their characters experienced in the movie put a strain on their real-life relationship.
In May 2025, Nicole made her first new comments about her marriage to Tom in more than a decade in an interview with London’s The Evening Standard Newspaper, admitting to the publication that while she was a “baby” when she married him, she didn’t “regret any of it.”
“Out of respect for Keith, I tend not to discuss Tom now,” the 67-year-old added.
Nicole and Tom adopted two children, Connor and Isabella, together during the course of their marriage.
Nicole went on the welcome daughters Sunday Rose and Faith Margaret into the world with her second husband Keith Urban, while Tom became a father to daughter Suri with his second wife Katie Holmes.
