Kidman opened up about how husband Urban saved her from the 'epidemic' of loneliness and the hardest part of parenting in lockdown.
In a year during which many have struggled with periods of isolation and lockdown, Nicole Kidman is opening up about how her husband, Keith Urban, saved her from the “epidemic” of loneliness. Kidman wed the New Zealand-born country musician in 2006.
Speaking to Glamour about how she finds balance while working on often emotionally heavy screen roles, the Australian actress credited running outside while listening to music and having a great relationship to come home to.
“I have a very good relationship. It is a very soothing, comforting place for me to go, and he's a very strong, warm, kind man,” she gushed. “I'm very fortunate to have that in my life, because it's a really strong place to be able to go and curl up.”
“And, this is a lonely world, right?” she continued. “That's an extraordinary thing to have found, particularly later in my life. But it saved me, as well, which is a beautiful thing to have.”
Asked how the relationship saved her, Kidman, 53, shared that she has experienced painful bouts of loneliness in the past.
“They say loneliness is the great killer,” she said. “It causes so much pain and I've been lonely, and it is very, very, very hard. You see it in older people. You see it in young people. You see it now in this world. We can't even hug anymore. Loneliness is an epidemic. So, I am very fortunate to come home to him. My heart goes out to the people who don't have a person to go to now."
Kidman also has two children with Urban (12-year-old Sunday Rose and nine-year-old Faith) who ensure she always has company. She said her daughters also help put heavy days in perspective.
“I said once, ‘I prefer children to adults.’ I like adults more now -- not more than kids, though,” she said. “I love being around children and we've got five kids living with me now because Keith had to go [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 find their perspective not so heavy,” added Kidman, who also has two older children, Isabella and Connor, from her previous marriage to Tom Cruise. “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.’”
Kidman also discussed her joy for caring for others, something which was instilled in her from a young age as the eldest child in her family. She was only 17 when her mother, Janelle, became ill with breast cancer. She started looking after her and became “confident” caring for others.
Despite her strong confidence in looking after people, Kidman hasn’t been spared the parenting challenges which so many have faced amid the coronavirus pandemic and subsequent lockdown periods. She shared that Sunday Rose and Faith have been having a hard time adjusting to social distancing.
“Our kids -- because we travel, and we won't be apart -- are used to having to learn online,” she said. “But the social distance has been very difficult for them. They are working through the emotions. For a 12-year-old, it’s about not being able to access friends easily. That's a whole thing which every parent will be going through.”
“And, then there's a nine-year-old, who's socially forming,” she continued. “One of the hardest things is just watching them pine and yearn for their friends. I pine and yearn for my friends too.”
See more on Kidman and Urban below.
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