Why Tom Cruise And Nicole Kidman Lived In A Trailer For 2 Years Of Their Marriage

Nicole Kidman and Tom Cruise's commitment to their careers took them to some strange places. The beloved couple's paths initially crossed early in 1990 when they joined forces on the movie "Days of Thunder." In a 2002 Vanity Fair interview, the "Big Little Lies" star confessed that she got caught up in a whirlwind romance with Cruise that completely altered her perspective of what she wanted out of life. So, Kidman tied the knot with the "Mission Impossible" star on Christmas Eve 1990 after only about a year of courtship. The A-listers subsequently adopted their daughter Bella and son Connor. 

Then, in 1996, Cruise and Kidman got the opportunity to work with visionary filmmaker Stanley Kubrick on "Eyes Wide Shut." When the "Moulin Rouge" star spoke to the Los Angeles Times in 2024, she revealed that their phenomenal performances in the film were a result of a 2-year-long shoot. On paper, an extended shoot for a movie as dark as "Eyes Wide Shut" sounds like a bit of a nightmare. 

In reality, however, Kidman and Cruise took away loads of happy memories from the time. In fact, the experience was so positive that they moved into a trailer near the set for the duration of filming. "We had a home 10 minutes away, but we lived in that trailer. Tom and I shared it because Stanley would say, 'You're not each getting a trailer. We can't afford it,'" Kidman recalled of those good old days.  

In Nicole Kidman's 2020 chat with The New York Times, she shared that Stanley Kubrick often frequented her home-away-from-home with Tom Cruise to eat spaghetti with them. Meanwhile, during her chat with the Los Angeles Times, the actor happily reminisced about how their "Eyes Wide Shut" co-star, Sydney Pollack, was also a regular there. Though it had been nearly two decades since filming, Kidman vividly remembered that Pollack cooked them a mean "artichoke pasta with [Parmigiano-]Reggiano and this incredible olive oil and roast chicken." When they didn't have company over, Cruise spent most of his time playing "Minesweeper." Given all this, it's unsurprising that the Aussie star would've happily spent another year filming. However, that statement might astound many because "Eyes Wide Shut" is centered on a marriage falling apart in the most bizarre way possible. 

To make matters slightly more confusing, earlier in the interview, Kidman even acknowledged that Kubrick drew inspiration from their relationship to develop the onscreen one between their characters. But in her New York Times profile, she clarified that they were thriving throughout filming, stating, "We were happily married [...] We would go go-kart racing after those scenes. We'd rent out a place and go racing at 3 in the morning." Kidman further stressed that her highly emotional performance didn't come from any repressed real-life repressed feelings. So, it seems like the legendary director only used the couple's personality traits to bring their characters to life. 

Even though they had a great time filming "Eyes Wide Shut," it's been widely speculated that the controversial movie was a major reason behind Nicole Kidman and Tom Cruise's 2001 divorce. In fact, British film critic and historian David Thomson reckons that the erotic thriller drove a wedge between the beloved couple, and he made his case in the 2006 biography "Nicole Kidman." Thomson posited that the A-listers' onscreen personas may have hit a little too close to home for Kidman, in particular, leading the actor to figure out that she needed to get out of their marriage. As Hollywood.com reported, the biographer also believed that Cruise and Kidman's relationship thrived on their dependence on each other, but her independent spirit may have grown significantly after the film. 

"I think she learned from him just what was required in taking charge of yourself. That's what broke them up," Thomas penned, adding, "She realized she could be as big as him if she became as strong and self-centered." However, Kidman denied this theory in a 2012 chat with The Hollywood Reporter and reiterated that their marriage was in a great place at the time. Although decades have passed since Kidman and Cruise went their separate ways, they have remained tight-lipped about the real reason for their split. In fact, Kidman doesn't even like to talk about Cruise at all out of respect for her husband, Keith Urban.