The Moulin Rouge! star met Cruise while filming Days of Thunder and they got married when she was just 23 years old a year later in 1990. The former couple split in 2001 after adopting two children Isabella and Connor.
Although she was happy to get hitched at the time, when the 49-year-old looks back at her life, she can’t quite believe how young she was to make such a big commitment.
“I was so young when I got married,” she told Red magazine. “I look back now and I’m like, ‘What?’ You look at Taylor Swift, I mean how old is she? She’s 26. I had two kids by the time I was 27 and I’d been married for four years. But that’s what I wanted.”
Similarly adopted daughter Isabella married British IT consultant Max Parker in a surprise London ceremony in 2015, aged 22.
Nicole has been married to country singer Keith Urban since 2006 and they have two daughters Sunday Rose, eight, and Faith, five. The couple celebrated their 10th wedding anniversary in June (16) and Nicole admits the milestone was a big deal because the start of their marriage was tough.
“It was really up and down for the first three months,” she revealed. “We’ve been through a lot for ten years. And we’re stronger than ever. I say that while touching wood, and no way in a boastful way. I just say it with wonder. Absolute wonder.”
She explains that entering a second marriage when she was older and had “been through things” made her more determined to make it last. The couple has a phrase which they always think of when coming to a decision.
“We always consider the ‘us’. We say, ‘Is this going to be good for us?’ It’s the simplest phrase, but it works,” she said.