Nicole Kidman calls out reporter over 'sexist' question about her relationship with ex Tom Cruise

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By Nika Shakhnazarova

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Nicole Kidman has slammed a reporter over a question she was asked that she deemed to be "sexist".

Speaking to a reporter from The Guardian, the actress was asked about her relationship with ex-husband Tom Cruise.

The Australian actress, 54, tied the knot with the Mission Impossible actor in 1990, before the pair ultimately called it quits in 2001.

During their ill-fated union, the pair welcomed two kids; daughter Isabella, 29, and son Connor, 26.

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Kidman was speaking to the British newspaper about her new movie Being the Ricardos" and how the story relates to her own life.

The biopic is about the relationship between I Love Lucy stars Lucille Ball (Kidman) and Desi Arnaz (Javier Bardem) at the height of Ball's fame.

She told the newspaper: "You can't make people behave how you want them to, and sometimes you're going to fall in love with someone who isn't going to be the person you spend the rest of your life with.

"And I think that's all very relatable. You may have kids with them. You may not, but they were very much in love."

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The reporter then asked whether she was referring to Cruise, to whom she was married 20 years ago.

She quickly replied: "Oh, my God, no, no. Absolutely not. No. I mean, that's, honestly, so long ago that that isn't in this equation. So no."

Kidman reportedly appeared "angry", before adding: "And I would ask not to be pigeonholed that way, either. It feels to me almost sexist, because I'm not sure anyone would say that to a man. And at some point, you go, 'Give me my life. In its own right.'"

It comes as Kidman recently revealed that she struggled with depression in the wake of her divorce from Cruise.

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Recalling her state when the pair officially parted ways, Kidman says the divorce hit her hard.

She went on to suffer from depression, especially while playing Virginia Woolf in the 2002 drama The Hours.

Kidman won an Oscar for her portrayal of the author – who died by suicide – in the film, which also starred Meryl Streep and Julianne Moore.

Woolf’s mental health problems while writing Mrs. Dalloway and her death were both shown on screen, with Kidman admitting that she became an "open vessel" for the writer's struggles after insisting on filming the suicide scene without the use of a stunt double.

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Appearing on BBC Radio 4's This Cultural Life, Kidman said: "I don't know if I ever thought of the danger, I think I was so in her."

The Hours was shot one year after Kidman announced her divorce from Cruise, who she had met in 1989.

"I think I was in a place myself at that time that was removed, depressed, not in my own body," she went on.

"So the idea of Virginia coming through me, I was pretty much an open vessel for it to happen. And I think [director Stephen Daldry] was very delicate with me because he knew that. I was open to understand it, which I think is probably the beauty of life as an actor."

Featured image credit: REUTERS / Alamy