You’ve all seen it. The photo of Nicole Kidman in her flower print blouse and pastel green skirt, teary-eyed and red-faced in the sun, primal screaming to the heavens?
The pic has been shared for years with the understanding it was taken in 2001 as she left her lawyer’s office — after just getting her divorce from Tom Cruise. It’s a narrative that seemed reasonable, of course. We knew they split, we knew she was happy to get out of it, we’ve all heard how Scientology can be a prison for mistreated women.
And so the iconic image was put on a pedestal as a model of how happy a woman can be getting out of a bad relationship. It was adored for years. People shared it every now and again with irreverent but also inspiring captions like:
“live every day like you’re 2001 nicole kidman leaving her lawyer’s office after divorcing tom cruise”
Comedy writer Liz Maupin even famously recreated it in 2021 to celebrate her own divorce was finalized.
But have we all been wrong this whole time about that pic??
The Babygirl star spoke to British GQ for their Men of the Year issue out Monday, and she mentioned the joy of standing in the wind. The interviewer couldn’t help himself and asked about the famous photo — where she perhaps was enjoying the feel of the wind as well as the ecstasy of freedom. But Nicole disappointed him — and all of us. She realized what he was thinking of and corrected him! Those photos weren’t from after the Tom Cruise divorce at all! She explained:
“Yes! That was not me; that was from a film, that wasn’t real life. I know that image!”
It… wasn’t her? She was filming a movie?? But… she so happy about her divorce? Nope. She pulled the rug from fans of the legend, saying:
“That’s not true.”
Oh man. Next she’s going to tell us she doesn’t really come to AMC Theaters for magic!
Nicole didn’t say which movie, and we have NO IDEA! You’d think an image so iconic someone would have debunked it by now just by watching the movie, but we seriously have no clue. But we guess she would know? Maybe it’s a deleted scene?
Anyway, are YOU heartbroken to learn the image isn’t what you thought??
[Image via Nicky Nelson/WENN.]
