Regardless of the reason, Kidman recognized that moving on was challenging. “It took me a very long time to heal,” she told DeJour. “It was a shock to my system.”
While navigating the divorce—which was finalized months later—Kidman concentrated on her work, releasing Moulin Rouge! and The Others in 2001, followed by The Hours the next year.
“To be completely honest, I was running from my life at that time,” she shared at the 2015 Women in the World summit. “I wasn’t able to handle the reality of my life. And as an actor, you have this wonderful thing where you can go and get lost in somebody else’s life and become somebody else for a period of time.”
As the actress transformed into these characters, she also noticed a transformation within herself.
“I then sort of embraced my own life and I got myself together,” she continued, “and it took me a number of years.”
However, after winning the Oscar in 2003 for her lead role in The Hours, Kidman realized she desired more.
“That caused an epiphany, which was, ‘Actually, this is not the answer,'” she added. “I was sitting in The Beverly Hills Hotel and it was all extraordinary and I was the loneliest I’d ever been.”
