Nicole Kidman Says Kids With Ex Tom Cruise Chose Scientology Over Her
Actress tries 'unconditional love' to heal the rift with Isabella and Connor.
Sept. 22 2019, Published 2:26 p.m. ET
Nicole Kidman has said that the two grown children she adopted with ex-husband Tom Cruise chose Scientology over her, according to The Sun on Sunday. But the actress, 52, is trying to mend the rift with Isabella, 26, and Connor, 24. The Goldfinch star has admitted that she grew apart from her daughter and son after they followed their dad into the controversial Church of Scientology.
Kidman told an interviewer, “Motherhood is about the journey. There are going to be incredible peaks and valleys, whether you are an adopting mother or a birth mother. What a child needs is love. “They have made choices to be Scientologists. It’s our job as a parent to always offer unconditional love.”
Rumor had it that Kidman was banned from Connor's wedding to fiancée Silvia, leader of the Italian branch of the Scientology church. She also was said to be distant from Isabella, who is married and moved into a humble London home two years ago. But the Cold Mountain star, who also has two daughters with second husband Keith Urban opined, “It’s not about anything else other than, ‘I’m here to love and support you.’”
Kidman said she married superstar Cruise “for love” after they met while doing the movie Days of Thunder together in 1989. They were husband and wife from 1990 to 2001. Recalling her courtship with Cruise, Kidman said, “He swept me off my feet. I fell madly, passionately in love. And as happens, my whole plan in terms of what I wanted for my life, I was like, ‘Forget it. This is it.’ I was consumed by it, willingly. “I always make choices for love and everything kind of had to fall in place around that.”
Was it too much, too soon? Kidman said she was 23 when with Cruise, "so young. I look back now and I’m like, ‘What?’ I had two kids by the time I was 27 and I’d been married for four years. But that’s what I wanted.” They adopted Isabella and Connor but their marriage fizzled. The kids chose to stay with their father and follow in his famed Scientology footsteps. Isabella has become a so-called poster girl for the Church, appearing in an ad and saying it had "saved her life."
In an email sent to Scientologists in March, Isabella posted an image of herself smiling with the message: We All Need To Do This. She also wrote in the missive, “Thank you to my Dad for everything."Connor reportedly lives in The Sandcastle, a luxury Clearwater, Florida compound owned by Scientology.
RadarOnline.com learned that an ex-Church member claimed Connor is being groomed as a Scientology "golden boy." In a recent interview, it seemed Kidman didn't even know where Connor was living. Kidman married country singer Urban, 51, in 2006 and they live in Nashville with daughters Sunday Rose, 11, and Faith Margaret, 8.
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She said motherhood has made her life "whole." In another interview, Kidman said, "Parenting is about learning who they are, not making them what you want them to be — letting them find their way then supporting them. It’s rigorous. You’re constantly looking at yourself, so you’re not placing these expectations on a child.”
