Independent Perspective News

LOS ANGELES, California (Reuters) -- Nicole Kidman says she is only beginning to understand now what caused the breakup of her marriage to Tom Cruise last year and that, whatever people say, the couple had a "real marriage" for the nine years it lasted.

In an interview with Vanity Fair contributing editor Ingrid Sischy to be published in the December issue of the magazine, Kidman said: "The marriage existed because it was two people in love. It's that simple." Referring to rumors that questioned the couple's sexuality, she added, "They've said I'm gay, they've said everyone's gay. I personally don't believe in doing huge lawsuits about that stuff. Tom does. That's what he wants to do, that's what he's going to do. You do not tell Tom what to do. That's it. Simple. He is a force to be reckoned with.

"I have a different approach. I don't file lawsuits because I really don't care. Honestly, people have said everything under the sun. I just want to do my work, raise my kids, and hopefully find somebody who I can share my life with again. ... I don't know what my future is. But I really don't care what anybody else is saying."

Kidman said that when she and Cruise first started dating, "I was willing to give up everything. ... The marriage existed because it was two people in love. It's that simple. ... He basically swept me off my feet. I fell madly, passionately in love."

Kidman said that after her marriage broke up she went into a depression feeling that "My life collapsed ... People ran from me, because it was 'Oh my God! It's over for her now!"'

Kidman said she was so upset that she was lying on the ground in a fetal position, weeping, while her parents were trying make her snap to. Asked if she knew why her marriage ended, Kidman said, "I'm starting to understand now. At the time I didn't."

Reporter Sischy said she had the feeling that Kidman would do anything to reverse events, but she also sensed that Kidman knew there couldn't have been any other outcome -- in part, it seems, because of her own artistic needs.

When Sischy said that women could have both a marriage and a career, Kidman said, "I think I had to choose. I think (the marriage) would have come down to it. I suppose it wasn't meant to be."