Scotland on Sunday held an interview with the now 41 year old actress, and it's an interesting read, to say the least.
On rumors that her weight is not healthy for her pregnancy:
Kidman said she has stuck to a rigorous training regime that includes sweating it out and doing yoga daily. "I'm so happy, I couldn't ask for anything – except bigger boobs," she joked. "I've wanted curves my whole life. I eat all the time but I don't change because of my physical make-up. I was even more scrawny as a kid."
On how motherhood has changed her:
"I am somebody who is attracted to dangerous things. It is something I have to fight in myself, especially now that I've got the kids. I'm a fanatical sport freak. I love being able to use my body in that way and used to do things like sky-diving rather than hiking which was definitely more sensible."
On how much she has always wanted a biological child (her two kids are adopted with Tom Cruise, as most people know):
"I would be very sad if I wasn't able to have a baby. I am very close to my own family and I want my kids to have an Australian identity as well as an American one.
"It's interesting, as an actor, to raise kids because you set up home wherever you're working, almost always in a transitional period. It's crazy when you're all togged up in a glamorous costume and you're fixing a snack for the kids in your trailer or helping them with their homework."
On her split from actor Tom Cruise:
"Divorce from Tom was hell but it made me grow up. After the divorce, I did many things that interested me, as I was single and had been through a period of my life when I wasn't able to move around as much and explore, so I was able to 'catch up'."
On finding love with Keith Urban:
"I think we were two lonely people, who managed to meet at a time when we could open ourselves to each other. We were a mixture of frightened and brave," she says.
"Since getting married, I've 'passed' on things, cleared my schedule. I do not want to be living my life away from the person I love. I think I've settled into enjoying my life. I'm happy and I'm content."
On the 'career' of acting:
"I flinch at the word 'career,' she says, "because acting is all about your emotions. I love what I do. It is not a job. I never think about taking a role in relation to who I am, to who Nicole is," she muses. "That would not be pure, artistically. I don't know whether that's my biggest strength or weakness.
"I adore this job but it certainly takes its toll," she continues. "I think that making a film is like a boxing match – you have to take the punches and you can easily fall. I plan to slowly dwindle away, bring the train to a halt, when the time comes. I am not sure when the resources are going to run out in terms of what I have to offer.
"The life I lead is a burn-out life," she says, rearranging legs that are too long for the sofa. "From cracked ribs (in Moulin Rouge) to freezing in Romania (Cold Mountain) and being hospitalised after a car chase went wrong (Invasion). You have to step away from it because you are required to give so much of yourself to do it well. I don't mind stepping away when I need to and going to ground. Or doing a comedy to re-stoke."
On being a celebrity and the fame that comes with it:
"I hate the interest in celebrities that comes with it. Being recognised is part of the territory. I was a kid who waited to see Abba. And I have been in that position. I remember also being taken to the set of The Year of Living Dangerously by a production designer friend of ours. I saw Mel Gibson from afar and I shrieked: 'He looked at me!' He has no recollection – I was about ten.
"I try to make contact and go over and shake someone's hand. I think it is important to remember where you are at, and where you come from, so you never get trapped in the world you work in. I have tried to not court celebrity.
"In New York I go around without an 'entourage'. I am always with my kids, walk quickly, with my hair pulled back, and I can make myself invisible. I do most things. I go to the cinema with my kids just like any other member of the public. We love all going away to have a bit of an adventure together, away from the bright lights.
"When I was single and bringing up my two older children I tended to take one day at a time. As a single parent, I think you do your best and hope it will be good enough. And you know something? I found that usually it is good enough."
On what her kids think or her job:
"As a kid I hated any sort of unconventional stuff because you want to conform. I was embarrassed by it. I was not one of those kids that wanted to stand out. I was 5ft 10in when I was 11 years old and had the awful nickname of 'Storky'. I was also white as a sheet in bronzed surfer paradise Australia.
"I didn't need any more humiliation, such as my feminist mother. But my kids seem incredibly willing and easy about it all. They don't seem to give a damn about what I do."
On her work as a Goodwill Ambassador with Unifem, a women's advocate organization:
"Obviously, I'm emotionally connected to this," Kidman says of her Unifem role. "I think it's very important. At the same time, I'm a mother. I have a child on the way… and a lot of it is realising the things that are wrong and what I can contribute to help my children have a better life, and to help other children around the world have a better life.
"I believe if people are given the information, most of them will say, 'I had no idea – what can I do to help?' Awareness is just the first step."
On her plans for the future:
"When I get older, I am going to veer in the direction of hedonism and live somewhere like Tuscany, surrounded by my grandchildren, and rest and dance and eat and drink and read and sit up over big home-cooked meals, talking late into the night in different languages. I want to age gracefully and naturally."
On aging (and how she keeps that youthful look):
"To be honest, I am completely natural," Kidman has said. "I have nothing in my face or anything. I wear sunscreen, and I don't smoke. I take care of myself. I'm proud to say that."
On rumors of her having plastic surgery:
(She claims to have only ever had laser eye treatment, as she was walking around legally blind.) "I don't judge those who have had treatments. Anybody can do anything to their bodies. I'm just lucky that I get to change my looks in every film and get paid to do so! I love being an actor – that is my commitment and my passion. But there are other things I want to do in life, so many that to list them all would be trivial," she says.
On her career plans:
"As an actor I think you suffer from burnout after a time because you give so much of yourself. I look at it as something that will finish in its own time. It wouldn't be, 'Oh, now I am suddenly going to quit.' It will just slowly just dwindle away…"
"I will make more films in Australia, like the new Baz (Moulin Rouge) Luhrmann-directed film called Australia which I made while Keith was away touring. It is set in the remote Northern Territory during the Japanese attack on Darwin during World War II. I play an English woman feeling overwhelmed by the continent.
"But I'd also like to learn Russian so one day I could play Chekhov's Uncle Vanya on stage." She giggles. "I can see the critics already dipping their pens in vitriol!"
On her plans with husband Keith Urban:
"Keith and I would really love to have a big family," she says, "but I am so happy right now I couldn't ask for anything more."
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