The Subtle Way Nicole Kidman & Tom Cruise’s Daughter Shows She’s on Good Terms With Her Mom
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Nicole Kidman‘s daughter Bella is subtly shutting down speculation that she’s estranged from her mom. Kidman has battled many rumors and accusations when it comes to her children with ex-husband Tom Cruise but the ultra-private blended family often prove that just because we don’t see them together doesn’t mean they aren’t a unit in their own way. Kidman and Cruise became parents in 1992 after adopting their daughter, Isabella, shortly after her birth. They later adopted a baby boy, Connor, in 1995. However, when the couple divorced in 2001, the custody of their children became something of a mystery.
That said, Bella Kidman Cruise — the more vocal of the two children — has made an effort to defend her mother in recent years and has been showing a steady stream of support for the Eyes Wide Shut star in a subtle way on a public forum: Instagram. The 30-year-old artist likes most of Kidman’s Instagram posts, most recently showing love on a stunning photo of the 56-year-old actress posing as part of Balenciaga’s latest campaign.
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In July, she also showed some love on a photo of her mom in a YSL gown while on a trip to London, where Bella lives.
In 2012, Bella defended her relationship with her mom in an interview with New Idea, according to Hollywood Life. “I love mom. She’s my mom. She’s great. I see her sometimes and I speak to her,” said Bella. “We’re a very close family. I love all of our family.” Then again, in 2016, Bella gave other rare interview to Mail Online, per Hello Magazine, insisting that she was on good terms with her parents despite them not attending her wedding. She reiterated: “Of course we talk, they’re my parents!”
After Cruise and Kidman’s divorce, it was reported that the kids remained primarily with Cruise while Kidman moved back to her home country of Australia, where she still spends most of her time with her second husband, Keith Urban, and their two daughters. Former Scientologists theorized that Kidman was prevented from having access to her children by the controversial church, of which Cruise is a member. “I know what techniques they used… I know what the second-in-command at the time Marty Rathbun did, he was so tough on them, the Cruise kids had no choice,” former church member Sam Domingo told the Daily Mail in 2019. “After the divorce, they were indoctrinated into Scientology and very much isolated.”
Outspoken Scientology critic Leah Remini claimed in her 2015 memoir Troublemaker: Surviving Hollywood and Scientology that she had spoken directly to Bella, who was a teen at the time, about Kidman in 2006 while sharing an airport shuttle bus with her after Cruise and Katie Holmes’ wedding. “I had always wondered why they didn’t have a relationship with their mom, but I could never ask them, because there was always someone else around,” Remini wrote. “Driving to the airport alone with them, I had my chance.” Remini claims she asked: “How’s your mom? Do you see her a lot?” And alleges that the teen quickly shut down the inquisition. “‘Not if I have a choice,’ Bella said. ‘Our mom is a f–king SP,’” Remini claims. (“SP” is a Scientology term for a “Suppressive Person” who left the church and may pull other members away from their faith if they associate with them.)
However, even if Scientology did once come between the family, that may not be the case anymore as Kidman has been clear about her desire to respect her children’s continued involvement with the church. In a 2018 interview with Who, the actress said of her children: “I’m very private about all that.” She added: “I have to protect all those relationships. I know 150 per cent that I would give up my life for my children because it’s what my purpose is.”
“They are adults,” she told the Australian magazine. “They are able to make their own decisions. They have made choices to be Scientologists and as a mother, it’s my job to love them.” Of that choice she said: “I am an example of that tolerance and that’s what I believe – that no matter what your child does, the child has love and the child has to know there is available love and I’m open here.”
“I think that’s so important because if that is taken away from a child, to sever that in any child, in any relationship, in any family – I believe it’s wrong,” she added. “So that’s our job as a parent, to always offer unconditional love.”
A version of this article was originally published in August 2023.
Before you go, click here to see Tom Cruise & Katie Holmes entire relationship timeline:
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