It took more than a decade for actor Nicole Kidman and musician Lenny Kravitz to confirm they were once in love. From their initial connection to their eventual split, their love story has been shrouded in mystery and speculation. Read on to find out how the truth of their one-time engagement slowly emerged and why Kidman says they called off the wedding even though she was basically living with Kravitz and his daughter, who would later become her co-star in one of her biggest projects.
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After her highly publicized divorce from Tom Cruise in 2001, Kidman evidently found solace in the arms of the Kravitz. According People, she was actually living in a home owned by the “Fly Away” singer when they started dating circa 2002. Kidman sublet his Manhattan property while her own New York City pad was being renovated, although it’s not clear if that was how they met or a result of their relationship.
Despite their status as two of Hollywood’s most recognizable faces, Kidman and Kravitz managed to keep their budding relationship quiet, even after they had been spotted out together.
“They’re very close,” Kidman’s spokesman told the Chicago Tribune in October of 2003. “He’s very important to her. Beyond that, I don’t know.”
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The relationship doesn’t appear to have lasted for much long after that. Kidman met country musician and fellow Aussie Keith Urban in January 2005, and the two announced they were engaged in 2006 after also largely keeping their relationship out of the public eye. When the Bombshell star gave a revealing interview to Vanity Fair the next year, she shared that she had also been secretly engaged in between Cruise and Urban—but declined to say to whom.
What Kidman was willing to reveal was the reason for calling off the wedding. The Oscar winner said that she was more focused on her two children with Cruise, Connor and Isabella, than her on love life at the time.
“I didn’t really want a relationship,” she said. “I just wanted my kids to have me, and I didn’t feel comfortable having some person in that small hubbub. And then I got engaged to somebody…but it just wasn’t right.It just wasn’t right. I wasn’t ready. We weren’t ready.”
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It wasn’t until February 2017 that Kidman let the identity of the mystery fiancé slip. In an interview with Porter magazine, she shared that she had long ago bonded with her Big Little Lies costar Zoe Kravitz.
“Well, I knew Zoe because I was engaged to her father,” she shared. “It’s all in the family! I love Lenny; he’s a great guy.”
The younger Kravitz seemed a little surprised that Kidman finally spilled the beans on her former relationship.
“I think she forgot that no one knew that,” Zoe told the same magazine later that year. She also give more insight into their bond. “I hadn’t seen her in a long time before Big Little Lies, but there was a point where we were all kind of living together. I was about 13, and she would take me to see movies; she was so nice to me.”