Aurora Starchild
Nicole Kidman has been rocking the silver screen for decades. The 6-time Golden Globe winner, two-time Emmy award winner and Oscar winner (and Tom Cruise’s ex-wife!) is practically a legend. And all that work hasn’t been easy. Kidman actually powered through multiple extreme injuries while playing Satine on Moulin Rouge. They included two broken ribs and torn cartilage in her knee.
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Nicole Kidman Felt Privileged to Star in a Musical Like Moulin Rouge
It may seem odd that a musical of such critical acclaim would be so physically daunting on its Hollywood stars. But one of Kidman’s injuries was so bad that it actually cost her a role in Panic Room, David Fincher’s follow-up to Fight Club. Regardless of the pain, Kidman was almost masochistic in her desire to keep pushing on.
“I’m dancing in high heels, I broke my ribs, I tore up my knee. I did all the things you’re meant to do while creating great art,” Kidman told Yahoo Entertainment in 2014. Moulin Rouge was released in 2001, so the actress had had plenty of time to consider her choices.
“I grew up in a family where musicals were so revered, so to be cast in a musical was like, ‘I’d made it,’” she continued. “It was extraordinary. I’m so privileged to be in that movie.”
Indeed, Moulin Rouge swept the following award season. Kidman herself received her first ever Oscar nomination and a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress for her role. And the musical received over 50 prestigious award nominations, 2 Oscars, and 2 more Golden Globes in addition to Kidman’s. One of those Oscars was for Best Costume Design — and it was actually the costumes that contributed to Kidman’s injuries.
Kidman Fell Down the Stairs While Filming “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend”
While filming “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend,” Nicole Kidman fell down the stairs and broke two of her ribs. Of course, she was wearing heels, and when she fell, her knee was also injured.
“I hurt myself dancing in heels at three in the morning and I fell downstairs,” Kidman told Graham Norton (via Daily Mail). “I then re-broke my rib getting into a corset.”
Remember those award-winning costumes? They featured genuine corsets, the kinds that women used to break their ribs to fit into. And while it wasn’t the actress’s intention, that is what happened.
“’I had this thing that I wanted to get my waist down to 18 inches, which Vivian Leigh had on Gone with the Wind and I was just like, ‘tighter, tighter!’” Kidman told Norton.
Ouch!
Nicole Kidman Is “Terrified” of Singing in Front of People
She added that she was nervous about singing in front of people.
“Moulin Rouge was really hard for me because singing is not something that comes naturally to me,” she said. “It is so frightening to have to sing in front of people. I get terrified.”
Did anyone bother to tell Kidman that singers usually need to expand their lungs to properly project their voices? That means expanding your diaphragm — which ultra-tight corsets actually prevent. No matter, Kidman had her cake and ate it too, in a very loose metaphorical way of course, because 18 inches certainly doesn’t leave much room for anything.
The year after Moulin Rouge was released, Panic Room came out. Nicole Kidman was actually meant to play the lead role of Meg Altman, but about 10 weeks into production, her recent knee injury came back to haunt her. Jodie Foster came in to replace Kidman while Kidman’s role was switched to an uncredited “Stephen’s Girlfriend on the phone.” According to The Richest, the role of Meg Altman involved a lot of high-energy movement like running and fighting, which is why Kidman’s ligaments couldn’t keep up.
Kidman Suffered a Second Miscarriage Shortly After Moulin Rouge
That wasn’t even the end of Nicole Kidman’s troubles at the time. While married to Tom Cruise, she suffered her second miscarriage in 2001.
“The loss of a miscarriage is not talked about enough. That’s massive grief to certain women,” Kidman told Tatler Magazine in 2018.
Around the time of her second miscarriage, Cruise filed for divorce, citing “irreconcilable differences.” They’d been married for over a decade.
Despite all the pain and loss — loss of work, of a child, and a husband — Kidman pulled through She nabbed her first Oscar for Best Actress in 2003 after portraying the iconic English writer Virginia Woolf in The Hours. The role also garnered her yet another Golden Globe as well as a BAFTA. And in 2005, she met the love of her life, Keith Urban. They married in 2006 and went on to have a successful pregnancy, welcoming Sunday Rose in 2008. They welcomed daughter Faith Margaret via surrogate in 2010.
Nicole Kidman is one tough woman! If she’s taught us anything, it’s perhaps that sometimes we need to feel pain to come out on the other side.
