Nicole Kidman lied about her height to make it in Hollywood
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Nicole Kidman has admitted that she lied about her height after being told she was too tall to make it in Hollywood.
The Oscar-winning actress revealed she tells people her height is 179cm (5ft 10 1/2in) when in fact she stands at 180cm (5ft 11in).
Speaking to The Radio Times Podcast, she said: “I was teased and called Stalky. People would say, ‘How’s the air up there?’”
The 56-year-old, who is the star of films including Moulin Rouge, Cold Mountain and Australia, revealed that her height sometimes “bothers” her when acting and that she has issues with her knees because of it.
However, the Australian actress also said there were times she could use it to her advantage in work and that she is simply “grateful to be healthy and walking around”.
“Now I get, ‘You’re so much taller than I thought,’” she said, adding: “Or men grappling with how high my heels should be.
“Whenever I go on the red carpet, I get sent shoes that are always so high. I’m like, ‘Do they have a kitten heel? I’m going to be the tallest person - a giraffe!’”
Despite being taller than most Hollywood actresses, Kidman has achieved an array of accolades for her decades of work in the industry, including an Oscar, a Bafta and six Golden Globes.
“What matters is how you allow other people to either say ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to you, and whether you accept that,” she reflected, saying that she teaches her daughters the “superpower” of inner resilience.
The mother of four shares two adopted children, Isaella and Connor, with her ex-husband Tom Cruise and has two teenage daughters, Sunday Rose and Faith Margaret, with country musician Keith Urban, to whom she has been married for nearly two decades.
Kidman also works by example to increase female-led roles in the film and TV industry and in 2010 started her own production company, Blossom Films, to use her platform to champion women.
She told Radio Times: “There was a time when [roles for women] were lacking and hopefully that’s being redirected now.
“It’s partly because we’re all saying, ‘Come on, let’s put women behind the lens, let’s give them their voices in writing.’ We need our allies, not just in terms of directors, but financially and in the press – we need influence and support so that we can move forward.”
Discussing filming sex scenes for television in the wake of the Me Too movement, the Big Little Lies actress said that intimacy coordinators on-set can help.
Kidman said: “It’s still not infallible, but at the same time, when you have intimacy coordinators, it’s very helpful for directors, actors and crew.”
She discussed being raised by a feminist mother and said she pulls from her decades of work in the field of violence against women for the UN to advocate for protective laws.
Kidman also insisted that intimate scenes can continue to be filmed with respect and structure while “remembering the human being” at the centre of it.
It comes after Normal People actor Paul Mescal said that putting sex on television was “massively important”, and warned that removing it to placate Gen Z is “doing everybody a disservice”.
