Nicole Kidman won't be getting roses and chocolate from Tom Cruise this Valentine's Day. It will be the tall, redheaded Aussie's first "single" V-Day in 11 years.
The good news: Tom Cruise is single again.
The bad news: America is still reeling from the shock of their divorce announcement last Tuesday. They were the couple, our modern day equivalent of Bogart and Bacall. When they first zoomed across the screen together in Days of Thunder, we were irresistibly drawn to their charismatic chemistry and glamorous sense of style. If any Hollywood couple could make it, they were the one.
But wait a second. How did this happen? It came out of the blue. Who could forget the hype over their recent and rather erotic pairing together in the sexy Kubrick flick Eyes Wide Shut. Everything seemed to be going so well. The statement released by their publicist (imagine having to announce your divorce through a publicist) cited that the two had "difficulties inherent in divergent careers which constantly kept them apart." The two decided to place their careers over love. Guess all that fame got to their head.
Is it an impossible feat for two mega movie stars to stay married these days? I wonder why they even bother to get married. It inevitably turns into a gruesome battle between their egos and their devotion to each other.
Kidman and Cruise weren't in equal ranks in terms of stardom when they married each other. Perhaps that is why their marriage worked so well... at first. Being married to the high-profile heartthrob Cruise certainly didn't hurt Kidman's career. Her pairings with him in Days of Thunder, Far and Away, and Eyes Wide Shut were among some of the most successful films of her career.
But it was obvious that Kidman wanted to make her career on her own terms. Her first true Hollywood break was as the sultry Dr. Chase Meridian in BatmanReturns. From there, her career skyrocketed and she was suddenly the leading lady in a number of high-profile flicks such as To Die For and Malice.
Cruise certainly wasn't losing his steam, either, with roles in the action thriller Mission: Impossible II and a critically lauded performance in Magnolia. Now, all of a sudden, the two were on the same playing field.
In the past few years, their relationship must have turned into a series of phone calls and late-night frustration as the stars attempted to balance their careers and marriage. It's no wonder that their marriage fell apart, considering they must have never even been home at the same time due to their hectic filming schedules. The tension between the two must have become unbearable, especially with their two adopted children, Connor and Isabella, in the picture.
Neither star was willing to follow the other on their journey to notoriety to keep the family together. Work first. Play later. The tension on the rope became unbearable and the couple cut the knot. But boy, did they do a good job keeping their misery a secret.
Being a famous couple in this day and age is like being a caged bird with all of America peering in. Greedy entertainment gossip shows and websites capitalize on glam pairs' every breath and move. Kidman and Cruise were able to manage the hype with a great deal of grace and calmness. Of course, they were cautious. Very cautious. Apparently, they made their hired help sign a legal agreement that they wouldn't sell any gossip to the tabloids. All the more reason their divorce made such waves - we never knew anything was wrong.
The end of glam couples like Cruise and Kidman is certainly nothing new in Hollywood. Call it the beautiful people's curse. In just the past few years, we have witnessed the high-profile divorce of power couples like Bruce Willis and Demi Moore, Meg Ryan and Dennis Quaid, and Tufts' own Hank Azaria (who just graced the Medford campus last year to receive the Light on the Hill Award) and Helen Hunt.
Maybe these stars would be better off not finding such notorious spouses and marrying someone, say... normal, or ordinary. A match between a doctor and a movie star might have a much higher chance of survival. After all, it's not like a cardiologist and movie star would be competing for the same thing.
Celebrities, just like us, often find themselves unhappy in their marriages. But it is even harder for them because the world they live in puts them in direct competition with each other when they attempt wedded bliss. They seem to be constantly searching for the right one and endure one miserable divorce after another. How many marriages did Elizabeth Taylor go through again? Seven? Eight? I've lost count.
Cruise and Kidman were the Hollywood golden couple we all aspired to be. We'll have to search for a replacement, but I don't know if we'll find one quite as breathtaking. Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston don't quite fit the bill in my eyes as our next favorite pair.
I imagine we'll all be rather taken aback when we hear of Tom's newest sweetie and Nicole's latest beaux. Somehow, it just won't feel right, because they were supposed to be the one couple that beat the odds.
