Nicole Kidman had an amazing night at the Golden Globes on Sunday, taking home the award for best actress in a limited series or TV movie for her role in Big Little Lies. After taking the stage to accept her well-deserved statue, she gave a moving speech about the power of women in light of the Time’s Up movement to end sexual harassment and gender inequality.
She also gave a sweet shout-out to her two daughters with husband Keith Urban, Sunday and Faith, joking that they can actually watch her since she won the first award of the night. “This means my daughters are still awake, so, Sunny and Faith, I love you. I’m bringing this home to you, babies!”
While her speech was emotional and amazing, Nicole obviously didn’t thank her two older children, Connor, 22, and Isabella, 25, whom she adopted during her marriage to Tom Cruise. Nicole, who also didn’t thank them when she won at the Emmys in September, has said very little about Connor and Isabella over the years, and while she’s never revealed the exact reason, it most likely has something to do with Scientology.
“I’m a mother with adopted children. It’s not about anything else other than, ‘I wanted you.'”
Tom is arguably the world’s most famous Scientologist, and when Nicole and Tom divorced in 2001, Connor and Isabella, who were raised in the church, decided to live with their dad and remain devoted to their religion. Because Nicole is not a Scientologist, she is deemed an “SP,” or “suppressive person,” by the church, which means Scientologists should cut off all contact with them.
Leah Remini, who has been exposing the church and its leader, David Miscavige, on her show Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath, touched on Nicole’s estranged relationship with Connor and Isabella in her book, Troublemaker: Surviving Hollywood and Scientology. Leah said that after attending Tom’s 2006 wedding to Katie Holmes, she was riding in a car with the siblings and asked if they had seen their mother recently, to which Isabella replied, “Not if I have a choice. Our mom is a f*cking SP.”
Despite Nicole, Connor, and Isabella’s lack of public outings, they have maintained that there is nothing but love between them. While promoting her film Lion in 2016, Nicole told Vanity Fair, “I’m a mother with adopted children. This movie is a love letter to my children. Sue [her character] is deeply maternal and full of unconditional love, which is beautiful. That’s why I wanted to do it. I relate to that. I feel that for my own children who are adopted. It’s not about anything else other than, ‘I wanted you.’ It’s that deep and personal, and whatever your journey is, I’m here to love and support you. That’s what I connected to.”
Bella also talked about her relationship with her mom in 2012, saying, “I see her sometimes and speak to her.” Then in 2016, when asked if rumors of an estrangement were true after neither Nicole nor Tom attended her wedding, she told New Idea, “Of course we talk, they’re my parents. Anyone who says otherwise is full of sh*t.” Connor echoed her thoughts when he said, “I don’t care what people say. I know that me and mum are solid. I love her a lot. My family means everything.”
While the exact nature of Nicole’s relationship with Connor and Isabella is still unclear, it’s obvious in the rare few times she’s allowed herself to talk about them that she loves them very much. And because Scientology can cause a lot of problems for people it thinks are “suppressive,” Nicole may very well refrain from talking about her two older children completely in order to respect their beliefs.