With her dazzling smile and glamorous poise, Nicole Kidman always seems to be at home in front of screaming fans and flashbulb-popping paparazzi. But in an interview in this month’s Vogue magazine, the Oscar nominee reveals she suffers from red carpet fright. “I panic in front of all the cameras,” she confesses. “My hands start shaking and I have trouble breathing.”
During her marriage to Tom Cruise, she turned to her charismatic husband for support. “Tom would always whisper to me that everything was all right,” she says.
Now divorced, the Practical Magic star must find reassurance elsewhere. At the Moulin Rouge premiere in Cannes, Nicole – stunning in an Yves Saint Laurent corset dress – suddenly found herself trying to overcome an attack of nerves.
“There were all these people bearing down on me and lots of lights,” she recalls. “I was so panicked I just couldn’t breathe.” Luckily, her sister Antonia, who had accompanied her to the event, was able to come to the rescue. “I heard myself say, ‘I need my sister, I need my sister.’ Suddenly, there she was – right in front of me, looking into my eyes.”
From there, the solution was simple: Sis took Nicole by the hand and led her back into the ladies’ loo. “There she undid my corset, took off my shoes, held me in her arms and told me that everything was going to be OK,” says the actress. “So I… got dressed and got out there.”
Adds Nicole: “Tom was always so good at that kind of thing.”
Though she doesn’t yet have a date lined up for the Academy Awards, she can be sure her ex-hubby will be rooting for her. A representative for the actor recently told the press: “He’ll be cheering for Nicole to win the Best Actress Oscar.”
Photo: © Alphapress.com
Photo: © Alphapress.com
