Winning an Oscar could be arguably considered to be one of the greatest peaks of an actor's career, although that was far from the case for Nicole Kidman.
The star, now 59, won her first Academy Award back in 2003 for her performance in The Hours, playing author Virginia Woolf, taking home the trophy on her second nomination.
© Getty ImagesThe win came after three back-to-back stellar film performances that shook off the image of her as just "Tom Cruise's ex-wife," when she starred in Moulin Rouge!, The Others and The Hours, earning her very first Oscar nod for the former.
Nicole has since been nominated three more times (for Rabbit Hole, Lion and Being the Ricardos), and is now starring in the new Practical Magic sequel, which hit theaters on September 10.
When she joined Sandra Bullock on Jake Shane's podcast Therapuss, though, she opened up about how isolating the entire Oscar-winning moment felt, a night that has lived in pop culture history due to Denzel Washington introducing her win with a joke about the prosthetic nose she wore for the film, plus the unfortunate involvement of Miramax's Harvey Weinstein.
When asked how both Nicole and Sandra "stay present" for such pivotal moments in their career (Sandra won her Oscar in 2010 for The Blind Side), Nicole quipped that they both "left our bodies when we won Oscars."
Sandra, now 62, explained that she was "a mess" that night, running on a lack of sleep due to caring for her newborn son Louis (whose existence was still a secret at the time), while Nicole found the process quite "lonely."
© Getty Images"I was beyond lonely," she recalled. "I had the pinnacle of my success, and I went home and was so lonely. Crazy, though, that confluence of events," noting that though her parents were there, she remembered being on her own and thinking: "Where's my partner, someone that I can share this with?"
She continued: "It was one of the most profound moments where I went, 'I've got to get a life.' And at the same time, I'm holding this gold statue where you go, 'this, this is it, this is the highest prize you can get in our industry.' So grateful, and yet so lonely."
© Getty ImagesNicole noted that it was a "weird" experience, and she found herself thinking: "I'd love to be able to just, you know, be wrapped in somebody's arms right now," and wanted someone around her to keep her grounded.
Sandra affirmed that sometimes, while it feels like your work can "fill your cup," when you go home after the job, it feels more like an "empty cup." At the time, Nicole had also been a couple years removed from her marriage to Tom.
© Getty ImagesHowever, a few months into 2003, she had quietly started dating musician Lenny Kravitz. The pair soon became engaged, although privately called things off shortly after. In 2005, Nicole met Keith Urban, with the pair tying the knot the year after and welcoming two daughters, Faith and Sunday. They called it quits in 2025, with their divorce finalized in early 2026.
