I know what's really behind THOSE shameful Nicole Kidman sex rumors... and what it means for her future lovers: JANA HOCKING
When news broke that Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban were divorcing, I popped my popcorn in the microwave and pulled up a seat. This was going to be a doozy.
If there's one thing Nicole knows how to do with style, it's divorce.
Who could forget that epic picture of her punching the air in apparent glee in the wake of her split from Hollywood's leading man, Tom Cruise, way back in 2001?
That photo is legendary - though Nicole later revealed that she was filming a movie at the time. Regardless, it's become an iconic image of liberation. I have it framed in gold and hanging in my loo.
Fast forward two decades and she's divorcing another dinky husband – what is it about Nicole and men who just don't measure up?
As a seasoned aficionado of breakups I thought I'd seen it all, and sure enough, the initial PR soundbites from Keith's side were right out of the celeb divorce playbook: 'They've been broken up for months.' 'She's been working too hard.' Yawn.
But the pièce de résistance, the bit of the blame game which even I genuinely didn't see coming, has been the whisper campaign suggesting that the real problem was Nicole's insatiable appetite for sex.
Let's hit pause.
If there's one thing Nicole (pictured left with Urban, right) knows how to do with style, it's divorce
But the pièce de résistance, the bit of the blame game which even I genuinely didn't see coming, has been the whisper campaign suggesting that the real problem was Nicole's insatiable appetite for sex
Nicole Kidman shoots a few scorching scenes with younger men – A Family Affair with Zac Efron and, be still my fluttering loins, Babygirl with Harrison Dickinson - and suddenly she's branded a nympho who needs to be shamed out of town?
Excuse me? What century are we living in?
Every woman over 35 is standing up from their cinema seat right now, slow clapping in solidarity for finally being represented on the big screen.
At last, a narrative that feels real and raunchy.
For decades we've been force-fed the idea that once a woman blows out 27 birthday candles (hi, Leo!) she's expired, irrelevant and certainly not having sex.
Yet here's Nicole, casually smashing that myth to smithereens, reveling in gloriously debauched rendezvous with men barely half her age and breaking box office records to boot.
The shock. The horror. And now, apparently, the divorce.
For decades we've been force-fed the idea that once a woman blows out 27 birthday candles she's expired, irrelevant and certainly not having sex
It's the oldest trick in the book. When marriages fall apart, women are always too much or not enough. Too cold. Too needy. Too frigid. Whatever the angle, she gets the blame, but too lusty? That's a new one, even for me.
And it's also more than a little bit rich. Because, if the Nashville whispers are true, 57-year-old Keith has allegedly been cozying up to a much younger woman.
So let me get this straight. When a man strays into the arms of someone half his wife's age, it's framed as a mid-life adventure. When a woman dares to want more passion in her own marriage bed, she's branded 'too much.' Please.
Why shouldn't Nicole want sex? Why shouldn't any woman? We've been conditioned to think desire is a male trait, that women either tolerate, withhold, or weaponize sex. But heaven forbid a woman in her fifties still craves it.
And not only that, makes bank from it!
Nicole wasn't sneaking around back alleys in Nashville. She was on screen, doing her job, being paid millions to deliver what audiences have adored across her entire career - her talent and her magnetism.
Men in Hollywood have long dined out on that same currency and not had it used against them.
Nobody flinched when Al Pacino fathered a child at 83. Nobody clutched their pearls when Leonardo DiCaprio swapped out girlfriends like rental cars once they hit 27. Hugh Hefner built an empire out of it and was called an icon.
But Nicole kisses the dimpled Zac and suddenly we're supposed to believe her libido blew up her marriage? The hypocrisy is staggering.
Nicole Kidman shoots a few scorching scenes with younger men – A Family Affair with Zac Efron and, be still my fluttering loins, Babygirl with Harrison Dickinson (pictured) - and suddenly she's branded a nympho who needs to be shamed out of town?
Every woman over 35 is standing up from their cinema seat right now, slow clapping in solidarity for finally being represented on the big screen. (Pictured: Efron and Kidman)
And here's what's really being brushed aside. If Keith has allegedly been unfaithful, why are we not screaming 'scumbag!'? Why is the focus on Nicole's sex drive instead of his behavior? Classic woman-blaming. Slap a 'sex addict' label on her and suddenly it's her fault the marriage cracked.
This isn't just about Nicole. It's about how we still treat women who dare to own their sexuality. Men step out, it's a shrug. Women lean in, it's a scandal.
I'm sorry, but I'm cheering for her. Maybe this so-called scandal is really her liberation story. Maybe she ditches the double standards and finds herself a younger man who can keep up. Heck, that's what all my friends are doing.
Want an emotionally available man, who's done the work and knows how to communicate their needs? Go younger.
And who wouldn't sign up to play the leading man to this Babygirl?
She's 58, she's fearless and she's in the middle of a career run most actresses could only dream of. She doesn't need Nashville gossip when she's got Hollywood at her feet.
So yes, maybe she goes full cougar à la Cher. Maybe she dates someone decades younger who actually appreciates her.
Or maybe she doesn't date at all and just laughs at the irony that the very thing his team tried to level against her - her sexuality - is the very thing making her more adored than ever.
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