She’s the mother to four children and although she is rarely seen with her two older children, Bella Cruise, 27, and Connor Cruise, 25, who she shares with ex-husband Tom Cruise, Nicole Kidman insists they will always have her “unconditional love” and support.
In 2017, the actress made headlines at the 69th Primetime Emmy Awards during her acceptance speech for the Best Actress gong for what she didn’t say in her tearful address.
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As she took to the mic, Nicole referenced her two daughters, Sunday Rose, 11, and Faith Margaret, nine, with husband Keith Urban but she failed to acknowledge her two other children – Isabella and Connor – whom she adopted with her ex-husband, Tom Cruise.
“Sunny, Faith, I love you. I’m bringing this home to you babies,” she said at the time.
Naturally the oversight sent social media into a frenzy as viewers noticed the omission with Google sleuths suggesting it was because of Isabella and Connor’s ongoing connection with the Church of Scientology.
So, how often does Nicole see the Cruise kids? And what kind of dynamic do they have? Here, we answer all your burning questions about Nicole’s relationship with Bella and Connor Cruise..
Those Suppressive Person allegations
After her marriage to Tom Cruise in 1990, Nicole became a Scientologist.
When they divorced in 2001, Nicole deflected from the church and it was widely reported she had been labelled a “Suppressive Person” by the organisation and therefore not allowed to maintain a relationship with her two children, Bella and Connor, who are practicing Scientologists.
Nicole has never addressed these claims and instead maintains a dignified silence, explaining: “I’ve chosen not to speak publicly about Scientology. I have two children who are Scientologists – Connor and Isabella – and I utterly respect their beliefs.”
However in actress Leah Remini’s biography, Troublemaker: Surviving Hollywood and Scientology, the King of Queen actress, who left the church in 2013, claims she bumped into Isabella and Connor at Tom Cruise’s ill-fated wedding to Katie Holmes in 2006 and was left ‘shocked” when Bella revealed she doesn’t stay in touch with her mum.
Leah Remini claims Bella, pictured with her parents in 1993, called Nicole a “suppressive person.”
“I had always wondered why they didn’t have a relationship with their mum,” Leah explained, before asking them: “Hey, guys. How’s your mum? Do you see her a lot?”
“When I asked if she talked to her Mum, Bella scoffed and said, ‘Not if I can help it, she’s a f–king SP [suppressed person]’. Connor just looked out the window. There was something human about his silence and the sadness I felt in it,” Leah alleges.
Meanwhile former Scientologist John Brousseau alleged to Vanity Fair that the kids told him: “Nic is an SP [suppressive person]! We hate seeing her.”
WATCH: Nicole talks about adopting. Post continues below…
When were they last seen in public together?
While it’s very likely Nicole could catch up with Bella and Connor in private, the last known photos of the actress and her two older children were taken around June, 2006, during her wedding celebrations with Keith Urban.
In the lead up to the big day, which was held on the sprawling grounds of St Patrick’s Estate in Manly on June 25th, Keith was pictured bonding with stepson Connor on a cruise around Sydney Harbour.
Nicole leaves her parents’ Greenwich home in Sydney with Bella for a pre-wedding dinner in June, 2006.
Keith Urban made a rare public appearance with Connor Cruise a few days before his wedding to Nicole. Nic’s son joined Keith and his family for a cruise around Sydney Harbour.
The siblings attended the Sydney nuptials with Bella playing the role of bridesmaid.
Nicole was also pictured with Bella and Connor during filming of Australia in 2007. It’s believed they haven’t been photographed in public together since.
As far as we know, Bella and Connor haven’t been pictured in public with Nicole’s younger daughters, Sunday Rose and Faith Margaret, however during Tom’s marriage to Katie Holmes, they were often seen with their younger sister Suri Cruise, 14.
Bella and her cousin and aunt Antonia Kidman were in Nicole’s bridal party.
This is one of the last known photos of Nicole and her older children. It was taken on June 22nd, 2006 when the group landed back in Sydney ahead of the wedding.
Nicole DID thank Bella in her Oscars’ speech
For all the flack Nic’s copped over this year’s Emmys speech, we’d like to remind you of her 2003 Oscars’ acceptance speech for Best Actress in The Hours – where Bella not only cheered on her mother from the audience but received a very special shout-out from an overwhelmed Nicole.
“I am standing here in front of my mother and my daughter and my whole life I’ve wanted to make my mother proud. And now I want to make my daughter proud. So thank you,” Nicole proclaimed through tears as a beaming Bella watched on.
At the time, Nicole said she wanted her oldest daughter at the A-list event “in case I lost, although of course she’s now saying she knew that I would win.”
It’s important to note, this heartfelt speech came two years after Tom had filed for divorce so for a period of time, the star did indeed have access to her kids.
For Nic, she says the instinct to adopt has always been strong and after she suffered a miscarriage with Tom during her early 20s, the couple decided to adopt Bella shortly after.
“From the minute Tom and I were married, I wanted to have babies,” she told Vanity Fair in 2007.
“And we lost a baby early on, so that was really very traumatic. And that’s when it came that we would adopt Bella. My mother has an adopted sister, so it’s been part of our family and I knew it would probably play out somewhere in mine. I didn’t think it would happen so early but it did.”
WATCH: Nicole thanks Bella during her Oscars’ acceptance speech. Post continues…
When the custody agreement reportedly soured
For the first few years after she split with Tom, things were seemingly going well for Nic and the children.
In 2003, she revealed she’d take her “great kids” to Starbucks and spoke lovingly about spending time with them – she even let them have doughnuts twice a week!
According to a report from The Daily Mail her custody agreement with Tom hit a snag in 2004.
‘Nicole was absent for a lot of 2004, making the film Cold Mountain in Romania, and returned hoping to spend time with the children — but instead they went to Scientology summer camp,” the report claimed.
“By 2005 the children were with Tom Cruise full-time and being home schooled by his sister Cass,” it continued.
Nicole and Tom’s custody agreement reportedly soured around 2004.
Co-parenting with Tom Cruise
Over the years, Nicole has admitted that she misses her kids after they chose to live with Tom in LA.
“When children are teenagers, they have a say in where they want to be. L.A. is a big draw, and I’m looking to get a place there so we can share more,” the Nashville-based star explained to Marie Claire in 2007.
Before telling HELLO! Magazine in 2010: “They live with Tom, which was their choice. I’d love [for] them to live with us, but what can you do?”
Despite the geographical distance, she praised Tom for helping raise the duo and said she was proud of who they had become.
“They are healthy and sane and together and are great, great people. So I’m not one of those people that needs to be reminded of what I have.”
In a 2008 interview with Oprah, Tom didn’t divulge much when the chat show quizzed him about their set-up.
“I read that she (Nicole) had been pushed out of the children’s lives,” Oprah probed.
But Tom insisted his ex-wife could see the children whenever she wanted.
“No, that’s ridiculous. We share custody. Whenever. Whenever,” he clarified.
“We share custody. Whenever. Whenever,” Tom said of co-parenting with Nicole in 2008.
How does she keep in touch with them?
With Connor living in Clearwater, Florida and Bella based in London with her husband Max Parker the actress says she uses technology to stay in touch.
“I have four children, so to stay in touch with them is very important. I’m definitely engaged in it (texting) but I don’t let it rule my life,” the star told DuJour magazine.
In 2016, Bella rubbished claims she had lost touch with her parents. “Of course we talk, they’re my parents,” Bella told local publication, adding that anyone who questions their bond is “full of s—.”
Nic also says she’s proud of Bella and Connor for forging their own careers as a DJ and hairdresser.
“Everybody has their own path and when they find their path it’s such a relief as a parent you know,” she admitted to Extra in 2013.
Nic says she keeps in touch with her kids via text.
Building bridges
In 2014, Connor Cruise insisted that he was “solid” with Nicole, despite reports of estrangement.
In an interview with Woman’s Day, Connor’s face lit up when he talked about how much he loved his mum during a quick visit to his “second home” while touring Australia.
“I love my mum. I don’t care what people say, I know that me and Mum are solid. I love her a lot. My family means everything. Yeah, I love my music, but the family comes before everything else,” he said.
Meanwhile, it’s believed Nicole had an “emotional” reunion with Bella last year after her wedding to Max.
Although Tom and Nicole were absent from Bella’s actual wedding in 2015, the mother and daughter reportedly met up in private a year after the nuptials.
“It was a very emotional moment for all of them, especially Nicole. It didn’t take long for her to burst into tears, and Bella soon followed,” an insider told Woman’s Day.
“Nic has been trying to build bridges with Bella since the start of the year. Nicole took an instant liking to Max and could see that he and Bella get on really well.”
Just last September, Nicole spoke to The Sun about the challenges of parenting.
“Motherhood is about the journey. There are going to be incredible peaks and valleys, whether you are an adopting mother or a birth mother. What a child needs is love.”
“They have made choices to be Scientologists. It’s our job as a parent to always offer unconditional love.”
These days, Connor works as a DJ and is based in Clearwater and Bella is a hairdresser in London.
For Nicole’s part, she dedicated her stirring performance in Lion, in which she plays an mother who adopts two boys from India, to Bella and Connor.
“This movie is a love letter to my children. [My character] Sue is deeply maternal and full of unconditional love, which is beautiful,” she told Town and Country when the film was released in 2017.
“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.”
The mother-of-four also insists the love she feels for her adoptive kids is no different to that of her biological daughters.
“I wanted to [adopt], I felt the need. I had a vision of a child that would be my child. That to me is the true sense of being a mother – that unconditional love just exists.”
While her relationship with Connor and Bella might not be conventional or traditional – as she so eloquently puts it, love is love and it’s very clear Connor and Bella are getting a lot of it from Nicole.
Families and divorce are complex, ever-changing issues and we shouldn’t be so quick to judge how one unit operates compared to the other. There’s so much going on behind the scenes we’ll never know about.
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Nic says she adores all four of her children and that “unconditional love just exists.”
