Nicole Kidman has claimed that being married to Tom Cruise provided her with “protection” from sexual abuse in Hollywood. Kidman and Cruise got married in 1990 on Christmas Eve.

Kidman has previously been disinclined to discuss her relationship with Cruise since he filed for divorce from her in 2001.

However, she has now spoken openly about how being married to the Mission Impossible actor provided her with a sense of security as a young woman in Hollywood.

“Being married to Tom Cruise at 22 is something I’m always reluctant to talk about, because I’m married now to the man who is my great love [Keith Urban], and it almost feels disrespectful,” she writes in an essay for New York Magazine's women and power series.

“That said, I got married very young, but it definitely wasn’t power for me - it was protection.

“I married for love, but being married to an extremely powerful man kept me from being sexually harassed”, she wrote.