Nicole Kidman Finally Explained That Viral Tom Cruise Divorce Photo

They were Hollywood’s it-couple of the late 90s, but when Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman called it quits in 2001 all anyone could talk about was one viral photo.

The snap in question, which has since become a go-to meme in internet culture, shows Nicole strutting triumphantly down the street, hands in the air allegedly leaving her divorce lawyer’s office.

It was quickly linked to her split and assumed to be some sort of celebration, but the Babygirl star has firmly put such speculation to bed.

Addressing the photograph some two decades later, Nicole says, “that’s not true” of the meaning behind the meme. 

“That was not me; that was from a film, that wasn’t real life. I know that image!” she told British GQ. 

Tom and Nicole split after 11 years of marriage, having originally tied the knot in 1990 following their meeting on the set of the film, Days Of Thunder.

The couple shared two children who they adopted, Isabella Jane in 1992, and a son, Connor, in 1995.

At the time of their split, reps for the couple cited “the difficulties inherent in divergent careers which constantly keep them apart” as the reason for the split.

However, a 2012 interview with DuJour magazine revealed the divorce came as a “shock” to Nicole. 

“I thought our life together was perfect,” Kidman admitted to the publication. “It took me a very long time to heal. It was a shock to my system.”