Nicole Kidman: I Still Love Tom Cruise!

Why Keith Urban is freaking out over his wife’s very telling new interview.

SHE’S scoring rave reviews for Boy Erased, but there’s one fella Nicole Kidman will never nix from her memory: her ex-husband, Tom Cruise! The Aussie actress has been ambling down memory lane lately and opening up about her first marriage. Now insiders are spilling that all her reminiscing has current hubby Keith Urban concerned — and for good reason. In an interview with New York magazine, Nicole, 51, confessed, “I got married very young, but it wasn’t power for me — it was protection,” she says. “I married for love, but being married to an extremely powerful man kept me from being sexually harassed. Being married to Tom Cruise is something I’ve always been reluctant to talk about. I would work, but I was still very much cocooned.” It’s a confession that hasn’t sat well with her long-suspicious country star husband, sources claim.

NICOLE’S TOP GUN? Sources in the couple’s inner circle say Keith, 51, with whom she shares daughters Sunday, 10, and Faith, 7, is disturbed by her insinuation that he can’t “cocoon” her in safety the way Tom could — especially since, during their 11-year marriage, Tom, 56, kept her isolated in the dangerous bubble of Scientology. “Tom destroyed Nicole’s 20s with his Scientology obsession,” says an insider. “His fanatical belief in a religion that she saw as a sham is what drove them apart. Not to mention it’s what caused their adopted kids — Isabella, 25, and Connor, 23 — to side with their dad and cut Nicole from their lives when they split. So it’s very odd she’s still speaking about Tom in such a positive way.” This is precisely what bothers Keith, notes Star’s source: “He feels it’s extremely disrespectful for Nicole to be speaking about Tom so fondly. But she’s always loved her partners so fiercely, she’s probably told Keith that a part of her will always belong to Tom.” Now Keith is ready to be the Fighter, proving his devotion! “He couldn’t live without Nicole — and he especially wouldn’t stand for losing her to a man who treated her so badly,” reveals the spy. “So he’s considering reaching out to Tom personally to make sure he doesn’t get any ideas!”★