Nicole Kidman Shrugs Off Being ‘Teased’ By Friends for Her Christian Faith

Actress Nicole Kidman said she is often teased by friends for her Christian faith and for going to church with her family, in a new cover story with Vanity Fair.

“A lot of my friends tease me,” said Kidman, who came back to her Catholic faith prior to marrying country singer Keith Urban in 2006. The couple settled in Nashville, Tennessee, where they have lived ever since.

Kidman said that regular Mass attendance is an important part of their family life.

“That’s how we are raising our children. Keith has his own beliefs but he comes, too,” the Big Little Lies star said. “I had a very Catholic grandmother, and I was raised praying, so that had massive impact.”

“I wouldn’t say it’s absolutism, there’s constant questioning — I’m a willful, feisty girl. For me it’s very important that I don’t have judgment. My dad would always say, ‘Tolerance is the most important thing,’” Kidman said.

Leading up to her marriage to Urban, Kidman spent time studying theology at Pepperdine University in Malibu, California, as part of “a return to her Catholic roots,” it was reported.

“Catholicism guides me. I certainly have a strong belief. I try to go to church regularly, and I try to go to confession,” she said at the time.

Last fall, Ms. Kidman told Allure that she had considered becoming a nun when she was young, a life she felt attracted to.

“I’m spiritual in the sense that I absolutely believe in God,” she said. “I loved the idea of being a nun. Obviously, I did not choose to go that path, but I was very drawn to it.”

The Oscar-winning actress wandered from her childhood faith for several years, dabbling in Scientology and Buddhism while she was married to actor Tom Cruise and later returning to the Catholic faith.

“For Nicole, you know this is a spiritual homecoming, coming back to the church and her faith in her old parish,” said Father Paul Coleman in 2006, an Australian priest and a longtime friend of the Kidman family who helped the actress obtain the annulment of her marriage with Tom Cruise.

The 51-year-old star has two grown-up children with Cruise, as well as two younger daughters — Sunday Rose and Faith Margaret — with husband Keith Urban.

Follow Thomas D. Williams on Twitter Follow @tdwilliamsrome