After years of misinformation sweeping social media and ‘fake news’ rightly being condemned, there’s now one example where no one wants the truth. Hollywood A-list actor Nicole Kidman has revealed that the much-loved, highly memed Nicole Kidman divorce photo - that image of her running out of her attorney’s office after getting a divorce from Tom Cruise isn’t real. Everything we thought about those infamous Nicole Kidman meme is wrong, in fact.
If you’re devastated, you’re not alone. In an interview with GQ, Kidman revealed the viral photo of her, arms splayed, mouth agape, face displaying an emotion akin to ecstasy, was taken on set from a film. In one concise sentence, the Babygirl and Perfect Couple star annihilated one of the internet’s most cherished lores.
'That was not me,' she said of the infamous Nicole Kidman divorce meme. 'That was from a film; that wasn’t real life.
'I know that image!'
For many the meme is the perfect encapsulation of freedom. The moment you’ve escaped a relationship that weighed you down and stopped serving you. The sun is shining. Birds are chirping, and your exuberance holds no bounds. Why not jog down the street? Why not sing like no one is around? The world is suddenly open and kind, with an Instagram-filter shielding you from its horrors.
Nicole Kidman and Tom Cruise were married from 1990 to 2001 and have two children: Isabella, 31 and Connor, 29. A famous 90s 'it' couple, the pair met while filming Days Of Thunder. But their divorce was just as fascinating for people, helped in part by this photo.
According to Know Your Meme, the images are said to be from 2001, but the first record of it found was 2012.
Since then, X users have relied on the meme to illustrate everything from break-ups, to finding out their rent wasn’t spiked. Nicole Kidman divorce meme has even become a popular Halloween costume choice because of its power in pop culture.
Just two months ago, Jenna Dewan shared one of the photos on her Instagram Stories, after her divorce with Channing Tatum was finalised.
It turns out Kidman is on a kind of meme-explanation tour. In the same interview she also clarified her highly memed 2017 Oscar clap, where her hands curve like a seal’s flippers.
'I had a massive heavy borrowed ring on and it was really painful, and I was scared of wrecking the jewellery,' she shared with a laugh.
'There’s always something behind the actual images that go out there, right?'
While there might be a sliver of boring truth to every meme, let us bathe in the lies Nicole. We prefer it that way.