Nicole Kidman might be one of the biggest names on the planet today, but once upon a time, bagging roles wasn’t always so straightforward.
As a teenager — before she eventually rose to worldwide recognition in the ‘90s — Nicole was apparently told she’d never make it in Hollywood because of her height.
“I was told, ‘You won’t have a career. You’re too tall,’” she said during an interview with the Radio Times Podcast this week.
By the age of 13, Nicole had reached 5 feet 10 inches, which she said prompted teasing from a young age.
“I was called ‘storky.’ [People would say], ‘How’s the air up there?!’” she recalled.
Later in her teens, Nicole remembered auditioning for Annie and lying about her height in order to increase her chances of being seen for a part.
“I had to talk my way through the door, ‘cause they were measuring you before you went in,” she said, recalling that she told the casting directors that she was 5 feet 10½ inches, despite being 5 feet 11 inches at the time. “I was mortified,” she added.
Today, Nicole remains 5 feet 11 inches tall, and her height still proves to be a point of interest when people meet her for the first time.
“‘You’re so much taller than I thought,’” she mimicked, before admitting that her height has also left her “grappling with how high my heels should be.”
“Whenever you go on the red carpet, they send the shoes, and the shoes are always so high,” she said. “And I’m like, ‘Do they have a kitten heel? … I’m just gonna be the tallest person — the giraffe!’”
And while her height obviously hasn’t had an impact on her success in Hollywood today, Nicole did admit that there are still occasions when she’s acting and wants to be “small.”
“But then there are times when I appreciate it and can use it in my work,” she countered, before quipping: “Hey, I’m incredibly grateful to be healthy and walking around. Having said that, I’ve had knee issues and all sorts of things — partly because of my height!”
So, after spending years navigating her own insecurities, Nicole now says she tells her kids that “none of it matters.”
“What matters is how you allow other people to either say ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to you, and whether you accept that,” she said. “Inner resilience as a human being, that’s the superpower, really.”
Back in 2020, the Academy Award winner opened up about troubles with her height while recalling her high school prom during an interview with Glamour.
“I was a teenager who wouldn’t conform, but I had a lot of fears and insecurities because I was very tall,” she said. “I wore a 1920s flapper dress, which goes along with my ‘not conforming’ sensibility. I bought it in a vintage store and I just loved the idea of a flapper dress.”
Despite feeling insecure, the main thing she recalled from the night was “getting a little drunk” — “which is probably a lot of people’s experiences at their prom or formal,” she said.
