LOS ANGELES - Actor Tom Cruise and his actress wife Nicole Kidman, one of the Hollywood's best-known star couples, say they have separated after more than a decade of marriage, citing the strains of their movie careers.
A statement issued by their publicist said, ``Citing the difficulties inherent in divergent careers which constantly keep them apart, they concluded that an amicable separation seems best.'' The statement added that the couple retained their high respect for each other, ``both personally and professionally.''
Cruise, 38, and Kidman, 33, were a show business dream team -- each able to command top projects and top dollars for their work. She wowed stage audiences in London and New York by appearing nude in the play ``The Blue Room'' and he has been nominated for Oscars three times.
The couple met on the set of the 1990 racing car drama, ''Days of Thunder,'' with the Cruise saying his first reaction ''to meeting Nic was sheer lust.'' Following a whirlwind courtship, they were married in a ``top-secret'' Christmas Eve ceremony in Telluride, Colo., in 1990.
The announcement Monday by the couple, who spent more than 15 months making Stanley Kubrick's final film, the erotic thriller, ``Eyes Wide Shut,'' took many by surprise as they have frequently denied reports of trouble in the marriage and have sued when newspapers published such reports or invaded their privacy.
In 1998, they won a libel case against the Daily Express newspapers in London for reporting that their ``marriage was a sham.'' They donated the libel damages to charity.
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
