Nicole Kidman says she suffered from depression while playing Virginia Woolf in the wake of her divorce from Tom Cruise.
According to Independent, the Australian actor won an Oscar for her portrayal of the author – who died by suicide – in the 2002 film The Hours, which also starred Meryl Streep and Julianne Moore.
Woolf’s mental health problems while writing Mrs Dalloway and her death were both shown on screen, with Kidman admitting that she became an “open vessel” for the writer’s struggles after insisting on filming the suicide scene without the use of a stunt double.
Appearing on BBC Radio 4’s This Cultural Life on New Year’s Day, Kidman said: “I don’t know if I ever thought of the danger, I think I was so in her.”
The Hours was shot one year after Kidman announced her divorce from Cruise, who she had met in 1989.
