Nicole Kidman: How I’ve stayed on top

Nicole Kidman says her willingness to “keep changing” has helped keep her at the top in Hollywood for three decades.

Kidman, 51, who last year played an undercover police officer in Destroyer and then the queen of an underwater kingdom in Aquaman, told Vanity Fair: “There isn’t a shelf life like there used to be. That’s why it’s so important to keep changing.”

She added: “I’m far more raw and honest now, before I used to be so scared. Now I’m just like, ‘What the hell. Share, share ideas’.

“It’s not safe to do that sometimes because you’re suddenly exposed. But it makes you feel closer to people.”

The Australian, who lives in Nashville with country music star husband Keith Urban, shot to fame with psychological thriller Dead Calm in 1989 and later won a best actress Oscar for playing Virginia Woolf in 2002 drama The Hours.

Two years ago she returned to television starring in HBO’s Big Little Lies with Reese Witherspoon and Shailene Woodley.

The series has won eight Emmy awards, four Golden Globes and two Screen Actors Guild awards.

Kidman plays a wealthy housewife whose life begins to unravel after a murder in her affluent Californian neighbourhood.

She said: “I’ve done weird films and things that are so obtuse, which I’m still committed to because I like performance art and not conforming to what everyone expects of you.”

The couple regularly take their daughters Sunday, 10, and Faith, eight, on tour and to movie sets to keep the family close, but Kidman said neither of them had encouraged their children to go into showbusiness.

She said: “You can’t really get kids into anything, I’ve realised. You can push them a bit but motivation is a really hard thing.”

See the full feature in the May issue of Vanity Fair, on newsstands on Friday, May 3