What Men Really Want?
Nicole and Tom were Hollywood’s perfect pair. Now, nearly 3 years after their divorce, the stunning Stepford Wife is ready to talk about the end of her not-so-perfect marriage to one of the world’s top stars. Tonight on ABC’s “20/20,” the Oscar-winning beauty reveals intimate details of what went wrong with Cruise.
In the updated, all-star version of “The Stepford Wives,” Nicole plays a powerful woman trapped in a world of subservient robot wives wired to please their men. Was she attempting to be a version of a Stepford wife, the perfect wife, with Tom? “I just wanted to be with the person that I love and who loves me,” Nicole maintains.
She insists that it was not the pursuit of perfection that ended her marriage to Cruise: “I mean, it wasn’t about perfection. No, it was just about he was my favorite person in the world.”
Joined on the show by her Stepford co-stars — Bette Midler, Glenn Close, Faith Hill, and Matthew Broderick — Nicole also makes some eyebrow-raising revelations about her love-life now.
Correspondent Deborah Roberts, who talked with the stars for “20/20,” told “Extra” about the interview. “I did ask Nicole about parallels between her character in the film, who is this very high powered network executive, and being intimidating to men, wondering whether or not she may be doing the same thing in her personal life,” Roberts revealed, noting that Nicole is, “Clearly aware that she’s a powerful woman, and that there aren’t a lot of men who can handle that.”
The Stepford stars reveal their lives and marriages are far from perfect, but there’s no doubt that Kidman and Broderick make a perfect Stepford Couple. When asked if the film’s theme is still relevant today, Broderick responds, “Well, I would imagine it is. I mean — ” before Nicole cuts him off, prompting Matthew to joke: “This is why we want to turn them into robots, because they speak for us!”
“‘Is this what you really want?'” Nicole says her character asks her husband in the movie. “‘Women who behave like slaves, women who exist only to wait on you hand and foot?’ And he says, ‘yes.’ And a lot of men say that!”
Catch the Stepford stars on ABC tonight at 10, and pay a visit to the perfect town of Stepford when the movie opens, June 11.
