Nicole Kidman has opened up about her relationship with Tom Cruise in the years prior to their 2001 split.

The 45-year-old actress - who is now happily married to country singer Keith Urban with whom she shares two daughters Sunday Rose and Faith - said their divorce shortly after they co-starred in the controversial thriller 'Eyes Wide Shut' had nothing to do with the movie.

In a new essay written by the Oscar winner about the film's late director Stanley Kubrick for The Hollywood Reporter she wrote: "People thought that making the film was the beginning of the end of my marriage -- but I don't really think it was.

"Tom and I were close then, and it was very much the three of us."

The actress - who has two children Conor, 17, and Isabella, 19, with her ex-husband - also revealed the film was loosely based on their marriage.

She wrote: "Onscreen, the husband and wife are at odds, and Stanley wanted to use our marriage as a supposed reality. That was Stanley: He used the movie as provocation, pretending it was our sex life.

"Which we weren't oblivious to, but obviously it wasn't us. We both decided to dedicate ourselves to a great filmmaker and artist."

Nicole also said the couple helped each other get through Stanley's funeral in March 1999 shortly before the film, which took two years to make, was released.

She said: "That was one of the worst calls -- I just started screaming; I had Isabella and Connor in the kitchen with me. Tom and I immediately got on a plane. The funeral was so traumatic. I truly loved Stanley and felt very connected to him."