New York: Nicole Kidman says she had married Tom Cruise for love and tying the knot with the actor inadvertently shielded her from being sexually harassed in Hollywood.

The 51-year-old actor, who was married to Cruise for 11 years, said after their divorce in 2001, she had to start looking after herself.

"Being married to Tom Cruise at 22 is something I'm always reluctant to talk about, because I'm married now to the man who is my great love (Keith Urban), and it almost feels disrespectful.

"That said, I got married very young, but it definitely wasn't power for me � it was protection. I married for love, but being married to an extremely powerful man kept me from being sexually harassed. I would work, but I was still very much cocooned. So when I came out of it at 32, 33, it's almost like I had to grow up," Kidman told The Cut magazine.

OUCH! Nicole Kidman locks lips with actor Alexander Skarsgard in front of husband Keith Urban at the Emmys 2017!

She touched upon the spread of the #MeToo movement but asserted that she does not want to name and shame her harassers.

"Of course I've had #MeToo moments � since I was little! But do I want to expose them in an article? No. Do they come out in my work? Absolutely. I'm open and raw.

(Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman, source- web)

"I want to have my well of experience and emotion tapped into, used � and I'm not just talking about sexual harassment. I'm talking about loss, death, the full array of life. But it has to be by the right people so it's not abused again," Kidman said.

The actor revealed she is making a movie with Charlize Theron and Margot Robbie about Fox News honcho Roger Ailes, who became an adviser to the Donald Trump campaign in 2016 after he resigned from the media outlet amid allegations of sexual misconduct.

Kidman is playing former Fox News anchor Gretchen Carlson, who filed a sexual harassment lawsuit against Ailes.