Kidman, Cruise: Divorce Wars

By Stephen M. Silverman

03/30/1998 at 12:00 AM EST

Nicole Kidman has fired back at Tom Cruise in what is shaping up to be a bitter divorce case. Reuters reports that, according to her legal papers, a pregnant Kidman begged Cruise not to end their marriage. But, the papers say, on Feb. 4 the actor stormed out, saying "that he no longer wanted to live with her and wanted a divorce." "This came as a shock to respondent (Kidman)," says Kidman's written response to an L.A. Superior Court divorce petition filed in February by Cruise. (He is citing irreconcilable differences after 10 years of marriage.) Her papers say that she ultimately lost through a miscarriage the baby that they had recently conceived. "On Dec. 24 the parties had happily celebrated their 10th anniversary with a group of friends," the papers also say. "During the balance of December and thereafter the parties were intimate; In fact respondent (Kidman) became pregnant by petitioner (Cruise)." Cruise, 38, claims that the couple split on Dec. 21, before their 10th anniversary. Under California law, he stands to pay less in settlement costs to her if the union lasted less than a decade. In his statement, Cruise's lawyer said that his client plans to provide for his two adopted children with Kidman, 33, and that he intends to pay her half of their community property, or "tens of millions of dollars."