Nicole Kidman

Nicole: (revealing her and Keith Urban have vowed never to be apart for longer than a week) We have a thing where we're not separated for more than seven days. It's not a negotiation. It is such a desire to be together. It's a lovely place to be in a relationship where you just desperately want to be together. We'll do whatever it takes. Keith flew to Australia once for six hours so as not to break the rule, and I said, 'Oh, you don't have to.' He said, 'It's not have to, it's I want to.' That was big - I heard that loud and clear, 'There's no have-to, Nicole.' Which is a lovely thing.

Nicole (denying ever using botox): To be honest, I am completely natural. I have nothing in my face or anything. I wear sunscreen, and I don't smoke. I take care of myself and I'm very proud to say that.

Nicole: I would describe myself as emotional and highly strung. If something upsets me, it really upsets me. If something makes me angry, I get really angry. But it's all very upfront. I can't hide it. I'm also loyal and I hope I'm fun.

Nicole (about her children and Katie Holmes): It's a pity they have been manipulated by their father to distance themselves from me. They are closer to their new mum.

Nicole: (on what inspired her to be an actress, "The Wizard Of Oz") It created a different world that I so believed in, and I credit that with my wanting to become an actress later on - after the usual girly things such as becoming a vet, or a nurse, of course.

Nicole (about her husband Keith): I would never duet with him! I'm an actress and I think the beauty of two artists being together is that you don't step into each other's fields. We have our work, but most important is our life together, we don't want to blend the two.

Nicole: I wear a lot of sunscreen. I never go in the sun. I've had one skin cancer on my leg, and I rarely get in the sun, so that just shows you. They cut it out (the cancer). Stay out of the sun, because it is the worst thing in terms of aging. I'm very medical. I come from a medical family.

Nicole: (on winning the Oscar in 2003 but having no date) It felt big. It felt lonely and big. You're in a hotel and you're like, 'OK, well, I'm sitting in this big suite with an Oscar, and I still don't have a life. What is wrong with me?' It hit home that I needed to get a life: 'Who do I jump on the bed with, and celebrate with, and order pancakes with?' That was painful, not having that person to share it with.

Nicole: I think I would be very sad if I wasn't able to have a baby.

Nicole: (On her secret engagement between before getting engaged to Keith Urban) I got engaged to somebody... but it just wasn't right. I wasn't ready. We weren't ready.

Nicole: (on living with co-stars Jack Black and Jennifer Jason Leigh during the filming of the movie "Margot At The Wedding") We all lived in this house in the Hamptons. Jennifer would cook breakfast on Sunday, and we'd all go to work Monday to Friday, and hang out on the weekend. Jack (Black) would play guitar. (And) we'd lie around in the bed, rehearsing. You don't make films like that right now - it's more a seventies way of making films.

Nicole: (on turning 40) It feels just right. I don't feel what I thought that wretched age was going to be like. I have done a lot of things and it has been full up to this point, especially the past few years, so I am grateful for that.

Nicole: LIfe has got all those twists and turns. You've got to hold on tight and off you go.

Nicole: (on winning the Companion of the Order of Australia ) It's a pat on the back, which as a little girl is something you dream of.

Nicole (commenting on Nashville): It's a great town and it's actually been a great place for me to just go and be myself.

Nicole: I think that the most difficult thing is allowing yourself to be loved, so receiving the love and feeling like you deserve it is a pretty big struggle. I suppose that's what I've learnt recently, to allow myself to be loved.

Nicole (commenting on her daughter, Isabella): She is a kind, kind girl, who will become a very kind woman.

Nicole: I always wanted to get married with just candles! I think candlelight is the most beautiful light there is and there's something very spiritual about it.

Nicole: (On the UN Development Fund For Women (UNIFEM)) What is so impressive is how (the women) are speaking out, helping one another and organizing to achieve political and social change. For the past 10 years, UNIFEM and the U.N. trust fund... have been a key ally in this movement for change and gender equality.

Nicole: I have a boy's body. I would prefer to have more curves because I think that's more beautiful. I would much rather have J. Lo's body than mine.

Nicole: I don't think that sexual faithfulness is the most important one. It is the easiest type to define, but mental unfaithfulness is far more subtle and dangerous. How far can you go in this type without being 'really' unfaithful? It's a difficult issue for which I don't have answers.

Nicole (about getting ready and made-up for filming): I am known as the quickest one in the chair on any film. I'm a 20 minute girl, but I'm trying to cut it down to 10. I don't like being in that chair as I get really antsy. I don't like being touched and prodded.

Nicole: Why do a crappy film role when you can do a meaty stage role? And, I'm not small and curvy and I don't fit the prerequisite for small, passive, sexy chicks.

Nicole (when opening the 2006 Rome Film Festival): I wanted to support this festival and Italy. Film festivals are very good for small films like this one, the more we have the better.

Nicole (on receiving her Walk of Fame star):I've never been so excited to have people walk all over me for the rest of my life.

Nicole: I think all sorts of things do help, in terms of Buddhism, in terms of therapy. I think people choose things that they need that are going to help them. And obviously, I've seen my father do some magnificent work.

Nicole: It was very natural for me to want to disappear into dark theater; I am really very shy. That is something that people never seem to fully grasp because, when you are an actor, you are meant to be an exhibitionist.

Nicole: My parents thought it was nice to develop my imagination, but they never seriously thought that anything would ever come of it. They said that I couldn't be an actress because I would be taller than all my leading men, so I thought I would be a writer instead.

Nicole: I'm always scared that one day I'll look back and say 'God, they were the best years of my life, and now what?' There are moments when you feel as if you have been blessed for a while, moments when you think this is perfect, moments when you start to believe that even for an hour, even for a year, it might all happen... So I'm determined to keep making it get better and better.

Nicole: It's a very brave thing to fall in love. You have to be willing to trust somebody else with your whole being, and that's very difficult; really difficult and very brave.

Nicole: I'm a person that carries everything that happened to me in my past, with me into the future. I refuse to let it make me bitter. I still completely believe in love and I remain open to anything that will happen to me.

Nicole: I think it's important that we don't all have to hold our heads high all the time saying everything's fine.

Nicole:You're not anyone in America unless you're on TV.

Nicole: I think someone said my career defies all logic. Because I choose the sort of strange little films, and somehow they're the things that make my career.

Nicole (commenting on her break-up with Tom Cruise): Now I can wear heels.

Nicole: I never read reviews at all. I'm proud of the work I did.

Nicole: I love acting but I don't like all of the other stuff associated with it. The interest in celebrities, the press, the Internet, when your identity becomes mixed up in the way people are perceiving you.

Nicole: Even from a very early age, I knew I didn't want to miss out on anything life had to offer just because it might be considered dangerous.