In a new interview with Vanity Fair, Nicole Kidman tells the mag that when she was married to Tom Cruise from 1990-2001, the level of fame that the two experienced was extreme.

“There is something about that sort of existence that, if you really focus on each other and you’re in that bubble, it’s very intoxicating, because it’s just the two of you,” shares Nicole. “And there is only one other person that’s going through it.”

The actress even compares their romance to a modern-day example: Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. “I’m sure Brad and Angelina have that—because there’s nobody else that understands it except that person who’s sleeping right next to you,” she says.

But the “Grace of Monaco” actress admits that at the tender age of 23, her age when she married Cruise, she wasn’t prepared for the challenges ahead.

“I was so young,” she acknowledges, “and you know, with no disrespect to what I had with Tom, I’ve met my great love now. And I really did not know if that was going to happen.

“I wanted it, but I didn’t want it for a while, because I didn’t want to jump from one relationship to another. I had a lot of time alone, which was really, really good, because I was a child, really, when I got married. And I needed to grow up.”

Now that the blonde beauty is married to her “great love,” country crooner Keith Urban, she says that the extreme fame has certainly died down—much to her relief!

“Having experienced extreme fame and now getting to a place where it’s not so dominating in my life, I’m always surprised when I go somewhere and people know who I am.”

And getting out of Hollywood has been one of the best decisions that the mom-of-four has made.

“The whole business side of it—it’s too present. It doesn’t suit me,” she explains. “And it was such a blessing that I found somebody who said, ‘Well, are you willing to move to Tennessee?’ And I was ‘Oh, am I willing to move!’”

nicole and keith

Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban