Nicole Kidman Used to Lie About Her Height After Being Told She Was "Too Tall" for Hollywood

Long before Nicole Kidman became an Oscar-winning actress, there was a time when she thought she'd never make it in Hollywood. In a new interview on the Radio Times Podcast, Kidman — who is 5'11" — recalled being told as a young actor that she wouldn't have a career because she was "too tall."

“I was teased. I was called Storky. [People would say], ‘How’s the air up there?!’ ... [Now I get], ‘You’re so much taller than I thought,'" she said, before revealing another challenge of being tall. "[And then] grappling with how high my heels should be. "Whenever you go on the red carpet, they send the shoes, and the shoes are always so high. And I’m like, ‘Do they have a kitten heel? I’m just gonna be the tallest person — the giraffe!'"

Kidman then remembered lying about her height during an open audition for Annie. “I had to talk my way through the door because they were measuring you before you went in. I was mortified," she explained, adding that casting directors were instantly turning away actors who exceeded a certain threshold, so she told them she was "5 ft. 10½ in." 

While her stature still sometimes "bothers" her, Nicole says she's "incredibly grateful to be healthy and walking around." She also uses her insecurity about her height to teach her daughters — Sunday, 15, and 13-year-old Faith — what's most important in life.

"I tell my daughters none of it matters. What matters is how you allow other people to either say 'yes' or 'no' to you, and whether you accept that," she said. "That inner resilience, as a human being — that’s the superpower, really."