Nicole Kidman Suffers Miscarriage

The actress’ Australian-based publicist has confirmed stories in the New York Daily News and supermarket tabloid the Star this week that Kidman was nearly three months pregnant when Tom Cruise filed for divorce last month. The Daily News and Star quote unnamed sources who claim the 33-year-old actress was pregnant at the time of the split and subsequently suffered a miscarriage.

“It is a private matter for Tom and Nicole to work out,” Kidman’s Aussie publicist, Wendy Day, is quoted in Sydney’s Daily Telegraph. Day told the local Associated Press bureau, “I believe the story is out there and running. We can’t deny the story.” She declined further comment.

Earlier, Kidman’s Hollywood publicist, Toby Fleischman, refused to confirm or deny the miscarriage reports. “PMK is submitting no comment,” Fleischman said. “We have not been commenting on any of these matters, as we wish to respect Ms. Kidman’s privacy.”

Cruise’s publicist, Pat Kingsley, could not immediately be reached for comment.

Cruise, 38, filed for divorce February 7 after the pair separated in December, just shy of their 10-year anniversary. The couple–who blamed the split on “divergent careers which constantly kept them apart”–have two adopted children, Connor, 6, and Isabella, 8.

The Star claims in its report (on newsstands Friday) that Kidman suffered the miscarriage about two weeks ago and was treated at a Los Angeles clinic.

Meanwhile, an unnamed “friend” tells Daily News gossip columnist George Rush, “She’s totally heartbroken. She’s still recovering.”

Kidman has stayed under the media radar in recent months, ever since pulling out of the David Fincher-directed action thriller The Panic Room in January after reinjuring her knee. (She was replaced by Jodie Foster.) Kidman originally suffered a string of injuries, including a broken rib and wrenched knee, on the set of the period musical Moulin Rouge, which is set to open the Cannes Film Festival in May.

The Kidman-Cruise coupledom (and recent split) has long been fodder for the tabloids–though the couple has been successful in fighting back.

In 1998, Cruise and Kidman sought state and federal charges against the Globe tabloid, after it claimed to have a taped phone conversation of the couple fighting. At the time, Globe editor Tony Frost stood by the story and denied his publication broke the law.

Frost, who’s currently editor of the Star, refused to comment Thursday on the veracity of its latest story about Cruise and Kidman.

H.SH