Nicole Kidman vividly remembers when she first met Tom cruise on the set of Days of Thunder back in 1990. The actress says her jaw dropped the moment she set eyes on him, mostly due to nervousness.

She said in The Jess Cagle Interview: “I remember walking in, I remember being so nervous and seeing Tom Cruise drive up in a Porsche, I think it was. He got out of the car and walked through and I was like, ‘Ah.’ My jaw dropped.

Then I had to go in and audition in front of Tony Scott. Sweet Tony. [Producers] Don Simpson, Jerry Bruckheimer, Robert Towne and Tom. I was like, ‘No way, I’m not going to get this.’ They called that afternoon and I had the job.

I was just like, ‘Oh my god, Mom!’ Yeah, that was huge. Huge. You know, obviously, changed my life extraordinarily. So grateful for the film, for everything that came with it. It was a big, important part of my life.”

And Nicole – who adopted Isabella and Connor while with Tom – discussed the kids’ “need” to find out more about their biological parents.

She explained: “Every family’s experience with this is distinct and private. But we live in an ever more transparent world, technologically speaking. Kids are resourceful and the need to know your origin story is universal.”

The star, who is now married to Keith Urban, recently admitted she would have liked more children with him: “I wish I could have met him much earlier and had way more children with him. But I didn’t. I mean, if I could have had two more children with him, that would have been just glorious. But as Keith says, ‘The wanting mind, Nicole. Shut it down.'”