Nicole Kidman left with bruises from abuse scenes in Big Little Lies, leaving husband Keith Urban ‘devastated’

In Big Little Lies, the best show you haven’t watched yet, Nicole Kidman has returned to the top of her game – this time on the small screen.

In the book-turned-limited television series, directed by Jean-Marc Vallée, Kidman plays Celeste, a woman who is being physically and emotionally abused by her husband (played by a menacing Alexander Skarsgard).

When Kidman met with the book’s author, Liane Moriarty, to persuade her to allow herself and Witherspoon to adapt the story, Moriarty said yes, with one condition: she play Celeste.

While speaking with Vogue recently, Kidman said, “I am playing her and got deeply enmeshed in her. I felt my way through that character because the only way to play her was to feel and be her. There are other characters that are easier to intellectually approach, but this was visceral.”

Those visceral scenes have been noted for their graphic violence and realistic portrayal of an abusive marriage, and that may be partially because Kidman went somewhat method when the series was in production, taking much of the emotional weight of her character home with her to husband Keith Urban.

“I didn’t realize how much of it penetrated me,” Kidman said. “I would go home at night sometimes and be in a lot of pain, and I had to take things like Advil, because I was being thrown around physically. I was really bruised. … At one point, Keith was like, ‘I’m going to take a photo of your back because it’s covered in deep, massive bruises.’ He was devastated seeing it, but then he would say, ‘But I have an artist wife!'”

In an interview with Vulture, Kidman said shooting those scenes with Skarsgard would be so taxing, that she was frequently drained at the end of each day.

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“Afterward, I would just be quiet,” Kidman said. “I would go home and be quiet. After we shot some of the really, really violent scenes, I was in a lot of pain myself. … It was very strange. … It wasn’t a good feeling, I have to say. But women go through this, so I wanted to tap into the truth of it, and I wanted to be real in those scenes, so that’s what it required — an element of violence.”

“The way in which Jean-Marc shoots, where there’s so much documentary style to some of those things,” Kidman added. “I feel weird talking about it. … It’s probably one of the hardest roles I’ve had to talk about because I’m still very raw about it, if that makes any kind of sense. When I walked away from (the character), I remember thinking that was the deepest I’ve gone in terms of finding and losing things.”