Meryl Streep hilariously revealed that Nicole Kidman skinny-dipped every morning on the set of Big Little Lies.
While presenting an award to her former co-star at the American Film Institute Life Achievement Award Gala, Meryl spoke about Nicole’s unique morning routine.
“Reese [Witherspoon] told me the very first night we were up in Monterey, before we started shooting, she said, ‘You know what she does?'” Meryl started.
“I said, ‘No, Nicole?’ She goes, ‘Yeah, you know what she does? She goes out at 5, before dawn, and she goes skinny-dipping behind the hotel in the ocean.'”
At the time, Meryl said, she was shocked by Nicole’s bizarre habit.
“I looked at Nicole, and I said, ‘Are you kidding me? The Pacific is like 48 degrees in March,” she recalled. “Nicole said, ‘Yeah! I love it!'”
Meryl Streep Recalls Nicole Kidman’s Skinny-Dipping Routine on the Set of ‘Big Little Lies’
Of course, calling out her skinny-dipping routine wasn’t all Meryl said of the brilliant actress. She went on to compliment her incredible acting talent.
“You’re like a mustang, a workhorse and a champion racer all in one, but one whose spirit they’ll never break,” she said of Nicole. “Never.”
Meryl, 74, and Nicole, 56, worked together on the second season of Big Little Lies, which aired in 2019.
“Your list of credits and roles and good deeds in the world would take a normal person three lifetimes to achieve,” Meryl told her former colleague. “Your life and your resume challenges everything we know about how many hours there are in the day and how many places a woman can be at one time.”
She then added that it’s “hard not to envy” while simultaneously “impossible not to be in awe of her.”
“When an actress bares all and leaps off into the unknown, she dives deep into the darker parts of what it is to be a human being,” Meryl said. “But I don’t think it’s bravery. I think it’s love. I think she just loves it.”
“And I think that’s the greatest attribute an actor can have — that blend of appetite and curiosity and recklessness,” she continued. “You have that, baby.”