Finally at peace with herself, Nicole Kidman's relaxed new life couldn't be further from her former husband's highly regimented world with Katie, Naomi Toy writes.

Nicole Kidman couldn't be happier as she enters her fourth year of marriage to Keith Urban. Nic spent years trying to work away her pain with a string of back-to-back movies after the collapse of her marriage to Tom Cruise. Now the contentment she has finally found out of the spotlight in rural Tennessee is sweet revenge against her ex.

And with daughter Sunday Rose notching up the important 12-month milestone, Nic, 42, has removed the motherhood training wheels and looks relaxed with her little girl in her arms.

Nicole's new life with Keith and Sunday couldn't seem more different from her highly regimented 11-year marriage to Tom, where minders and Scientologists watched her every move.

With Tom's current wife Katie Holmes trotted out for a string of family photo opportunities and very public "couple moments" whenever Tom arrived in Melbourne to visit her, Katie now appears to be living the life Nicole gladly left behind.

"I've had times in my life where I was very much living in a tower, surrounded by too many people who pulled me away from the person I really am," Nicole has admitted of her previous life. "Now I get to ride horses and take walks in the park and do my own shopping and washing, just like everyone else."

During her marriage to Tom, Nicole often felt like a prop next to her superstar husband, whose presence overpowered her at every step.

"I would think, 'I'm here to support him,'" Nicole recalls of her red-carpet duties with Tom. "I felt it was my job to put on a beautiful dress and be seen and not heard."