Nicole Kidman's Bruises on 'Big Little Lies' Upset Keith Urban

Nicole Kidman‘s character on the HBO limited series Big Little Lies is abused by her husband, played by Alexander Skarsgard, and she says she went home with real bruises sometimes.

The 49-year-old actress’ real-life husband Keith Urban was “devastated” to see the bruises on his wife, she said in a new interview.

“I didn’t realize how much of it penetrated me,” Nicole told Vogue about playing Celeste. “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.”

Click inside to read what Keith Urban thought of the bruises…

“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,’” Nicole said. “He was devastated seeing it, but then he would say, ‘But I have an artist wife!’”

“He knows that’s how I work; I don’t even notice it half the time. I loved playing her, because she was a beautifully written character with a director that totally wanted to go there, and to have an actor like Alex to play opposite off of was amazing,” she added. “That’s what we all seek as actors. But at the same time, when I walked away from it, I remember thinking that was the deepest I’ve gone in terms of finding and losing things.”

The finale of Big Little Lies airs this Sunday night on HBO.