When Nicole Kidman divorced Tom Cruise, the photos following the process of Kidman openly celebrating and walking down the street went viral and now lives in infamy.
The photos express such clear joy that Kidman escaped from her marriage with Cruise, and nothing will ever really quite match it unless it's 100% serious.
People have used that photo to express joy at their own divorces, leaving their jobs, or other toxic situations that caused their unhappiness.
And one woman's actual divorce got the picture, the outfit FROM the picture, and an entire party thrown for it to celebrate her freedom from her ex-spouse.
Liz Maupin, the woman in the photograph, and her ex separated close to three years ago, but the divorce was only final very recently.
"I wanted to celebrate the finality of it and starting a new chapter in my life," she said to Buzzfeed. "I love that photo of Nicole so much. I think it says so much about relief and freedom."
Maupin's choice to leave her marriage was "super difficult," as she recounted, but ultimately ended up being the best choice for her, she said.
"It was absolutely empowering and so fun," said Maupin of the party to celebrate her divorce.
"I chose to make the party no-boys-allowed. We had an absolute blast. I highly recommend having a divorce party if you find yourself divorced someday."
Maupin says she also hopes to turn some of the stigma around divorce on its head by publicly celebrating.
"I think there's still stigma around divorce, which is so unnecessary, and I wanted to really have a positive experience at the end of it all and just celebrate being me again, without a tether to another person, and starting over," she said.
"Nicole's outfit definitely helped remind me of my newfound freedom."
Congratulations, Ms. Maupin and here's to a healthy future!
@WhiteHouse/X
