Nicole Kidman 's sheer joy after her divorce from Tom Cruise was finalised was caught on camera as she was pictured throwing her arms in the air moments after leaving her lawyer's office.

The Hollywood actress, 53, split from Tom back in 2001 after 12 years of marriage and they filed for divorce citing "irreconcilable differences".

However, it took seven long months for the marriage to be dissolved and Nicole's celebration pictures struck a chord with many who had been through the process.

The actress was seen throwing her arms up in the air and casting her head back as she seemingly expressed her relief.

The couple fell for each other back in 1989 on the set of 1990 movie Days of Thunder, with Nicole playing Tom's onscreen love interest.

Nicole Kidman pictured leaving her lawyer's office as her divorce from Tom Cruise was finalised (
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All Action)

The actor was still married to his first wife, actress Mimi Rogers, but they finalised their divorce in February 1990 and Tom wed Nicole just months later.

They tied the knot on Christmas Eve 1990 in Telluride in the heart of the Colorado Rockies, and Nicole, who was just 23 at the time, later gushed of their whirlwind romance: "There was just a connection.

"Something like 'God, I feel like I know you'."

In an interview with Vanity Fair in 2002, she added: "He basically swept me off my feet. I fell madly, passionately in love."

The couple fell in love on the set of Days of Thunder (
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Nicole and Tom at the 1991 Oscars (
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WireImage)

After the wedding, the pair went on to adopt two children together: Isabella, now 27, and Connor, now 25.

Looking back on the marriage, Nicole admitted she felt like Tom protected her when she was a young rising actress.

In an essay for New York Magazine, she wrote: "I got married very young, but it definitely wasn’t power for me – it was protection.

Nicole and Tom Cruise with their children Connor and Isabella (
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Getty Images)

"I married for love, but being married to an extremely powerful man kept me from being sexually harassed.

"I would work, but I was still very much cocooned. When I came out of it at 32, 33, it’s almost like I had to grow up."

After the marriage broke down, Nicole rarely spoke about what happened between her and Tom, despite plenty of rumours swirling about why the pair split.

Speaking to Red magazine, Nicole admitted the split was partly down to the fact that she was so young when they tied the knot.

She said: "I was so young when I got married. I look back now and I’m like, ‘What?'

Nicole went on to marry singer Keith Urban (
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Getty)
Tom moved on and married Katie Holmes (
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Getty Images)

"I had two kids by the time I was 27 and I’d been married for four years," but added "that’s what I wanted" at the time.

However, she wasn't afraid to poke fun at the relationship during a TV appearance with David Letterman after the divorce, with the actress joking: "I can wear heels now. Let’s move on!"

After the divorce, Nicole moved on and she went on to marry country singer Keith Urban in 2006 and they are parents to two daughters together, Sunday Rose and Faith Margaret.

Tom went on to date Penelope Cruz before striking up a romance with Katie Holmes.

Katie gave birth to the couple's first child together, a daughter named Suri, in April 2006 and the couple tied the knot later that year.

However, the marriage didn't last and the pair divorced in 2012.