Nicole Kidman left red-faced and flustered when quizzed over co-star Emmys kiss

A somewhat embarrassed Nicole Kidman has defended her decision to kiss Big Little Lies co-star Alexander Skarsgard after he won a 2017 Emmy Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or Movie.

The Aussie actress was prodded into offering an explanation for her congratulatory peck at the September 17 ceremony, after Irish TV host Graham Norton brought up a photo of the moment on his show last night.

“You are so provocative Graham. Why are you showing that?” a grinning Kidman asks with an awkward laugh.

“I kissed my husband too!”

“Well he is right there!” Norton says, indicating her – country music singer husband Keith Urban - standing on the sidelines clapping. 

“It looks like Keith is applauding the kiss,” fellow guest Bryan Cranston remarks.

Kidman, who played the battered wife of an abusive and controlling husband in the hit series, said she was compelled to kiss Skarsgard after having done “everything” with him for the show.

“We saw it!” Norton remarks.

Refusing to be put off, Kidman adds: “I’ve got an amazing, supportive, gorgeous husband who I love more than anything in the world, and I gave Alex a congratulatory kiss and he’s like a mannequin”.

Her remark however is greeted by laughter and Kidman immediately retreats from the unintended insult.

“I’m done, I’m done!” she said.

Kidman previously told TV host Ellen DeGeneres she “threw” herself into her role in Big Little Lies, to the point she “would never tell him (Skarsgard) that he was hurting me”.

“I wanted him to commit to the scene”,” she said.