She's among the top stars today, with a net worth of $120 million. However, for Nicole Kidman, success didn't come easily.

She was an introvert at a young age and a simple task like walking in a restaurant alone was stressful for the actress.

Slowly but surely, things would change. Though the star would admit alongside Backstage that despite her resume and experience, she's still learning.

"No matter where you’re at in your career, at the mercy of whether somebody wants us for a role."

"I’ve had the luxury and the ability to move into being a producer, which gives me a little more control over some of my destiny as an actor, but not all of it. And I’m still very much an actor…."

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That humble approach continues to make her relevant in the field, as she's enjoying success with her new show, 'Nine Perfect Strangers'. Who knows what she's spending her coin on these days, though we do know what she did with her first pay.

We'll examine the humble way she spent it and how times were tough just prior.

But to start, let's take a look at what some other A-listers did with their first pays.

Other Stars Made Bigger Purchases For Themselves

As we'll reveal a little later, Kidman thought of others, ahead of herself when making her first pay. We can't say the same for others.

According to People, Jennifer Lopez celebrated her newfound success by purchasing a beautiful new Mercedes ride. Let's just say it was a huge upgrade from her Honda, which she would drive to auditions.

J-Lo recalls it being a crazy week, as she would also break up with a past boyfriend, " I think it was a regular series, I bought a car - a Mercedes."

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"And it was a huge deal, though I was signing the lease to the car and breaking up with my boyfriend the same week. We were in the dealership and I was crying."

Sitcom star Ariel Winter opted to enhance her wardrobe, with lots of new shoes.

As for Johnny Depp, he took a different road entirely, buying a horse farm in Kentucky. It was a beautiful gesture similar to Nicole Kidman, as the purchase wasn't for himself but his mom.

Remarkable stories and what makes them that much greater is the struggle that took place to get there.

Things Were Tough At The Start

Kidman admits, she felt a lot of stress and anxiety at the start. Especially given that she felt very alone. Kidman opened up about her earlier days, alongside Cinema Blend.

"When I was alone, when I was single, I think [fame] was much harder because there wasn't a shield."

"There wasn't a place to go and to work through it, with a partner. I was lucky because my sister would come. I remember her flying to Cannes [in 2001] because it's frightening walking up that red carpet with all that scrutiny, feeling very insecure and not quite sure where to go or how to survive."

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In her personal life, she married ex-Tom Cruise, and looking back, the star admits it helped as it created a shield for her early on. "I got married very young, but it definitely wasn't power for me -- it was protection."

Given how dark Hollywood can be, having a partner like Cruise subsided things like harassment in the workplace, and she was able to navigate a lot easier.

When the roles started coming in, Kidman didn't spend on herself, instead, like a few others, she decided to spoil her parents.

She Spoiled Her Parents Instead With The First Pay

She didn't break the bank like Johnny Depp, however, her heart was in the right place. With her first pay, Kidman was thinking of mom and dad, buying them a washer and dryer set.

Slowly but surely, her payments increased and by 2006, she was ranked as the highest-paid actress in the world, capable of making Depp-like purchases.

After the purchase was made for her parents, Kidman got herself a little gift, which turned out to be a pair of boots, as she revealed with Time.

"Later on, I bought some boots for myself that were like the coolest boots I had ever seen in my life."

Who knows, maybe she kept those same boots after all these years, as a reminder of her first big break in the industry.

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