A Moment of Tragedy and Resilience
Nicole Kidman, the 58-year-old Australian actress, shared a deeply personal moment from her life when she learned of her mother’s passing just as she was about to receive an award. This emotional event occurred during a high point in her career, following the success of her film Babygirl and winning the Best Actress award at the 2024 Venice Film Festival.
“I was about to go onstage and I found out my mother had died and I went right back to the room in Venice, got into bed and was completely devastated and thought, ‘I do not know how I’m gonna move forward or function now,'” she told TV host Hoda Kotb at HISTORYTalks in Philadelphia.
Janelle Ann Kidman, Nicole’s mother, passed away in Sydney in September 2024 at the age of 83. The loss was profound for Nicole, who described her mother as “so much a part of my existence.”
“She was so much a part of my existence. So the idea of being there at that particular moment was parole,” Nicole added.
Navigating Grief in a Foreign Land
Nicole recalled trying to leave Venice in the middle of the night to be with her family in Australia. She described the experience of getting into a boat in the canal, literally at night, trying to find her way to the airport, only to turn around and realize she couldn’t even do this.
“I remember getting into a boat in the canal, literally at night, trying to find my way to the airport, and then turning around going, ‘I can’t even do this,’ ” she shared.
She returned to bed, alone, as her husband and children were not there. “My husband wasn’t there, my children weren’t there. I was there to win an award, which should’ve been a beautiful thing. That there is the contrast of life.”
This experience reminded Nicole of her resilience and ability to survive anything. She noted that this lesson was one her late mother taught her, which she aims to pass on to her children: “Don’t ever let anyone break your spirit.”
A New Path in Life
Nicole has been open about her grief following her mother’s death. Recently, she shared that she is considering a career pivot inspired by this loss. During a talk at the University of San Francisco’s War Memorial Gym on Saturday, April 11, she revealed she is pursuing a career as a death doula.
The Oscar-winning actress spoke about the idea to investigative journalist and USF graduate Vicky Nguyen as part of the school’s Silk Speaker Series. She admitted that it “may sound a little weird,” but she was inspired to take it on after the death of her mother.
“As my mother was passing, she was lonely, and there was only so much the family could provide,” Kidman said, as per the San Francisco Chronicle.
“Between my sister and I, we have so many children and our careers and our work, and wanting to take care of her because my father wasn’t in the world anymore, and that’s when I went, ‘I wish there was these people in the world that were there to sit impartially and just provide solace and care,’ ” she said.
“So that’s part of my expansion and one of the things I will be learning.”
