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Nicole Kidman recently shared a poignant moment from her life, discussing the day she learned about her mother’s passing.
During her appearance at the HISTORYTalks 2026 event, organized by the History Channel, the 58-year-old actress reflected on various life experiences, including a significant moment in September 2024 when she was about to receive the best actress award for “Babygirl” at the Venice Film Festival.
“I had just won the best actress award at the Venice Film Festival. Such moments seem to be a recurring pattern in my life,” she remarked, as reported by The Hollywood Reporter.
Kidman described the heart-wrenching moment when she was preparing to take the stage and learned of her mother’s death. “I returned to my room in Venice, climbed into bed, and felt utterly devastated,” she recounted.
She expressed the deep void her mother’s absence left in her life, admitting, “She was integral to my existence. Being present in that particular instance felt incredibly difficult.”
The “Big Little Lies” star went on to say that “the idea of being there at that particular moment was harrowing,” and she began to take steps to leave Venice as soon as possible.
“I remember getting into a boat in the canal, and literally at night trying to find my way to the airport, and then turning around and going, I can’t even do this,” she said.
“And then went back into the bed, and I was alone. My husband wasn’t there. My children weren’t there. I’d gone to win an award. What should have been a beautiful thing, ended up with that. But there is the contrast of life.”
Having gone through this tragic experience alone, Kidman says she now tells people “that’s when I know I’m resilient,” and “can survive pretty much anything.”
Kidman’s mother, Janelle, died in September 2024 at the age of 84.
Two years after her mother’s death, the Academy Award-winning actress shared with investigative journalist, Vicky Nguyen, as part of the private school’s Silk Speaker Series, that she has plans to become a death doula.
“As my mother was passing, she was lonely, and there was only so much the family could provide,” Kidman said 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.’”
Kidman shares two daughters — Sunday Rose, 17, and Faith Margaret, 15 — with her ex-husband, Keith Urban, while her sister, Antonia, has six kids.
The actress has spoken about her close bond with her mother many times over the years, telling the Sydney Morning Herald about how her mom always pushed her to pursue her dreams, saying, “she carved her own path and wanted her daughters to have the same opportunity to carve their own paths.”
“Mom didn’t necessarily get the career that she wanted, but she was determined that her daughters would have opportunities that were equal,” Kidman added.
“That’s given me my life. And she gave me my life, she and my dad.”
Kidman is following in her mother’s footsteps as a supportive mom, as she is supporting her daughter, Sunday Rose, in her budding modeling career.
She made her runway debut at Paris Fashion Week in 2025, walking for Miu Miu.