Big little career change.
Nicole Kidman revealed on Saturday that her mother Janelle Ann Kidman’s September 2024 passing has inspired her to become a death doula, per the San Francisco Chronicle.
The actress, 58, acknowledged to University of San Francisco students during the school’s Silk Speakers series that the profession “sound[s] a little weird” — but explained why it is part of her “expansion.”
“As my mother was passing, she was lonely, and there was only so much the family could provide,” the “Big Little Lies” star explained over the weekend.
“Between my sister, [Antonia Kidman] and I, we have so many children and our careers and our work,” Nicole continued. “[We] want[ed] to take care of her because my father, [Antony Kidman], wasn’t in the world anymore.”
Antony, notably, died in September 2014 at age 75.
In Janelle’s final days, Nicole thought, “I wish there [were] these people in the world that were there to sit impartially and just provide solace and care.
“So,” the Oscar winner declared, “that’s one of the things I will be learning.”
Death doulas are “non-medical professionals” providing support to those “navigat[ing] death, loss, and mortality,” according to the International End-of-Life Doula Association.
When Janelle passed away, Nicole had just landed in Italy for the Venice Film Festival to accept a best actress award for her “Babygirl” role.
“I am in shock and I have to go to my family,” she wrote in a statement regarding the loss of her “beautiful, brave mother.”
Nicole gushed over how her late parent “shaped,” “guided” and “made” her, concluding, “My heart is broken.”
Her then-husband, Keith Urban, subsequently gave the Times an update on how the Golden Globe winner was doing, saying his wife was “good.”
Nicole broke her silence on her grief in an emotional “CBS Sunday Morning” sitdown three months later, revealing her final conversation with her mother.
“I was going to get on a plane and go back to see her,” Nicole told viewers in December 2024. “And she was like, ‘Maybe wait a minute because I think you just need to take care of yourself right now, Nicky.’”
At the time, Nicole was married to Urban — but news broke the following year that the duo had called it quits after 19 years of marriage and two children.
When their divorce was settled in January, Nicole was awarded primary residential custody of daughters Sunday Rose, 17, and Faith Margaret, 15, with the country singer getting the girls “every other weekend.”
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