Actress Nicole Kidman is opening up about losing her mom in September while promoting her recent movie “Babygirl.”
On Sept. 7, Kidman was expected to attend the Venice Film Festival after winning best actress for her role in the movie. However, the director of the film Halina Reijn took the stage instead.
With Kidman’s permission, Reijn revealed that Kidman’s mom, Janelle Anne Kidman, had died.
“Today, I arrived in Venice to find out shortly after my brave and beautiful mother, Janelle Anne Kidman, had just passed,” Kidman wrote in the statement read by Reijn.
“I’m in shock and I have to go to my family, but this award is for her,” the short note continued.
“She shaped me, she guided me and she made me. I am beyond grateful that I get to say her name to all of you through Halina. The collision of life and art is heartbreaking. My heart is broken.”
Now in a new interview with GQ Kidman is sharing what life has been like since her mother’s death.
Janelle Anne Kidman was the actress’s only living parent. Her father, Dr. Antony Kidman, died in September 2014.
“So life is, whew,” she told GQ. “It’s definitely a journey. And it hits you as you get older.”
Kidman admitted that it’s been a difficult last few months, calling it “a wake up at 3 a.m. crying and gasping kind of thing.”
“If you’re in it and not numbing yourself to (life),” Kidman continued. “And I’m in it. Fully in it.”
Kidman added that her parents’ death coupled with living through her 50s and watching her children grow up has really forced her to focus on her own humanity.
“Mortality. Connection. Life coming and hitting you,” Nicole told GQ. “And loss of parents and raising children and marriage and all of the things that go into making you a fully sentient human. I’m in all of those places.”
In a Nov. 13 interview with Vanity Fair, Kidman called her mom her guiding light.
“She was my compass in a way. It’s like losing that, but at the same time going, ‘Okay, well, this is for her then.’”
“So much of what she wanted for my sister and I was to create women in this world who felt like they could express themselves and have opportunities, especially things she didn’t have from her generation.”
Janelle Kidman was a nursing instructor and a member of the Australian feminist group, the Women’s Electoral Lobby.
“I wish she could have seen this part of it,” Kidman told Vanity Fair of her own career. “She was very excited to see Babygirl, and she was excited to see Perfect Couple too, but she didn’t get to see either of those.”