Nicole Kidman revealed that her beloved mother, Janelle Kidman, has died just hours before she was awarded the Best Actress award at the Venice Film Festival on Saturday.
Kidman, 57, said in a statement that she had to leave the film festival to be with her family and was unable to accept the top award in Venice for her role in the film, Babygirl.
The film’s director Halina Reijn read the statement after Kidman was announced as the winner.
“Today I arrived in Venice to find out shortly after, that my beautiful, brave mother Janelle Ann Kidman has just passed,” the statement read. “I am in shock, and I have to go to my family, but this award is for her, 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 heart-breaking, and my heart is broken.”
Kidman has spoken in recent years about her mother’s ailing health, revealing in 2022 that she was in Australia “primarily to take care of my mother and to have her surrounded by her grandchildren.”
“I’m at the place where I’m being given the chance to view the world, because of how close we are, my mum is giving me the chance to view the world through an 81-year-old woman’s eyes,” she said. “That is so beneficial right now because she’s so cognizant. She has every brain faculty available, so she hasn’t lost anything. She hasn’t lost any memory, which is fascinating, and she’s extremely bright.”
(L-R) Janelle Kidman, Nicole Kidman and her father Antony Kidman at the Australian premiere of the film Cold Mountain in 2003.
Peter Carrette Archive
Kidman comes from a close-knit family and has spoken about her heartbreak when her father, Dr. Antony Kidman, unexpectedly died in 2014 while visiting Kidman’s sister, Antonia, and her six children in Singapore.
She spoke about the grief of losing a parent in an interview with Ellen DeGeneres that same year.
“I’ve realized we don’t talk about it enough in terms of our society,” she said. “Everybody loses their parents and it’s awful. I’m sorry to bring everything down, but I’m at the same time trying to navigate through something right now. And I’m amazed when people reach out, because it’s an awkward thing at times. But to have people go, ‘I’m so sorry for your loss—the power of that, and even a note or anything, which I’ve gotten so much love from people.”
