“I was about to go onstage when I found out my mother had died. I went straight back to my room in Venice, got into bed, and I was completely devastated. I thought, ‘I don’t know how I’m going to move forward or function now,’” she shared during a recent conversation.
Her mother, Janelle Ann Kidman, meant far more than just family to her — in Nicole’s words, she was her whole world.
“She was so much a part of my existence…”
What followed felt almost unreal. Nicole recalled attempting to leave Venice late at night. “I remember getting into a boat on the canal… trying to get to the airport… and thinking, ‘I can’t even do this.’”
In the end, she turned back — alone, without her husband or children — carrying overwhelming grief at a moment that should have been one of the highest points of her career.
“That is the contrast of life,” she said.
Even in that painful memory, she found something to hold onto: resilience.
“Don’t ever let anyone break your spirit.”
Those words, she explained, were something her mother always lived by — a woman she described as “brilliant, selfless, and deeply influential” in shaping who she became.
In a poignant full-circle moment, Nicole also shared how her mother once encouraged her not to give up acting, telling her, “You need to still give your total water… it’s your makeup.”
Now, even in her hardest moments, that voice continues to stay with her.
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