Nicole Kidman misses Venice awards ceremony due to mother’s death

Nicole Kidman is mourning the death of her mother.

At the Venice International Film Festival on Saturday, jury president Isabelle Huppert announced that the Moulin Rouge actress had won the fest’s Volpi Cup award for Best Actress for her performance in Babygirl, but she wasn’t able to accept the award in person. Instead, the movie’s director, Halina Reijn, took the stage and read a statement Kidman wrote. 

“Today I arrived in Venice to find out shortly after that my beautiful, brave mother, Janelle Ann Kidman, has just passed,” Reijn read on Kidman’s behalf. “I’m 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.”

Kidman expressed that she felt honored to invoke her mother to the Venice crowd. “I am beyond grateful that I get to say her name to all of you through Halina,” she said. “The collision of life and art is heartbreaking, and my heart is broken.”

Reijn concluded her remarks with her own words: “We love you all, Nicole.”

A representative for Kidman confirmed her mother’s death to Entertainment Weekly, adding, “The family is heartbroken and asks for privacy at this time.”

Kidman briefly touched on her mother’s health in a 2022 interview with NPR’s Fresh Air, which she conducted from her native Australia. “We’re down here primarily to take care of my mother and to have her surrounded by her grandchildren,” she said. “We were able to take her into the gallery after hours and show her the Matisse exhibit. Which, coming from a mother who raised me in the arts, was a soothing balm.”

The actress also praised her mother in a 2020 interview with The Sydney Morning Herald. “She’s given me the fire to pursue the career I have because I’ve always wanted to please her… but she also carved her own path and wanted her daughters to have the same opportunity to carve their own paths,” Kidman said. “Mum didn’t necessarily get the career that she wanted, but she was determined that her daughters would have opportunities that were equal.”

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The death of Kidman’s mother comes in the midst of a particularly busy chapter in the actress’ career. Kidman recently appeared alongside Zac Efron in the age-gap rom-com A Family Affair, which is currently streaming on Netflix. Her upcoming film Babygirl is also an age-gap romance, albeit one with a far more dramatic tone, pairing her with The Iron Claw‘s Harris Dickinson. It hits theaters on Christmas Day.

On the small screen, Kidman led Lulu Wang‘s Expats earlier this year, and she also headlines The Perfect Couple, which premiered on Netflix on Thursday. Additionally, the actress will lend her voice to Netflix’s animated film Spellbound, set for release on Nov. 22.