Nicole Kidman is taking her career in a surprise new direction.
The 58-year-old actor has won an Oscar, conquered Hollywood, and raised four kids across two continents, but she says the most important work she’s ever done is only just beginning.
The Australian sweetheart has revealed she is training to become a death doula.
Opening up at the University of San Francisco’s Silk Speaker Series on April 11, Nicole shared the heartbreaking inspiration behind her new career choice.
“It may sound a little weird,” she admitted.
She went on to say that the driving force behind her decision was the passing of her beloved mum, Janelle Ann Kidman, in September 2024.
Nicole watched as her mother faced her final moments, and it stirred something powerful within her.
“As my mother was passing, she was lonely, and there was only so much the family could provide,” reported the San Francisco Chronicle.
The family was stretched thin and found it difficult, she said.
Her father passed away in 2014, leaving Nicole and her sister Antonia Kidman, who has six children of her own, to care for their mum.
With their busy lives and careers, it was a difficult time.
“That’s when I went, ‘I wish there were these people in the world that were there to sit impartially and just provide solace and care.'”
“So that’s part of my expansion and one of the things I will be learning,” she said simply.
Nicole herself is mum to four children: adopted kids Bella, 33, and Connor, 31, from her marriage to Tom Cruise, and daughters Sunday Rose, 17, and Faith Margaret, 15, with Keith Urban.
A death doula, or end-of-life doula, provides non-medical support and comfort to those facing a life-limiting diagnosis, helping them understand their choices during one of life’s most vulnerable moments.
