Nicole Kidman shared advice she gave her teenage daughters during a talk at the University of San Francisco on Saturday. She told them that the decisions they make now will affect their lives, but things will change as nothing is set in stone. Kidman emphasized creating emotional stability for her daughters so they can feel like the world is their oyster, and she told them they will have an incredible future, but it can be incredibly overwhelming. The actress also revealed she wants to study to become a death doula after her mother Janelle died in September 2024, saying becoming a death doula sounds a little weird, but she has an intense desire to help others at the end of their lives. It is not known how her daughters reacted to this advice or what specific steps she has for becoming a death doula.
Kidman has two teenage daughters with ex-husband Keith Urban: Sunday Rose, 17, and Faith Margaret, 15. She also has two adult children with ex-husband Tom Cruise: Isabella, 33, and Connor, 31. Her father Antony Kidman died in 2014. Kidman said her father told her she needs to have grit and use her wits because she won't be the smartest person in the room. She added that she has grown from difficult times in her life and believes you sometimes have to take it on the chin.
I told them that the decisions you’re making now will affect your life, but also things will change as nothing is set in stone.
Kidman was inspired to become a death doula because her mother was lonely when passing, and family could only provide so much support. She learned of her mother's death while at the 2024 Venice Film Festival for her film Babygirl. According to The Independent, Kidman described losing her mother as changing every part of her and said she was still raw with grief last year. Whether she has started any formal training remains unclear.
And primarily trying to create emotional stability is important for them so that they can feel like the world is your oyster.
I told them you’re going to have an incredible future, but it can be incredibly overwhelming.
Sometimes you’re going to have to take it on the chin and that’s OK. It’s your life and you define it. Who cares what someone else thinks? Don’t give your power to anybody else. They don’t get to define you.
I am looking to expand myself. I am looking to become a death doula.
As my mother was passing, she was lonely, and there was only so much the family could provide. Between my sister and I, we have so many children and our careers and our work, and wanting to take care of her because my father wasn’t in the world anymore, and that’s when I went, ‘I wish there was these people in the world that were there to sit impartially and just provide solace and care.’
Losing my mother changed every part of me. I spoke to her every second or third day. And because she was on the other side of the world, if I woke up at 5:00 a.m., I’d get up, I’d walk around the block, and I’d talk to her for an hour before the girls got up, before Keith got up. That was the rhythm of my day.