Nicole Kidman Always Wanted to ‘Please’ Her Late Mother

Nicole Kidman, who announced the death of her mother Janelle on Saturday, September 7, referred to her mom as “my mentor, my guide and my nurturer” in a past interview.

Speaking to the Sydney Morning Herald in 2020, Kidman, 57, described her mother glowingly and emphasized the important role Janelle played in shaping her career aspirations.

“She’s given me the fire to pursue the career I have because I’ve always wanted to please her,” Kidman noted. “But she also carved her own path and wanted her daughters to have the same opportunity to carve their own paths.”

“Mum didn’t necessarily get the career that she wanted, but she was determined that her daughters would have opportunities that were equal,” the Oscar winner added.

“That’s given me my life. And she gave me my life, she and my dad,” Kidman concluded.

Kidman confirmed her mom’s death at the age of 84 in a statement read by Babygirl director Halina Reijn during a Venice International Film Festival panel, where Kidman had won the best actress prize at the film festival for her role in the film.

“Today I arrived in Venice to find out shortly after, that my beautiful, brave mother Janelle Ann Kidman has just passed,” Reijn, 38, read on Kidman’s behalf. “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.”
The statement continued, “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.”

A cause of death for Janelle has not been confirmed, with a rep for the Oscar winner telling Us Weekly that she was “heartbroken” by the news.

“The family is heartbroken and asks for privacy at this time,” Kidman’s spokesperson told Us in a statement.

Kidman had previously hinted that her mother was in ailing health.

“We’re down here [in Australia] primarily to take care of my mother and to have her surrounded by her grandchildren,” Nicole said on NPR’s “Fresh Air” podcast in January 2022. “So luckily, last — yesterday, even though [COVID-19 strain] Omicron is raging through this country, we were able to take her into the gallery after hours and show her the Matisse exhibit, which, coming from a mother who’s raised me in the arts was very, very — it was soothing balm.”

Kidman’s father, Antony, died in 2014 at the age of 75.