Nicole Kidman (right) with her mother Janelle Kidman at the 61st Annual Golden Globe Awards in Beverly Hills on 25 January 2004.
Photo: Getty via AFP
Nicole Kidman has announced the death of her mother Janelle Kidman, aged 84.
The Australian actress arrived in Venice, Italy on Sunday to attend the city’s famous film festival that evening, where she was awarded best actress for her new film Babygirl.
But before she could accept it, she found out her mother had passed away.
The film’s director Halina Reijn accepted the award on Kidman’s behalf and shared a statement the actress had written.
“I arrived in Venice and found out shortly after that my beautiful, brave mother, Janelle Ann Kidman has just passed,” Kidman wrote.
“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.”
Kidman wrote that she was “beyond grateful” that the crowd was hearing her mother’s name.
“The collision of life and art is heartbreaking,” Nicole wrote.
“And my heart is broken.”
Director Halina Reijn said “we love you Nicole”, before exiting the stage.
The cause of death of Janelle Kidman is not yet known.
In 2016, she was taken to Sydney hospital with heart issues.
In 2022 Nicole Kidman told American radio programme Fresh Air that she had returned to Australia from her home in Nashville, Tennessee to take care of her mother.
“We’re down here primarily to take care of my mother and have her surrounded by her grandchildren,” she said.
Kidman is known for her close relationship with her mother and sister Antonia Kidman, an Australian journalist.
Her father Tony Kidman died in 2014.
– ABC