Her mother dies while she was in Venice to collect the award for best actress

The 57-year-old Australian actress has finally declined to attend the closing ceremony, where a statement was read out after the hard blow suffered. Never has such an important award been so bitter. That is what Nicole Kidman experienced this Saturday, who had travelled again to the Venice Film Festival after winning the award for best actress, when as soon as she landed in the city of canals she was informed of the death of her mother.

Tom Cruise’s ex, devastated, was unable to collect the Volpi Cup at the closing ceremony of La Mostra. She was the director of her latest film, alongside Antonio Banderas, who plays her husband, the Dutch actress Haila Rijn, who went up on stage at the Lido Palace in place of the actress and read a statement on her behalf. “Today I arrived in Venice to find out immediately after that my wonderful and brave mother, Janelle Ann Kidman, had just passed away,” the note read. “I am in shock and I have to be with my family, but this award is for her,” it added. “She helped me and made me who I am,” it added. “My greatest gratitude is to be able to say her name in front of all of you. My heart is broken. I love you. Nicole,” it concluded.

The Others star was at the current edition of the festival, the 81st, just a week ago when she presented her award-winning film Babygirl, which she stars in alongside Antonio Banderas. At that time, both actors dazzled on the red carpet when they presented a thriller full of eroticism, about a husband who does not satisfy his wife, is unable to have an orgasm in 20 years of marriage, and has an affair with an intern.

Nicole spoke about her late mother in January 2022 when she traveled to Australia to “take care of her and have her surrounded by her grandchildren,” she said. “Even though Covid is still wreaking havoc, we were able to take her to a Matisse exhibition and it was really nice,” Kidman said, adding that her mother was a great lover of the arts.

The pandemic in 2020 forced them to separate for many months. That’s why their reunion in Australia was very lively. “It feels so good to be able to hug my mother!” the actress said. Nicole spent the quarantine in Tennessee, where her husband, the country musician, gave several concerts. Keith Urban.

Back then, the Big Little Lies actress posted photos remembering her mother and showing how much she missed her. “My mother’s cancer affected me so much that it has turned me into a person who fights to eradicate this disease,” she said about what she experienced when she was 17 years old.