Inside Nicole Kidman’s shut relationship together with her late mom Janelle

Nicole Kidman shared her heartbreak on Saturday as she revealed that her beloved mother sadly passed away at the age of 83.

The Australian actress, 57, was forced to leave Venice Film Festival to return to her native Sydney to be with her family after the devastating news.

Her mother Janelle tragically died just hours before Nicole was awarded Best Actress for her role in Babygirl on the final day of Venice Film Festival in a huge achievement.

‘Today I arrived in Venice to find out shortly after, that my beautiful, brave mother Janelle Ann Kidman has just passed,’ Nicole revealed in a statement read by director Halina Reijn upon her win.

‘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.

‘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. We love you all.’

Nicole has long had an incredibly close relationship with her beloved mother Janelle and often spoke about her support and influence on her career over the years.

Nicole was born in Honolulu and raised in Sydney by her beloved mother Janelle and her psychologist father Antony, who died in September 2014.

After spending time in the United States, the Moulin Rouge star and her younger sister Antonia, 54, spent much of their childhood in Sydney.

Nicole pursued her passion for acting when she was a teenager and was supported by both of her parents as she soared to global fame.

They both remained closely involved with her career over the years, with Nicole recently admitting she would still go to her mother for advice.

In November, the Big Little Lies star told how she would often ask her mother Janelle for advice on her outfits, despite working with a whole string of professional stylists.

In a sign of their close bond, Nicole told People: ‘My mother is still — she’s so involved in what I wear.’

Nicole is known for her daring fashion choices but told how it was her mother and grandmother who first fostered her love for clothes. 

‘I love fashion. I’ve always loved fashion,’ she gushed while speaking at the Planet Omega pop-up launch in New York.

‘I grew up as a little girl with a grandmother that loved fashion and could sew and my mother the same. They loved beautiful clothes. They could make beautiful clothes,’ she went on.

‘I watched them sew, embroider, and knit, crochet. And I think when you grow up seeing the people in your household do that, then you love that.’

Nicole was never shy of gushing over her affections for Janelle, sharing a touching tribute on her mother’s 82nd birthday last year. 

Taking to Instagram, she posted a gallery of photographs of herself and her family celebrating with Janelle at a party and penned some sweet words in a caption. 

‘Happy birthday, mumma. You are so loved by all of us,’ Nicole wrote.

She had also taken the time to send her mother birthday well wishes while on the Oscars red carpet in Los Angeles with her husband Keith Urban.

‘It’s my mum’s birthday today. Happy Birthday, mama. We love you soo much,’ Nicole said to the camera.

‘We did a party for her when we were back in Sydney. She is the heartbeat of our family, so we love you, mama.’ 

On Australian Mother’s Day in 2022, Nicole had also shared sweet throwback photographs of Janelle holding her as a baby in Hawaii, where she was born.

‘Reminiscing… wonderful memories with my mumma back in Hawaii,’ Nicole wrote in a reflective caption.

‘Happy Mother’s Day mumma, and to all the mothers in the world… Happy Mother’s Day.’

Earlier that same year, Nicole – who splits her time between Australia and the US – also spent a long period of time in her home country to be with Janelle.

At the time, Nicole told how she was taking some time out to care for her mother, who was going through a period of illness amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

‘We’re down here primarily to take care of my mother and to have her surrounded by her grandchildren,’ she told the Fresh Air podcast.

Nicole said they’d managed to visit the Art Gallery of New South Wales after hours to see the Matisse exhibition, describing it as ‘soothing balm’. 

She went on: ‘So luckily yesterday, even though 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, it was soothing balm. Matisse was soothing balm last night.’ 

Nicole also gushed that she felt privileged to be able to see the world through her mother’s eyes, describing it as ‘so beneficial’. 

‘I’m at the place where I’m being given the chance to view the world, because of how close we are, my mum is giving me the chance to view the world through an 81-year-old woman’s eyes,’ she explained. 

‘That is so beneficial right now, because she’s so cognisant. She has every brain faculty available, so she hasn’t lost anything. She hasn’t lost any memory, which is fascinating, and she’s extremely bright.

‘She’s giving me access, because she’s also very direct and very honest, and so I’m getting access to the world through her eyes, my mother’s eyes, so therefore a part of me almost at 80.’ 

‘It’s her perspective, obviously. There’s many different 80-year-old perspectives, but it’s her perspective, and her particular path, but I’m drinking it in and learning,’ she added.

In an interview with The Sydney Morning Herald in May 2020, Nicole also spoke about missing her mother while living abroad in the United States.

‘I would love to be able to have a cup of tea with Mum and sit on the balcony and talk about life, and have her tell me what I should be doing,’ she said at the time. 

Nicole had an equally close relationship with her father Antony and was left devastated when he died of a heart attack in September 2014 at the age of 75.

The Oscar-winning actress previously revealed that the ‘sudden’ death of her father, as well as a string of other losses, had deeply affected her.

‘I’ve been given death as a very sudden thing. I’ve not nursed someone through a slow death, I’ve just had people taken,’ she told the Sydney Morning Herald in 2020.

‘I’ve now had it happen repeatedly, I almost get scared saying it because I get terrified it’s going to happen again. I still have a lot of fear of that.’ 

That same year, Nicole also shared a tribute to her father on the anniversary of his death, telling how she and her sister Nicole could always go to him for advice.

‘My sister and I were talking recently about how lucky we were, because I would turn to my father for advice all the time, and to my mother too,’ she said. 

Nicole also revealed that she was reminded of her father while starring alongside Donald Sutherland in 2020 thriller series The Undoing. 

‘Donald is my dad’s height, and he reminds me of my father,’ she said. ‘So I’d go up to him and snuggle him all the time.’