Nicole Kidman has described how she was 'completely devastated' in Venice when she learned of her mother's death while alone at the film festival, in a moment that came to symbolise the unravelling of both her family life and her marriage to Urban. Speaking in Philadelphia on Saturday 18 April, the Babygirl star recalled being told that her mother, Janelle Ann Kidman, had died just as she was preparing to collect a major acting prize.
Janelle Kidman died on 7 September 2024 at the age of 84 after what was described as a long battle with illness, though no specific cause of death has been made public. Kidman had travelled to the Venice Film Festival, where she won the Best Actress award for her performance as Romy in Babygirl. The celebration, which on paper looked like another career high for the Oscar winner, instead became what she now describes as the night that fractured her sense of safety.
