Nicole Kidman reveals surprise new career she's pursuing at age 58

Nicole Kidman is training in a new role in the wake of suffering an intense personal tragedy.

Kidman, 58, has had a highly successful Hollywood career, with her films ranging from Eyes Wide Shut, Moulin Rouge!, and Paddington.

But now, the actor has shared that she is training in a new role which is very different from acting.

Kidman was speaking at the War Memorial Gym at the University of San Francisco campus in California, where she took part in the Silk Speaker Series, and shared that she is now training to become a 'death doula'.

You may have heard of a doula - a non-medical professional who provides support to someone giving birth.

But while doulas are more commonly associated with birth, they can actually provide support to people going through any significant medical episode.

Kidman opened up about how her mom's death affected her (Matei Horvath/FilmMagic/Getty)

And this includes doulas who specialize in providing support to people who are coming to the end of their life.

Kidman explained that she decided to train as a death doula after losing her mother, who died aged 84.

"As my mother was passing, she was lonely, and there was only so much the family could provide," she said at the event, as reported in the San Francisco Chronicle.

Back in March 2025, Kidman took to social media and posted a tribute to her mom on the day that she would have turned 85, writing: “Missing Mumma and Papa so much on what would have been her birthday today."

She did the same on her mom's birthday in 2026 as well, writing: "Remembering my Mumma on her birthday. Always in my heart."

Explaining why she had decided to train in the role of a death doula, Kidman told the audience in the Silk Speaker Series: "Between my sister and I, we have so many children and our careers and our work, and wanting to take care of her because my father wasn't in the world anymore, and that's when I went, ‘I wish there was these people in the world that were there to sit impartially and just provide solace and care'.

Kidman explained that she is training as an end-of-life doula (Jean Baptiste Lacroix/AFP via Getty Images)

"So that's part of my expansion and one of the things I will be learning."

Doulas are not medically trained like a doctor or nurse, but are there to provide additional emotional and compassionate support.

There is also an association for the practice, the International End-of-Life Doula Association, who explained on their website that the role also provides support to the families as well as people who are dying.

They said an end-of-life doula is 'a nonmedical companion who provides personalized and compassionate support to individuals, families, and their circles of care as they encounter and navigate death, loss, and mortality.'