Nicole Kidman hit with heartbreaking family loss right before celebrating big film award in Venice

Nicole Kidman has recalled how she learned that her mother, Janelle Anne Kidman, had passed away shortly before she was due to accept an award at the Venice Film Festival.

Kidman was set to take home the award for Best Actress, for her role in Babygirl at the prestigious annual event back in 2024.

Speaking to Hoda Kotb during a History Talks panel - which is a live speaker series produced by The History Channel - Kidman explained she was 'completely devastated' to learn of the news.

“I was about to go out on stage, and I found out that my mother had passed,” she said.

“I went right back to my room in Venice, was getting into bed, and I was completely devastated.”

Kidman recalled her thought process at the time, explaining: “‘I’m not sure how I’m going to move forward or function now.’ She was so much a part of my existence.”

Kidman explained she learned of her mom's death while she was in Venice (David Jon/Getty Images for Warner Bros. Pictures)

Kidman even tried to leave Venice in the middle of the night, in an effort to get home to her family.

After trying to navigate the dark canals, she ultimately turned back.

“I remember getting into a boat in the canal, literally at night, trying to find my way to the airport, and then turning around going, ‘I can’t even do this,’” she said.

“Then I went back to bed. And I was alone. My husband wasn’t there, my children weren’t there. I was there to win an award, which should’ve been a beautiful thing. That there is the contrast of life.”

Kidman at the Venice Film Festival in 2024 (Rocco Spaziani/Archivio Spaziani/Mondadori Portfolio via Getty Images)

Kidman explained that ultimately, the experience enforced her belief that she could 'survive pretty much anything' which she credits to her mom.

“She told me: don’t ever let anyone break your spirit,” Kidman added.

“She came from an era where she wasn’t given the career advice she would’ve loved. She raised us, supported my father, helped him get his PhD. She basically gave to her family and didn’t have the career that she would’ve loved to have had. She was exceptionally smart.”

Kidman also explained how it was her mom who urged her not to leave the film industry after she began getting fewer roles.

“She was like, ‘I think you need to still keep your toe in the water. I wouldn’t completely give up.’ You’ve been doing this since you were little,” Kidman said. “And thank God she said that.”

This inspired Kidman to turn her hand to producing, which led her to Rabbit Hole.

“I read a review of a play called Rabbit Hole, which was about the loss of a child, and I thought, what a wonderful thing to do having just given birth — this is how strange I am to go and to do a film about the thing I am most terrified of — to go and connect to the people that I now have such deep compassion for and want to understand and want to help.

"No one wanted to give us money. It was a $3.5 million film. We had to beg for every cent. But we got it made. It was scrappy, and it was a passion, and that was the beginning of my producing career.”