Nicole Kidman skips film premiere to be with family after mother's death
Nicole Kidman missed the premiere of her new movie 'Babygirl' at the Toronto International Film Festival in Canada on Tuesday (10.09.24) because she needed to fly home to be with family following her mother's death.
Nicole Kidman missed the premiere of her new movie 'Babygirl' to be with her family following her mother's death.
The 57-year-old actress was told her mother Janelle had passed away while she was in Italy attending the Venice Film Festival where she was honoured with an award for her performance in the new movie. Nicole had been due to screen the project at the Toronto International Film Festival in Canada on Tuesday (10.09.24), but director Halina Reijn explained the actress needed to fly home to be with her loves ones in the aftermath of the tragedy.
She told the audience at the premiere: "We just came back from Venice where we had the world premiere of our movie, and it was quite an emotional experience as you might have read because Nicole Kidman had just won the award for best actress.
"Unfortunately, right before she was going to go on the stage and accept the award, she sadly heard of her mother's passing and had to rush off to her family, and that's why she's not here with us tonight.
"But she wanted all of us to know that she was so excited for this day. It's very special to us. This is our North American premiere."
Reijn previously stepped in for Kidman at the Venice event - picking up the award on her behalf so the actress could focus on dealing with her family tragedy.
The moviemaker read a statement from Kidman to the audience, which explained: "Today I arrived in Venice to find out shortly after, that my beautiful, brave mother Janelle Ann Kidman has just passed.
"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."
Nicole previously opened up about her mum's health issues during an appearance on the ‘Fresh Air’ podcast in 2022 revealing she had been in Australia to take care of Janelle and they were able to take her to an art show despite the resurgence of COVID-19 cases.
She said: "We’re down here primarily to take care of my mother and to have her surrounded by her grandchildren.
"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 added she felt lucky to be able to see the world through her mother’s eyes, and described her outlook as “so beneficial”.
She said: “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.
"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."
