Nicole Kidman Bolts Film Festival After Mom's Death

Nicole Kidman won Best Actress at the Venice Film Festival for "Babygirl" on Saturday but needed to leave before she could accept her award after her mother died. 

Instead, director Halina Reijn took to the stage and delivered written remarks while also revealing the tragic death.

"Today, I arrived in Venice to find out shortly after my brave and beautiful mother, Janelle Anne Kidman, had just passed," Nicole Kidman wrote, according to Variety. "I’m in shock and I have to go to my family, but this award is for her."

The statement continued: "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 heartbreaking. My heart is broken."

Janelle Kidman was 84, according to The Guardian.  Nicole Kidman’s father, Antony Kidman, died in 2014 at the age of 75.

Nicole Kidman’s mother worked as a nursing instructor and was actively involved with the Women’s Electoral Lobby, a feminist organization in Australia.

In a 2020 interview with Sydney Morning Herald, Nicole Kidman described her mother as "my mentor, my guide and my nurturer."

"She’s given me the fire to pursue the career I have because I’ve always wanted to please her. But she also carved her own path and wanted her daughters to have the same opportunity to carve their own paths," the actress said.

"Mum didn’t necessarily get the career that she wanted, but she was determined that her daughters would have opportunities that were equal," Nicole Kidman continued. "That’s given me my life. And she gave me my life, she and my dad."

"Babygirl," which premiered in Venice last week, is an erotic thriller starring Nicole Kidman as Romy, a successful New York CEO who becomes involved in an intense, sado-masochistic relationship with a new intern at her company.

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