Nicole Kidman has revealed an unexpected career path: She wants to become a death doula.
The award-winning actress, 58, shared that while it “sounds a little weird,” her motivation to become a death doula stems from the circumstances of her mother’s death in September 2024.
“As my mother was passing, she was lonely, and there was only so much the family could provide,” Kidman told the audience at an event at the University of San Francisco.
“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,’” she explained. “So that’s part of my expansion and one of the things I will be learning.”
The Oscar-winning actress’s mother, Janelle Ann Kidman, died at 84. In a statement following Janelle’s death, the actress said, “My heart is broken.” Kidman found out about her mother’s death while attending the Venice Film Festival, which she left early to be with her family.
Kidman bagged the Volpi Cup for Best Actress for her Babygirl performance at the festival, but wasn’t present to receive the award. “I’m 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,” the actress wrote in a statement read by director Halina Reijn.
A death doula, or end-of-life doula, is a non-medical companion “who provides personalized and compassionate support to individuals, families, and their circles of care as they encounter and navigate death, loss, and mortality,” according to the International End of Life Doula Association. Doulas can support the dying person in a number of ways, while also assisting with care and providing respite for full-time caregivers.
Kidman and her husband, Keith Urban, 58, split in September 2025 after 19 years together. The former couple has two children: Sunday Rose, 17, and Faith Margaret, 15. Kidman was provided primary custody of their daughters.
The Babygirl star lost her father in 2014, an experience which she has also been candid about.
In a 2024 interview with GQ, the actress opened up about the emotional undercurrents she reflects on: “Mortality. Connection. Life coming and hitting you. And loss of parents and raising children and marriage and all of the things that go into making you a fully sentient human. I’m in all of those places. So life is, whew. It’s definitely a journey.”
