In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter for the magazine’s Women in Entertainment issue, the Babygirl actress remembered her mom as being someone who “was always the smartest person in the room.”
“She would challenge you on all your ideas or your work,” said Nicole, 57. “I was sad she didn’t get to see Babygirl. She just had an enormous amount of wisdom and humor, very irreverent. She would see through everything.”
“And she’d always say to me that I was always looking at the world with rose-colored glasses,” the Oscar winner continued.
Nicole announced in a statement read aloud by Babygirl director Halina Reijn at the Venice Film Festival Sept. 7 that she had left the festival early due to her mother’s death.
“My sister and I along with our family want to thank you for the outpouring of love and kindness we have felt this week,” the Australian actress began in a statement on Instagram five days later.
Her tribute included three photos of her mother. The first was a solo portrait of a younger Janelle, while the two that followed were family pictures in which both Nicole and her younger sister Antonia appeared.
“Every message we have received from those who loved and admired our Mother has meant more to us than we will ever be able to express. Thank you from our whole family for respecting our privacy as we take care of each other,” Nicole concluded.
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Nicole Kidman and her mom Janelle Ann Kidman in Sydney, May 2001
In her interview with THR, Nicole said her mom encouraged both her and her sister, who is a lawyer and former journalist, to pursue their professional goals.
“She loved my career,” said the Perfect Couple star. “She’d go, ‘That was very good,’ or, ‘The writing on this wasn’t good.’ When she said something was good, you just sort of almost fell at her feet.”
Nicole also recalled going to the opera with her mother during her childhood, explaining that Janelle “knew so much about art.”
“I came from that very academic home where it was like, ‘Well, where’s your degree?’ ” she said. “And I’m like, ‘I got my degree in acting.’ We would read novels and then we would discuss them, or we would discuss an art exhibition.”
