Nicole Kidman Heartbreak: Babygirl Star Recalls the Tragic Night She Lost Her Mum and Keith Urban

Nicole Kidman has described how she was 'completely devastated' in Venice when she learned of her mother's death while alone at the film festival, in a moment that came to symbolise the unravelling of both her family life and her marriage to Urban. Speaking in Philadelphia on Saturday 18 April, the Babygirl star recalled being told that her mother, Janelle Ann Kidman, had died just as she was preparing to collect a major acting prize.

Janelle Kidman died on 7 September 2024 at the age of 84 after what was described as a long battle with illness, though no specific cause of death has been made public. Kidman had travelled to the Venice Film Festival, where she won the Best Actress award for her performance as Romy in Babygirl. The celebration, which on paper looked like another career high for the Oscar winner, instead became what she now describes as the night that fractured her sense of safety.

That Night in Venice

In her appearance at HISTORYTalks in Philadelphia, hosted by Hoda Kotb, Kidman said she had been feeling 'ecstatic' moments before everything changed, before receiving the call about her mother.

'I was about to go onstage and I found out my mother had died and I went right back to the room in Venice, got into bed and was completely devastated and thought, I do not know how I'm gonna move forward or function now,' she said.

Kidman described her mother as 'so much a part of my existence,' suggesting that the timing of the news, colliding with professional recognition, felt almost unbearable. She said 'the idea of being there at that particular moment was parole,' an awkward, haunting word that hints at feeling stranded between worlds, neither free to celebrate nor able to grieve properly.

Once the initial shock eased enough for her to think, Kidman tried to leave Venice and reach her family. She recalled scrambling to get out of the city in the middle of the night, desperate to be anywhere but trapped in a gilded hotel room.

'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 recalled. Disoriented and exhausted, she abandoned the attempt and returned to bed.

There was a detail she lingered on. Her husband was not there. Her children were not there. The actor who had flown in to celebrate a career triumph was suddenly, starkly alone.

'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,' the Scarpetta star told the audience, in what appeared to be a pointed reference to Urban.

Nothing in her account suggested any wrongdoing or direct cause-and-effect. Still, it is hard to ignore the way she has now chosen to fold that incident into the wider story of a marriage that would not survive the following year. Beyond what Kidman has shared publicly, nothing about the private dynamics of that night has been confirmed, so any interpretation should be treated with caution.

A Marriage Under Strain

Kidman and Urban announced their separation in September 2025, nearly a year after Janelle Kidman's death. They had been married since 2006 and share two daughters, Sunday Rose and Faith Margaret. When the couple filed for divorce, they cited 'irreconcilable differences.' The split was finalised in January 2026, according to the original report.

Against that timeline, Kidman's Venice account lands differently. What might once have been described simply as a moment of raw grief is now framed as part of a period in which everything around her seemed to be shifting. Career success, personal loss and a marriage under quiet strain all converged.

Kidman did not go into detail about her relationship with Urban that night, nor did she criticise him directly. Her comments instead focused on what she took from the experience herself. She said she learned to become more 'resilient' in the aftermath, suggesting that surviving the collision of joy and devastation forced her to rebuild her sense of identity without her mother's constant presence.

No representative for Urban was quoted in the original account, and there is no formal response from his side to Kidman's latest remarks. The only firm facts are the dates: Janelle Kidman's death in September 2024, the separation announcement in September 2025 and the divorce becoming official in January 2026.

In the gap between those markers, Kidman's recollection of that lonely boat ride on the Venetian canals has taken on the weight of a turning point. An actress in evening wear, adrift in the dark, trying and failing to leave a city of celebration, is an image that cuts through the polished surface of red carpets and awards.