At 17, Nicole Kidman put her acting dreams on hold. Her mother had breast cancer, and the family could not afford massage after the treatments. So Nicole trained to do it herself. Forty years later, one Saturday in Venice tested that bond again.
Nicole Kidman was born on June 20, 1967, in Honolulu, Hawaii. Her parents were Australians living in the U.S. on student visas. The family later settled in Sydney.
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Her father, Antony, was a biochemist who researched breast cancer in the U.S. Her mother, Janelle, was a nursing instructor.
Then the disease he studied comes home. Janelle is 45 when she is diagnosed with breast cancer. Nicole is 17.
Janelle goes through chemotherapy and radiation. Her body needs massage and physical therapy to recover. The family cannot afford it.
So Nicole steps away from acting. She signs up for a massage course and learns to do the work herself. At 17, she becomes her mother’s caregiver.
Janelle survives. Nicole goes back to acting.
What comes next is one of the great careers in film. Moulin Rouge earns her an Oscar nomination in 2002. On March 23, 2003, at 35, she wins Best Actress for The Hours, playing the writer Virginia Woolf.
She is the first Australian ever to win that award. Over the years, Janelle walks red carpets at her side.
The bond never breaks. In 2014, Nicole loses her father. In 2022, she flies back to Australia to care for her mother, now in poor health.
In 2023, she gives money to a Nashville cancer center to help fund clinical trials for breast cancer treatments. The disease that shook her family when she was 17 is still a cause she fights for.
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In 2024, she becomes the first Australian to receive the AFI Life Achievement Award. Then comes the Venice Film Festival.
Here’s what makes it worse. On Saturday, September 7, 2024, she lands in Venice. Her film Babygirl is up for top honors. She is 57, and she is about to win the Volpi Cup for Best Actress.
Shortly after she arrives, the news reaches her. Her mother has died.
Nicole does not stay to collect the prize. She leaves to be with her family. Her director, Halina Reijn, walks on stage and reads a note from Nicole.
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The note says she is in shock and must go to her family. It says, “This award is for her.” It ends by saying her heart is broken.
A girl who once learned massage to ease her mother’s pain has just won one of the biggest prizes in film. She gives it straight back to the woman who made her.
The trophies matter. But what Nicole Kidman shows us is simpler. The people who carried us are worth stopping everything for, at 17 or at 57.
