Nicole Kidman Declared The ‘Best Actress’ At The Venice Film Festival

But Nicole Kidman was not there at the award ceremony on Saturday night. She won the ‘Best Actress’ award for her performance in “Babygirl” but missed holding the trophy in her own hands that night.

She was suffering from a personal loss as her mother passed away. The news came to her as soon as she arrived in Venice earlier that day. The 57-year-old star didn’t get the opportunity to hold the Volpi Cup as a major honor for her movie “Babygirl” performance.

During the awards ceremony, the movie director, Halina Reijn, stated the reason for Nicole Kidman’s absence that night. She found out that her “beautiful, brave” mother, Janelle Ann Kidman, 84, was no more.

Nicole Kidman’s statement for missing the ceremony

The statement that Nicole had given to the director to read at the ceremony in her absence said,

“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”.

As soon she ended reading the statement, Reijn expressed her condolences for Kidman’s mother and said,

“We love you all, Nicole”.

Further, she added that they had just come from Venice as the movie had a premier which was an emotional experience for the entire team. It added to the emotional rollercoaster when Nicole won the ‘Best Actress‘ title for the said movie, Reijn told the attendees.

However, right before Nicole was to on stage to accept the award, she received the sad news and had to rush off to her family. The director said that she wanted everyone present at the event to know that she was excited for the day as it was very special to all of them.

“This is our North American premier”.

Who were Kidman’s parents

Both of the parents of Kidman were Australian. Her father died in 2014 who was a psychologist. Earlier, she mentioned in an interview that she was in Australia, taking care of her mom who was suffering from some health issues at that time.

She explained that her mom used to give her a chance to see the world with the “eyes of an 81-year-old woman” since she was close to her. Kidman surprisingly said that her mother still has the ability in her old age to see and analyze things perfectly.

“That is so beneficial right now because she’s so cognizant”.

The Oscar winner said that she has her memory intact so strongly and she “hasn’t lost anything, which is fascinating”. The movie actress noted her mother’s qualities as honest, direct, and extremely bright.

She loved her mom, no matter what!

Kidman reminisced the times with her mom, who was a nurse educator when she was identified as a feminist as she discussed women’s issues that they faced while growing up till the time when both of them were like “Shut up, Mom”.

Nicole was excited about her birthday which they missed during the time of Covid-19. She hugged her mom in the pictures that she posted on Instagram in August 2020 saying, “I missed her 80th birthday but I’m here now. Love you mumma”. She told that this was when they made up for her previously missed birthday last year.

The star, despite having grown up herself, remembered that her mother was still involved in what Nicole was wearing. She said that her mother was a candle of guidance, she taught her and she was blessed to have her.

The president of the Venice Film Festival jury, Isabelle Huppert sent condolences to Kidman with a video. “I just want to tell her that we really miss her and we love her”, she said in the video.