Nicole Kidman Opens Up About Grief, Aging, and Taking a Break in Allure’s Surreal May Cover Story
Nicole Kidman, the hardest working woman in show business is ready for a ‘summer of stillness’
Move over, Elphaba. Nicole Kidman, amongst her many talents, is able to defy gravity it seems in her latest cover story interview for Allure Magazine. The Oscar winner who never seems to not have a new mini-series to promote—this month it is Season 2 of Nine Perfect Strangers in which she plays Masha Dmitrichenko, a Russian wellness guru—but in this surreal photo shoot for the magazine she was unabashedly honest about some very difficult topics including the recent death of her mother, her own journey with motherhood and maybe taking a break from work to just be (though we do love whenever she plays a brittle, super rich complex matriarch who is capable of murder and also looks stunning in a wrap sweater.)
Titled “On a High,” the story is anything but light. Writer Danielle Pergament peels back the layers of Kidman’s famously poised exterior. The interview took place in a spa’s dual hyperbaric chamber (a pressurized capsule with elevated oxygen levels) and the non-profit Belcourt Theatre—both in Kidman’s hometown of Nashville. Read Nicole’s full interview on Allure.com here.
A Year of Magical Thinking
Kidman, who recently lost her mother, speaks with raw candor about the way grief has reshaped her. “Losing my mother changed every part of me,” she says. “I feel embarrassed because I feel like, ‘Oh, you’ve talked about it enough.’” But, as she explains, the love was too deep for the loss not to be transformative. “I’m on the journey of grief, the year of magical thinking.”
It’s a poignant admission from an actor who has inhabited some of the most emotionally complex characters of the past two decades—from Big Little Lies to The Hours to her current project, Nine Perfect Strangers, returning for a second season this week.
The Beauty of Letting Go
Though Kidman is arguably one of the most beautiful women in the world and seems to be defying time and science as she is 57 years old and looks like that (we’ve also recently loved the rotation of spellbinding wigs she has been showing off like her pixie cut at The Met Gala) she has accepted aging. “I’ve always been a future person, and suddenly you go, ‘Oh,’” she shares. “I have more time behind me than ahead. That shift in the ratio becomes a big thing.”
Still statuesque and sharp as ever, Kidman jokes: “My mom always said, ‘It’s hard being five ten and a half.’ I have not shrunk at all. I’ll be very happy when it happens.”
But it’s not just wit—it’s wisdom. “At some point you go, ‘Don’t wish for anything.’ Move forward. Shut up. And get on with it.”
A Mother, a Daughter, a Human on Earth
Kidman, who is mother to two daughters with husband Keith Urban (she also has two children from her previous marriage to Tom Cruise) talks about her ever-evolving relationship with her daughters, especially as they become young women. “I get to be their guide,” she says. “I’m able to apologize to them. I’m able to stand up to them. I very much like the relationship we have. It’s nice to be able to say that.”
Kidman may have missed out on the recent Blue Origin all ladies trip to space, but in the interview she muses about existence, space, and childhood dreams of becoming an astronaut. Kidman still has that childhood curiosity it seems. “I’m interested in what it means to be here, if we even are here,” she says. “I’d like to see Earth from space. And then come back to the nest.”
Summer Stillness
After years of back-to-back projects—eight in just the last two years—it seems that Kidman is finally ready for a break this summer. She definitely deserves it. At this year’s Golden Globes, host Nikki Glaser even made a joke that Kidman is the hardest-working woman in show business. “I’m taking the summer off,” she reveals. “Over-giving is bad for your health. You don’t say to yourself: I matter.”