Nicole Kidman Reveals Her Mom Encouraged Her to Not Quit Acting ‘Completely’ After Starting Family with Keith Urban

Nicole Kidman is grateful for her mom.

Speaking in a new interview with CBS News, published Sunday, Dec. 15, the actress, 57, revealed that her late mother Janelle Ann Kidman encouraged her to continue acting when she almost quit her career in 2008.

At the time, Nicole had just given birth to her first child, Sunday Rose, 16, with husband Keith Urban and wanted to focus more on her family. 

“When I gave birth to [Sunday Kidman-Urban], I was like, ‘Well, I think I’m pretty much done now,’” she told CBS News. “We were living on a farm, and that’s when my mother said, ‘I wouldn’t give up completely. Keep a finger sort of in it.’”

In addition to Sunday, Nicole also shares daughter Faith Margaret, 13, with Urban, as well as daughter Bella, 31, and son Connor, 29, with ex-husband Tom Cruise.

“And I’m like, ‘No, no. I’m done now. I’m done,’” Nicole continued. “She’s going, ‘Just listen to me. Keep moving forward. Not saying that you have to do it to the level you’ve been doing it, but I wouldn’t give it up completely.’”

“That came from a woman who was from a generation that didn’t have the opportunities that I had, that she had helped create for her daughters. So that’s probably something that she wished she’d had when she was little,” added Nicole.

Taking her mother’s advice, Nicole went on to receive a Best Actress Oscar nomination not long after in 2010 for the drama Rabbit Hole.

The star’s mother died in September at the age of 84. Nicole had been attending the Venice Film Festival at the time but had to leave early following the news, missing her best actress win for her performance in Babygirl, which opens in theaters Dec. 25.