Nicole Kidman Reveals Surprising Career Pivot as Death Doula

Nicole Kidman is opening an unexpected new career chapter.

The Oscar-winning actress, 58, revealed that she’s training to become a death doula during a speech at the University of San Francisco’s War Memorial Gym on Saturday, as reported by the San Francisco Chronicle.

Speaking with journalist and USF alum Vicky Nguyen as part of the university’s Silk Speaker Series, Kidman said that while it “may sound a little weird,” she became interested in becoming a death doula following the 2024 death of her mother, Janelle Ann Kidman, at age 84.

“As my mother was passing, she was lonely, and there was only so much the family could provide,” Kidman reportedly told attendees, adding, “Between my sister and I, we have so many children and our careers and our work, and wanting to take care of her because my father wasn’t in the world anymore, and that’s when I went, ‘I wish there was these people in the world that were there to sit impartially and just provide solace and care.’”

She explained, “So that’s part of my expansion and one of the things I will be learning.”

A death doula, also referred to as an end-of-life doula, “advocates self-determination and imparts psychosocial, emotional, spiritual, and practical care to empower dignity throughout the dying process,” as per the International End-of-Life Doula Association.

A month after her mother’s death in September 2024, Kidman told Extra that her mother had been “a major guide” throughout her life and was “probably [her] compass in terms of everything [she] did.”

In 2020, Kidman told the Sydney Morning Herald that it was her mother who paved the way for her to find success as an actress.

“She’s given me the fire to pursue the career I have because I’ve always wanted to please her,” the Babygirl actress said at the time. “But she also carved her own path and wanted her daughters to have the same opportunity to carve their own paths.”

“Mum didn’t necessarily get the career that she wanted, but she was determined that her daughters would have opportunities that were equal,” she continued. “That’s given me my life. And she gave me my life, she and my dad.”