‘Wish my mama was here’... says Nicole Kidman at Lioness premiere

Nicole Kidman is enjoying a new wave of success in her long and award-filled career. The Oscar-winning actress recently picked up the best actress award at the Venice Film Festival for her role in Babygirl, directed by Halina Reijn. Soon after, her new Netflix series The Perfect Couple became the No. 1 show on the platform.

Kidman’s success doesn’t stop there. She is also set to star in the second season of Lioness, a Paramount+ series created by Taylor Sheridan.

The new season debuts on Sunday. Kidman will also begin working on Amazon Studios’ Scarpetta, a film based on the Patricia Cornwell novel. In Scarpetta, she will star alongside fellow Oscar winners Jamie Lee Curtis and Ariana DeBose. However, despite all the success, Kidman is feeling bittersweet about this moment in her career.

While walking the red carpet at the Linwood Dunn Theatre in Hollywood, Kidman spoke about her late mother, Janelle Ann Kidman, who passed away last month. “I wish my mama was here,” she said. “That’d be the one thing I’d say. Everything is great with work, but I wish my mama was here.”

Kidman became emotional as she talked about the pain of losing her mother while navigating a high point in her career. She shared how she felt when she won the Volpi Cup at Venice.

“I’m in shock, and I have to go to my family, but this award is for her,” Kidman wrote through Reijn. “I am beyond grateful that I get to say her name to all of you. The collision of life and art is heartbreaking, and my heart is broken.”

Speaking about her ongoing grief, Kidman shared, “It’s been hard. It’s a hard road. I’m hanging in there.”