Nicole Kidman Says 'There's No Right and Wrong' When It Comes to Motherhood 'Just Different Children'

Julie Sprankles

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She’s known for playing some of the most celebrated parts in Hollywood but, in a new interview for Tatler magazine, Nicole Kidman addresses her most complex role: motherhood. The Oscar-winning actress first became a mom when she was 20-something and married to Tom Cruise, just kicking off what would become an iconic career. Then, she became a mom again in her 40s. Does she have any wisdom about tackling motherhood at different stages of life? Stay put — Kidman is sharing her truth.

The actress sat down with Tatler at her Nashville home she shares with country singer husband Keith Urban and the couple’s daughters Sunday Rose, 11, and Faith Margaret, 9. And there, she addressed how she feels about motherhood and her experience over the years, she and Cruise are parents to kids Isabella, 27, and Connor, 24. “I think it’s just a journey,” she shared. “And the first thing is there’s no right and wrong. There’s just different children.”

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Kidman went on to share some sage wisdom that was passed down to her from her grandmother along with her takeaway. “I once got this wonderful advice from my grandmother. She said, ‘Every child is given some adversity. Where you’re born. What you’re up against. Your parents get divorced,'” she said, adding, “There’s always going to be problems. And the greatest thing is that the love is enough.”

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Hollywood titan Nicole Kidman saddles up for the New Twenties as the cover star of the January issue, to mark the new decade. As her new film, Bombshell, opens with a bang (based on the sex scandal that rocked Fox News, the jewel in Murdoch’s empire) Kidman opens up to Tatler about taking risks, finding love again and a future of big little highs. Here she wears a jersey blazer over a taffeta shirt (both by Fendi), a vintage Chanel pearl necklace and a felt top hat by Lock & Co. Hatters (a favourite of the royals). Photographed by @jackwaterlotstudio and styled by @sophiepera; with hair by @italogregorio and make-up by @mollyrstern. At the link in bio, read an abridged version of the full interview that will appear in the January issue, on sale Thursday 5 December.

A post shared by Tatler (@tatlermagazine) on Nov 29, 2019 at 1:00am PST

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January cover star Nicole Kidman presides over a multi-decade long career and some pretty flawless portrayals – everyone from Virginia Woolf to a Parisian courtesan in Moulin Rouge to the titular role in Grace of Monaco and one of Henry James’s susceptive heiresses in The Portrait of A Lady. Here, Kidman is dressed in a lamé ensemble by Dior haute couture, photographed by @jackwaterlotstudio and styled by @sophiepera. At the link in bio, read an abridged version of the full interview that will appear in the January issue, on sale Thursday 5 December.

A post shared by Tatler (@tatlermagazine) on Nov 29, 2019 at 1:30am PST

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In the interview, January cover star Nicole Kidman, dressed in a satin and velvet cape by Giorgio Armani, talks about the loss of her father, Dr Antony Kidman, the scientist who died in 2014; a death that she still feels keenly. She shares a memory of the immediate aftermath following his death, when she was crying and her daughters tried to comfort her. ‘My three-year-old said, “But you’re not going to be sad like this tomorrow, are you?” That’s when you realise, y’know, you have to be OK. Because they need to know that they’re safe, that their mother isn’t going to fall apart.’ She adds, ‘Inside? I was beyond shattered. But I had to rally.’ Photographed by @jackwaterlotstudio and styled by @sophiepera. At the link in bio, read an abridged version of the full interview that will appear in the January issue, on sale Thursday 5 December.

A post shared by Tatler (@tatlermagazine) on Nov 29, 2019 at 1:30am PST

It’s Kidman’s hope that Sunday and Faith will recognize that love in the way their parents are raising them — they travel the world with their mom and dad for work — and not resent it.

“Who knows? When they’re older, they’ll probably think, ‘My parents dragged me around the world. I’m never leaving this one town.’ Kids can be quixotic. Kids can be perverse. And there’s nothing you love more. When that shift happens, and you [become a parent], it’s a cataclysmic change,” Kidman explained. “Everything shifts. That depth of love is unfathomable, and deeply painful, and extraordinarily joyful.”

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