Academy award‑winning actress Nicole Kidman revealed over the weekend that she is embarking on a new role: a death doula.
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Kidman shared the details of her new career path during an appearance Saturday with NBC News’ chief consumer investigative correspondent, Vicky Nguyen, at the University of San Francisco as part of the school’s Silk Speaker Series.
Her decision to train to become a death doula, she explained, stems from the profound grief she felt after her 84-year-old mother’s death in May 2024.
“As my mother was passing, she was lonely, and there was only so much the family could provide,” Kidman said, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. “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.'”
Kidman, 58, said that though the idea to train to become a death doula sounded “a little weird,” the experience with her mother sparked an interest in supporting others through loss.
“So that’s part of my expansion and one of the things I will be learning,” she added.
According to INELDA, the International End of Life Doula Association, an end‑of‑life doula is a “non‑medical companion” who provides support as individuals navigate death, loss and mortality. The organization says death doulas offer psychosocial, emotional, spiritual and practical care.
Kidman lost her father, Dr. Antony Kidman, in 2014 after he died following a fall while visiting family in Singapore, according to People magazine.
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