I wonder how many hours days (weeks?!) it would take to watch the entirety of Nicole Kidman’s body of work. Not only has she been acting professionally since she was a teenager, but she famously works nonstop. I finally finished Scarpetta… and she’s already rolling out Margo’s Got Money Troubles. Margo may, but Nicole doesn’t! Plus she’s raising two teenage daughters (arguably the most demanding job of all), and learning to become a death doula. Oh, and she’s co-chairing the Met Gala next Monday (where she’ll undoubtedly be wearing Chanel as one of their house ambassadors). Hot take: I think Nicole always dresses very pretty at the Met Gala, but hasn’t ever taken a big risk or gone whole hog into the theme. Prove me wrong this year, Kidman! The larger point I’m making is, girl is booked and busy. Yet she still found time this month to pop over to Philadelphia and speak with Hoda Kotb at the HISTORYTalks speaker series, where Nicole shared something she does with her girls every day that’s pretty darn sweet:
Nicole, who shares daughters Sunday Rose, 17, and Faith Margaret, 15, with ex-husband Keith Urban, said Sunday and Faith must do one thing every single day: hug her.
“Both my daughters will kill me for saying this, but I’m like, ‘You need to hug [me] for two minutes a day,’” Nicole said with a laugh.
“It releases certain chemicals in the body and everyone needs to be hugged for about two minutes a day. Did you know that?” the Big Little Lies star added.
Nicole, who is also mom to daughter Bella, 33, and son Connor, 31, whom she shares with ex Tom Cruise, also said that — contrary to common wisdom — she considers parenting teenagers to be “extraordinary.”
“We’re so close, the three of us, we talk about everything,” she said.
“It means sitting on the end of their bed, when they say, ‘Come in here, sit down.’ And you go in, and you’re exhausted, and you sit down and you listen. And I always say, ‘Do you want me to give you advice now, or are you just sort of venting?’” Nicole said.
“Primarily I get told no advice,” she continued with a laugh. “90 percent of the time.”
Nicole also shared that there are a number of lessons her mother, Janelle Ann Kidman, taught her that she hopes to pass down to her kids.
“[My mother] told me, ‘Don’t ever let anyone break your spirit,’” Nicole said.
…Nicole went on to say that she credits her mother, who was a nurse, for encouraging her to keep her creative life alive at a moment when she was considering retiring from show business in 2008.
“I’d moved to Nashville. I was pregnant. I had my daughter [Sunday Rose], and I was going to retire,” she recalled.
“My mother was like … ‘I wouldn’t completely give up. You’ve been doing this since you were little. It’s your make up.’ And thank god she said that,” Nicole said.
Aw, I love this! Granted, the line “you need to hug me for two minutes a day” could be read as needy, but that wasn’t the way Nicole struck me. Sure she wants to have a good hug with her kids for her own enjoyment, but she wants that happy natural chemical release for her girls too, if not more so! Of course I’m probably biased, as I was raised by my own mother to be a prolific and generous cuddler. It’s soul-nourishing to have a real snuggle with someone you love! So what I heard in Nicole’s comments was a parent who’s very present in her daughters’ lives in a supportive way, not a helicopter or curated-for-Instagram way. I’m not in the least surprised Nicole shows up for her kids; the only thing I’m flummoxed over is how it’s physically and temporally possible for her to keep her schedule. Also, that bit about asking her girls if they want advice or just to vent is a solid move not just for teenagers, but for talking with anyone.
PS — Ok fine, I’m a nerd and can’t stop myself from asking: is that two minutes per child or combined?
Photos credit: Serge Arnal/Starface Photo/Cover Images, KHAP/DPTIG/Best Image/Todd Williamson/JanuaryImages/Backgrid