Nicole Kidman Was Going To ‘Give Up’ Acting And Have A Baby But Her Mom Convinced Her Not To

Nicole Kidman, 54, is one of the most well-known actors in Hollywood today. She began her career in her native Australia in the 1980s, and her talent and good looks swiftly propelled her to stardom; by the early 1990s, she’d gained international acclaim and had already made an effect in Hollywood.

She’s remained at the top ever since, earning a plaque on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, an Academy Award, and numerous other accolades. She continues to appear in critically acclaimed films such as “Nine Perfect Strangers” and “Being the Ricardos,” for which she won a Golden Globe this year.

Despite her status as one of Hollywood’s top actresses, Nicole claimed that she was on the verge of abandoning her career after the birth of her first child. Family is extremely important to the actress, as her fans know. Nicole married country music artist Keith Urban in 2006 in Sydney, Australia, and the couple has two children, Sunday Rose, 13 years old, and Faith Margaret, 11 years old.

While having a family hasn’t hindered Nicole’s career in the least, she did admit that she wanted to “give up” acting in order to spend more time with her children. Nicole’s own mother, Janelle, happily gave her some great words of advice that encouraged her to keep going – which is fortunate for all of us! Nicole has stated that those closest to her, such as her mother and younger sister, are the ones she seeks counsel from in her life.

Nicole and Urban welcomed their first baby in 2008, then a second daughter in 2010. Nicole admitted that having children made her want to stop performing in an Associated Press interview with Sofia Coppola, the filmmaker of “The Beguiled,” as reported by Yahoo. She stated, ”

“I was pregnant with Sunday at the time, and I told myself, ‘I’m giving up acting, I’m done.’ It’s excessive. And then there’s the baby.'”

But, happily for her and the rest of the world, Nicole’s mother, Janelle Ann Kidman, 81, provided her some sound counsel that ensured she didn’t give up her dream so easily. Nicole went on to say:

“‘Don’t do it,’ my mother said. ‘Take a break, but don’t abandon it.'”

“Keep your toe in the water,” Nicole’s mother advised, “because… you’ll want it when you get older.” The actress continued, ”

“It’s also beneficial, because if you have a creative spirit and are artistic, you need to have a place for that.”

Nicole wasn’t the only one who spoke out about the subject. She expressed similar sentiments in an interview with Today, as reported by RTE:

“I went through a period where I was pretty much done, especially after I gave birth to Sunday. I was about to call it a day on my career.”

Janelle shared excellent words for her daughter once more when she told her:

“Everything in your life has always been fought for; nothing has ever been handed to you on a silver platter. You had to audition and work, and it was a long, difficult journey in terms of your career… You don’t just walk away from it.”

Nicole is close to both her own family and the people she grew up with. Her sister Antonia Kidman and her mother moved in with her and her girls when they went to Australia to film “Nine Perfect Strangers.” According to Hello! Magazine, she told The New York Times:

“My sister is staying with me and my mother is assisting; I don’t have that kind of help in Nashville, so it’s been fantastic.”

In fact, Nicole has looked up to Janelle since she was a child. The actress stated in a recent interview with The Guardian that her feminist mother used to take her to women’s rights meetings. She remembered:

“There were a hundred women sitting around talking and smoking cigarettes. I don’t recall the details of the chats, but I do recall eating a lot of biscuits.”

Nicole appears to be instilling this kind of confidence in her girls as well. In the same interview, she stated that she has been concentrating on female empowerment in Hollywood. In her own career, she described working with more female-directed films and series as her “way of going, ‘Hold me accountable.'” She made a promise:

“My promise to this sector is that I will provide a platform for new voices to emerge, and they will be able to ride on my coattails… This is a part of the ‘paying it forward’ concept.”

“I have a 13-year-old who wants to be a filmmaker – she’s particularly interested in comedy,” she continued. There’s little doubt that sticking to her acting career and now utilizing her clout to support women in Hollywood will have an impact on her family and the next generation of female creatives in Hollywood.