Nicole Kidman says she is 'heartbroken' after the death of her mother Janelle | Nicole Kidman

Nicole Kidman announced the death of her mother Janelle as the Oscar winner was named Best Actress at the 2024 Venice Film Festival on Saturday.

The Australian actress was not in the Italian city to accept the award for her new film “Babygirl” after arriving in Venice to learn that her “beautiful, brave mother” Janelle had died.

“I am in shock and I need to go to my family. But this award is for her. She shaped me, she guided me and she created me,” Kidman said in a statement read by the Dutch director of “Babygirl”, Halina Reijn.

“The collision of life and art is heartbreaking,” Kidman wrote. “And my heart is broken.”

Janelle Kidman was 84. Nicole's father, Antony Kidman, died in 2014 at the age of 75.

In a 2020 interview with the Sydney Morning Herald, Kidman described her mother as “my mentor, my guide and my educator.”

“She gave me the drive to pursue my career because I always wanted to please her.

“But she also went her own way and wanted her daughters to have the same opportunity to go their own ways.

“My mother didn't necessarily have the career she wanted, but she was determined to give her daughters the same opportunities.

“That gave me my life. And she gave me my life, she and my father.”

Reijn accepted the award for best actress on behalf of Kidman.

The erotic thriller “Babygirl” premiered in Venice last week. Kidman plays the role of Romy, a married, influential New York executive who begins a steamy, sadomasochistic affair with a new intern.

– Agence France-Presse contributed to this report