“Both my daughters will kill me for saying this,” the actress said of her teen girls, Sunday Rose and Faith Margaret
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NEED TO KNOW
- Nicole Kidman shared the daily two-minute rule she has for her teenage daughters, Sunday Rose and Faith Margaret
- The actress opened up about parenting and lessons from her mother during the live speaker series HISTORYTalks
- Kidman is also mom to daughter Bella, 33, and son Connor, 31, whom she shares with ex-husband Tom Cruise
Nicole Kidman revealed the one specific thing she does as a mom of two teenage daughters.
The actress, 58, opened up about her parenting style while in conversation with Hoda Kotb at the live speaker series HISTORYTalks in Philadelphia on April 18.
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.
Credit: Stefanie Keenan/WireImage
“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.
Credit: Nicole Kidman/Instagram (2)
“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.
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“She came from an era where she wasn't able to [have] the career path she would have loved. She raised us, she supported my father, she helped him get his Ph.D, [and] she didn't get hers … and she was exceptionally smart,” she continued.
Nicole added, “So in a weird way, both my sister and I — who is now a lawyer and has six children — we're sort of pulling what she's given us forward and putting it into the world.”
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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.
Nicole also said both her parents impressed the importance of “being of service” and helping others, adding that it was probably “the greatest gift they gave.”
“I think growing up in a family that was very much committed to social justice and caring for other people, I think that's penetrated, hopefully, my daughters,” she continued.
Nicole lost her father, Dr. Antony Kidman, in 2014, followed by her mother in 2024.
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