Nicole Kidman explores new path as death doula following mother’s death

Nicole Kidman. Pic/AFP

Hollywood star Nicole Kidman has shared that she is training to become a death doula after being inspired by her own experiences before her mom Janelle Ann Kidman, passed away in September 2024 at the age of 84.

A death doula is a non-medical professional who provides holistic emotional, spiritual, and practical support to individuals and their families navigating terminal illness, death, and bereavement.

According to the San Francisco Chronicle, Nicole said during a Silk Speaker Series talk at the University of San Francisco's War Memorial Gym: "As my mother was passing, she was lonely, and there was only so much the family could provide."

"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.' So that's part of my expansion and one of the things I will be learning."

The actress isn't the only famous face to reveal plans to be a death doula, reports femalefirst.co.uk.

In 2021, Riley Keough shared that she had undergone training and found supporting others proved to be helpful with her own grief over her brother Benjamin Keough taking his own life in July 2020.

The Daisy Jones and the Six star, whose mom Lisa Marie Presley died in January 2023, said:

"That's really what's helped me, being able to put myself in a position of service. If I can help other people, maybe I can find some way to help myself."

Director Chloe Zhao recently revealed she had been training to be a death doula to help her overcome her own fears about the end of life.

What is a death doula?

A death doula is a non-medical professional who provides holistic emotional, spiritual, and practical support to individuals and their families navigating terminal illness, death, and bereavement.

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