Nicole 50 and loving it!
After a starring role at Cannes, Nicole is on top of the world…
What do you buy a woman who has the world at her feet? This is surely the question Nicole Kidman’s friends and family are asking themselves on the eve of the actress’s 50th birthday. Yet Nicole would likely tell them not to bother with gifts – she already has everything she wants from life, and more.
Indeed, the star, whose home life is now blissfully stable and whose career has arguably reached a new pinnacle, is telling friends she’s never been happier than she is right now.
“Nic feels totally fulfilled and like her whole life has fallen into place – and she says she’s going to make the next 50 years even more memorable than the first,” a close friend tells Woman’s Day.
Nicole, who arrived in Australia last week to film Aquaman, enjoyed a pre-birthday dinner with her mother Janelle in Sydney. It was a fairly low-key affair compared to her countless award show and red carpet appearances in recent months – but to the mother of four, for whom family will always mean the most, it was no less special.
“Nic has always been somewhat superstitious and she says she doesn’t want to jinx her happiness by talking about it too much,” our insider says. “But she feels like she’s been on a lap of honour these past few months… with the Hollywood award season, Cannes and now going home to see her mum.”
After 28 years in the film industry, Nicole has certainly earned a prolonged celebration. She was dubbed “Queen of Cannes” late last month, starring in four critically acclaimed projects screening at the festival, as well as dazzling on the red carpet.
Her performance as domestic violence survivor Celeste Wright in this year’s TV hit show Big Little Lies is also earning her endless applause, while her newest TV venture Top Of The Lake: China Girl is being lauded by critics.
As further proof of her career success, last week Nicole was named Australia’s richest entertainer, with an estimated net worth of around $347 million.
“Cannes has always been a special place to her, but this year more so than ever because Nic is completely at ease with herself and could not be in a better place with her personal and professional life,” the friend says. “Nic has always had a lot of self-doubt but now she has learnt to relax and enjoy herself and
appreciate everything she has.”
Nicole – mum to Isabella, 24, and Connor, 22, with Tom Cruise, and Sunday, eight, and Faith, six, with Keith Urban – has learnt that you can’t enjoy the rainbows without weathering the storm.
And there have been plenty of dark moments – the divorce from Tom that blindsided her after 10 years of marriage and the subsequent distance she endured from their two kids, the miscarriage that devastated her, and the tragic deaths of her beloved father Antony and brother-in-law Angus Hawley within months of each other have all tested her to the limit.
“I’m aware of being in a sweet spot right now but it takes contrasts to have that awareness,” Nicole said recently. “You have to have experiences, ups and downs and the idea that life is a long path.
“Right now I’m the most balanced, awake and alive I’ve ever been,” she added.
Of course, a major contributor to Nic’s happiness is her 11-year-marriage to 49-year-old Keith.
“Your confidence grows as you get older, particularly when you’re in a loving relationship,” she says. “Everything strengthens. A lot of that insecurity and desire to please is based on low self-esteem, so trying to build that is important. Keith has been a huge part of it.”
With confidence in spades, and a smile that just can’t be dimmed, friends say Nicole can’t believe how perfect her life feels right now.
And turning 50 is not the scary prospect she once thought – she even told Graham Norton she was “so excited”.
“She feels totally fulfilled,” her friend says. “She truly believes life is only going to get better – and she can’t wait for the next exciting chapter to begin!”
‘Right now I’m the most balanced, awake and alive I’ve ever been’