Nicole Kidman, 59, is fighting back against Hollywood’s double standards while rebuilding her life after divorce.
The Australian Oscar winner has become an outspoken critic of how the industry treats women-led projects, according to a Tinseltown source who spoke. The dispute flared after trades magazines panned “Practical Magic 2” for its $30 million opening weekend, then celebrated Brad Pitt’s “Heart of the Beast” for debuting with $20 million. “I don’t know what other movies have opened that’s not ‘The Odyssey’ or a horror movie that did what [‘Practical Magic’] did,” the source said. To date, “Heart of the Beast” has outperformed Kidman’s film globally with $156 million versus $105 million total gross.
Kidman has put her pledge into practice. Industry insiders said she has now worked with a woman director 67 times across TV, film and shorts, as an actor, producer and/or executive producer. She made a public commitment at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival to collaborate with a female director at least once every 18 months, then surpassed that goal by working with 19 female filmmakers over eight years.
“As a woman in this industry, if you have a little power, if you have the chance to get something greenlit, if you have the chance to say who you want to direct it, if you go, ‘I want a female to do this,’ that will help,” Kidman said at a Variety event in 2018.
Susanne Bier, her frequent collaborator who directed “Practical Magic 2,” offered her own assessment to British Vogue. “She is the ultimate seducer — and I don’t mean that in a sexual way. She has an incredibly enticing energy, where you get very willingly drawn into her sphere. She’s from outer space.”
The professional momentum comes amid personal upheaval. Kidman filed for divorce from country music star Keith Urban in September 2025 after 19 years of marriage, and the split was finalized this past January. She has sole custody of their daughters, Sunday Rose, 18, and Faith Margaret, 15.
The break-up reportedly blindsided her. She told the British Vogue September issue that the divorce left her adrift.
“Like, where am I going? And what’s next?”
“I’m like, ‘OK, I didn’t expect this. I had a different view of what my life was going to be, but this is what it is now.’ You make all these plans and you have all these ideas of what it’s all going to be like and then it’s … not. You have to adjust. You adapt,” she admitted to the magazine.
Urban had made clear his discomfort with her 2024 film “Babygirl,” in which she plays a CEO seduced by a junior colleague. A source said this week that he refused to promote the movie alongside her despite her Golden Globe nomination. “Nicole is a risk-taker — look at ‘Eyes Wide Shut’ with Tom Cruise, that’s who she is,” the source stressed.
She drew on that resilience after losing her mother, when she still attended a “Babygirl” event. “Even when Nicole lost her mom, she went to an event to promote ‘Baby Girl’ and told everyone she was there to work, even when people told her she didn’t need to be there,” a Hollywood source recalled.
Her response to the Urban split followed the same pattern. In October 2025, she stepped out at a Chanel show — newly unveiled as the fashion house’s global ambassador — with her daughters, wearing a sexy oversized white shirt and jeans. She had already filmed a second season of her Amazon Prime series “Scarpetta” and continues as Kaitlyn Meade in “Lioness,” the Paramount+ hit now heading into its fourth season.
Asked by British Vogue whether she took guidance from her earlier high-profile divorce from Tom Cruise, with whom she adopted Bella and Connor before their 2001 split, she laughed. “It’s all new … Every time!”
Her cultural footprint keeps expanding. Adéla’s viral September single “Nicole Kidman” reached the top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #1 on US Spotify charts. Ethan Alter, deputy editor of Gold Derby, credited her grasp of modern celebrity. “Nicole Kidman has long displayed a keen understanding of how modern celebrity is a bigger job than mere movie stardom,” he said. “Whether embracing television — both in front of and behind the camera — or the viral nature of social media, she balances the self-awareness and authenticity that’s central to the appeal of the stars that younger audiences latch onto.”
Alter also noted her unexpected industry impact through the ubiquitous AMC theater ad campaign. “Funnily enough, she did more for the movie industry as the face of that ubiquitous AMC ad than almost any of the films she’s made recently. As audiences returned to theaters in a tickle — and now a flood — after the COVID pandemic, Kidman was there to welcome them back. And she also ensured that they’d see her face anytime they went to the multiplex, even if she wasn’t in the film itself.”
Her inner circle includes Reese Witherspoon and Laura Dern. She maintains her base at a 10,925-square-foot Nashville mansion called the “Queen of Northumberland” in an upscale gated community. “Above all, her home base is Nashville and she’s a mom,” a longtime pal said. “Her family is her biggest priority.”
Sunday Rose has begun modeling, recently covering German Vogue, and addressed nepo baby criticism directly. “I’m very aware that I’m given opportunities that not everyone can have, and I’m truly grateful to be able to take advantage of them,” she said. She has also expressed interest in directing. Faith Margaret has not yet worked professionally but has joined her mother at red carpets and fashion shows, including Chanel in Paris last month.
The longtime pal emphasized that fame has not changed her. “Nic is still very humble,” the friend said, adding that Kidman was overwhelmed by post-divorce support. “She is very much like, ‘Why do they care about me?’ But she’s very touched by it.”
Alter summed up her sustained command of the spotlight. “Because she’s seen as a totemic power in Hollywood, Kidman is able to present herself like she’s floating above the industry fray. She makes the projects she wants to make, appears where she wants to appear, and always looks for ways to surprise. It’s all part of the practical magic of making stardom seem effortless, no matter how skilled she is at navigating the industry’s trenches.”
Kidman turns 60 next June.
She is set to return for a fourth season of “Lioness.”