If I made you guess which celebrity was studying to become a death doula, you could probably come up with like a dozen solid candidates, right? There are many celebrities who give off a certain energy of “maybe I’ll become a death doula.” We’ve even heard about one celebrity who is already a death doula – Riley Keough spoke about that part of her life a few years ago in an interview. In case you don’t know, a “death doula” is someone focused on the emotional/psychological aspects of palliative care and end-of-life care. The doula will talk to the person at the end of their life and help facilitate communications, last wishes and funeral arrangements. Well, after losing her mother in September 2024, Nicole Kidman has decided to become a death doula.
Nicole Kidman has a new career in mind. The actress, 58, shared that she’s learning to become a death doula during a talk at the University of San Francisco’s War Memorial Gym on Saturday, April 11, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.
Speaking to investigative journalist and USF graduate Vicky Nguyen as part of the school’s Silk Speaker Series, she explained that the idea “may sound a little weird,” but that her plans first came about after her mother, Janelle Ann Kidman, died aged 84 in September 2024.
“As my mother was passing, she was lonely, and there was only so much the family could provide,” Kidman told attendees, via the Chronicle. The Holland actress has four children, while her younger sister Antonia Kidman, 55, has six.
She continued, “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.”
Death doulas, also known as end-of-life doulas, provide support to people and their loved ones toward the end of life. Per the International End-of-Life Doula Association, “An end-of-life doula advocates self-determination and imparts psychosocial, emotional, spiritual, and practical care to empower dignity throughout the dying process.”
If you’ve had experiences with loved ones in end-of-life care, you know that death doulas already exist in other forms, under different names. It’s some hippie-dippy thing, it’s a real part of palliative care with many organizations. There are not only doctors and nurses involved, but therapists and social worker-types as well. As for Nicole, even without her confirmation, I would have predicted that she would be interested in this kind of thing.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.
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