Nicole Kidman announces career change – what is a death doula?

Nicole Kidman has built a career on transforming for her acting roles, but her latest direction may be her most unexpected yet.

The actor, 58, recently revealed that she is training to become a death doula, a move inspired by navigating her mother’s passing.

Speaking at the University of San Francisco this weekend, Kidman explained that the decision grew out of a deeply personal experience following the death of her mother in 2024 at the age of 84.

In her final days, Kidman said, there was a sense of loneliness that even a close and devoted family could not fully ease.

With the practical demands of life continuing around them, she began to recognise a gap between medical care and emotional support.

She said: ‘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.’
Kidman’s mother died in September 2024, while the actress was inVenice to accept an award at the Venice Film Festival.

She won the Best Actress award for her role in Babygirl, but did not stay to receive the honor, with director Halina Reijn, 48, accepting the award on her behalf and reading out a devastating statement from the star.

‘Today, I arrived in Venice to find out shortly after my brave and beautiful mother, Janelle Anne Kidman, had just passed,’ Nicole wrote.

The statement continued: ‘I’m in shock and I have to go to my family, but this award is for her.

‘She shaped me, she guided me and she made me.

I am beyond grateful that I get to say her name to all of you through Halina.

‘The collision of life and art is heartbreaking.

My heart is broken.’
Kidman’s father, Anthony Kidman, died in 2014.

What is a death doula?

Louise Piper, a practising end of life doula and Chair of End of Life Doula UK — A CIO and the UK Doula membership organisation —  told Metro she is’very pleased to see growing public interest in this work.’
She continued: ‘Death doulas support people and those important to them through dying, death and bereavement.

Our role is not clinical, but deeply human: we offer emotional, practical and sometimes spiritual support alongside existing services such as the NHS, sitting in that often-overlooked or liminal space between formal care and community.

‘A core part of our work is helping to bring death and dying back into everyday conversation.

By normalising these discussions, we support people  to make informed choices about how and where they want to die, and to feel less alone in the process.

‘We support those facing life-limiting illness to live well until they die, and to have deaths that reflect their values and wishes wherever possible.

This might include advocacy, advance planning, legacy work, or simply being present to accompany them as they die.’
Piper continued, explaining that each year, more and more people are trained in the role.

She said: ‘The profession is growing rapidly.

End of Life Doula UK now has around 500 members across the UK, reflecting a wider cultural shift towards more compassionate, community-based approaches to dying.’
For families, they can provide reassurance, guidance, and, in some cases, a much-needed pause from the intensity of caregiving.

The organisation describes the role as one that preserves dignity and identity at the end of life, with support tailored to the individual, whether that means helping to plan final wishes, coordinating practical arrangements, or simply being a steady, compassionate presence.

Doulas often work alongside medical professionals, complementing clinical care rather than replacing it.

Their involvement can also extend beyond death itself.

Many continue to support families in the immediate aftermath, helping with paperwork, funeral arrangements, or the first stages of grief.

In this sense, the role is as much about those left behind as it is about the person who has died.

In popular culture, the role has begun to surface more frequently, including in television portrayals and among public figures.

Filmmaker Chloe Zhao has also spoken about training as a death doula, describing it as part of an effort to confront a lifelong fear of death and to live more fully as a result.

A death doula was also recently portrayed in a season two episode of the hit medical drama The Pitt.

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