Nicole Kidman reveals heartbreaking reason she moved back to Australia

The actress is back in her home country to be with her 81-year-old mother. Photo / Supplied

Nicole Kidman has revealed she's in Australia "primarily to take care" of her beloved mother, Janelle.

The 54-year-old Australian actress, who arrived in Sydney in December for the local premiere of Being the Ricardos, has remained in her native country over the past few weeks.

In an interview with the Fresh Air podcast on Wednesday, the Oscar-winner commented on how the Omicron variant of Covid-19 was "running wild in Australia".

"[And] we're down here primarily to take care of my mother and to have her surrounded by her grandchildren," Kidman said.

The Big Little Lies actress said she took her mum to the Art Gallery of NSW on Tuesday after-hours, adding it was "soothing balm".

"Luckily yesterday, even though Omicron is raging through this country, we were able to take her into the gallery after hours and show her the Matisse exhibit, which coming from a mother who's raised me in the arts, it was soothing balm. Matisse was soothing balm last night," Kidman said.

The pair have spent some much-needed family time together over the Christmas and New Year break, after having not seen each other for eight months during the height of the pandemic in 2020.

"I'm at the place where I'm being given the chance to view the world, because of how close we are, my mum is giving me the chance to view the world through an 81-year-old woman's eyes," Kidman explained later in the interview.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Nicole Kidman (@nicolekidman)

"That is so beneficial right now, because she's so cognisant. She has every brain faculty available, so she hasn't lost anything. She hasn't lost any memory, which is fascinating, and she's extremely bright.

"She's giving me access, because she's also very direct and very honest, and so I'm getting access to the world through her eyes, my mother's eyes, so therefore a part of me almost at 80."

Janelle suffered health concerns in 2016 when she was taken to a Sydney hospital after a suspected heart scare.

It came just two years after her husband, Dr Antony Kidman, died of a heart attack in a Singapore restaurant in 2014.

Seven months later, Janelle's former son-in-law Angus Hawley – who was Antonia Kidman's ex-husband – died of a suspected heart attack in New York.