She has often played a doting mother on screen and is close to her two youngest children, Sunday Rose Urban, 16, and Faith Urban, 14.
But Nicole Kidman’s relationship with her two older children is decidedly more strained.
The 57-year-old actress has remained tight-lipped about Bella, 31, and Connor, 29, who she has not been seen with in public for 16 years.
However, the Australian Oscar winner was reportedly touched to receive a heartfelt letter from her two adopted children following the recent death of their mother, despite her fractured relationship with the couple.
The star once hinted that Bella and Connor are “loyal to their father” and “don’t call her mom” for having “chosen Scientology” over her when she split from Cruise.
However, after the actress’s mother Janelle died unexpectedly at the age of 84, the brothers reached out in an emotional letter suggesting the relationship is not bitter.
Nicole Kidman was reportedly moved to tears by receiving a heartfelt letter from her two adopted children following the recent death of their mother, despite her fractured relationship with the couple.
The 57-year-old actress has remained tight-lipped about Bella, 31, and Connor, 29, who she has not been seen with in public for 16 years.
Nicole learned her mother had passed away just hours after landing in Italy to attend the Venice Film Festival to promote her latest film, Babygirl.
She was awarded Best Actress for her role in the film, but director Halina Reijn accepted the award on her behalf by reading a statement from the actor.
“I arrived in Venice today and shortly after I learned that my beautiful and brave mother, Janelle Ann Kidman, has just passed away,” the statement read.
‘I am in shock and I have to turn to my family, but this award is for her, she shaped me, she guided me and she made me.
“I am beyond grateful to be able to say her name to all of you through Halina. The collision between life and art is heartbreaking and my heart is shattered. We love you all.”
In response to the shocking news, Bella and Connor reportedly wrote a letter to their mother offering their condolences and support.
According Women’s DayThe actress is happy to hear from her children and would love to have them “back in her life.”
After the Australian-born actress’ mother Janelle died at the age of 84, the brothers reached out to her in an emotional letter suggesting their relationship is not sour.
Little is known about Nicole Kidman’s relationship with her adopted children Bella and Connor (pictured with then-husband Tom Cruise in 1996 in Sydney).
Nicole was regularly seen with her children in the early 2000s, but they have not been photographed together since 2007. They were first seen together in 2004 at a Los Angeles Lakers game.
“The most comforting thing for Nicole was receiving a joint message from Bella and Connor, who she hadn’t heard from in a long time,” a source said.
“It’s a little sad that it took such a tragic moment to bring them back into her life, but she knows her mother would be very happy if her passing brought her estranged grandchildren back into the family.”
The source also said that Nicole is willing to take some time away from her career to give her relationship with her children “the best it can be.”
Bella and Connor are the only children Nicole shares with her ex-husband. The couple adopted their daughter in 1992 and their son in 1995.
Throughout their relationship, the family was often photographed together, but following her split from the Top Gun star in 2001, the couple reportedly remained “loyal to her father” and decided to live with him, meaning they were raised in the controversial Church of Scientology.
The Big Little Lies star has refused to speak about religion or her family ties in recent years and is said to have been absent from many of her children’s life events, including Bella’s wedding at the Dorchester Hotel in London in 2015, despite living in the city at the time.
Nicole has two biological daughters with husband Keith Urban, pictured in 2014 in Sydney.
Connor and Bella are pictured in London, where Bella lives with her husband.
The Big Little Lies star has not been publicly photographed with her two eldest children since 2007 and was reportedly left “devastated” after the couple failed to attend her father’s funeral in 2014.
In 2018, while accepting her Golden Globe for Best Actress, the Nine Perfect Strangers star thanked her biological daughters and second husband Keith Urban, but did not mention Connor or Bella.
In an interview with British morning show GMTV shortly after her final appearance with Bella and Connor, she revealed that Bella and Connor refer to her by her first name.
“My kids don’t call me mommy, they don’t even call me mom. They call me Nicole, which I hate,” she said.
Kidman has previously insisted she remains in touch with Connor and Bella, despite them choosing to live with Cruise when they split.
“They live with Tom, which was their choice,” she said.
-I would love for them to live with us, but what can be done?
He added to E! News: “Everyone has their own path and when they find it it’s a huge relief as a parent.”
The last photo of Nicole in public with her two oldest children was taken in March 2007 at the Kids’ Choice Awards in Los Angeles.
Nicole puts her arm around Connor during the 2003 presentation of the 18th Annual American Cinematheque Awards honoring Nicole Kidman at the Beverly Hilton.
The mother of four walked away from the Church of Scientology when she split from Tom Cruise, a well-known and outspoken member of the controversial church.
The Top Gun star reportedly banned Nicole from attending Connor’s 2019 wedding to another high-ranking Scientologist.
“Tom is behind all of this and what he wants is as important as the law,” a source told RadarOnline.com at the time. “Tom made the decision and Connor followed it.”
Connor, a former DJ who now works as a deep-sea fisherman, “worships the ground his father walks on,” the source added, saying he would never disobey the actor.
In 2018, Nicole again broke her silence about her adopted children by speaking to Who Magazine implying that their fractured relationship was due to their religious differences.
“I’m very private about all of that. I have to protect all of those relationships. I know 150 percent that I would give my life for my children because that’s my purpose,” she said.
‘They are adults. They are capable of making their own decisions. They have chosen to be Scientologists and as a mother, it is my job to love them.
Connor is said to be “loyal to his father” and is often photographed with him; the pair are pictured together in 2013.
Connor and Tom are often together, seen in 2015 in Tampa.
‘And I am an example of that tolerance and that is what I believe: that no matter what your child does, the child has love and the child has to know that there is love available and I am open here.
“I think that’s so important because if you take that away from a child, if you take that away from any child, from any relationship, from any family, I think that’s wrong. So that’s our job as parents, to always offer unconditional love.”
She apparently expected Bella and Connor to be present when she became the first Australian to receive the Lifetime Achievement Award at the American Film Institute (AFI) ceremony in June, but they did not attend.
Ahead of the event, a supposed source told Australia’s New Idea: ‘Nicole knows Connor is extremely loyal to his father so she doesn’t expect him to come, but the invitation is there for both of them.
“It is an event that they have every right to celebrate together with the rest of Nicole’s family,” they continued.
‘Nicole is trying to limit her expectations, but she’s holding on to the hope that Bella can make it.’
Connor is pictured with Keith Urban ahead of his wedding to Nicole Kidman on a boat in Sydney Harbour in 2006.
The last time she was photographed with Connor in public was at the annual Kids’ Choice Awards in Los Angeles in 2007, when he was just 13 years old.
However, the family denies that there is a rift.
In 2014, she told Woman’s Weekly that “they are generous, kind and hard-working. And those are traits I love to see in my children.”
At the time she also described her film Lion, in which she plays an adoptive mother, as a “love letter” to her children.
That same year, Connor also said: “I don’t care what people say. I know my mother and I are a solid couple. I love her very much. My family means everything to me,” he said.
In an interview with MailOnline in 2016, Bella said: “Of course[we talk]they’re my parents,” she said. “Anyone who says otherwise is lying.”
In 2012, she told New Idea: “I love my mom. (Nicole) is my mom. She’s great. I see her sometimes and talk to her,” adding: “We’re a very close family. I love our whole family.”