Nicole Kidman caused a stir when she drank an entire glass of milk while accepting the Best Actress award at the 2025 National Board of Review Gala in New York on Tuesday night.
The Hollywood star, 57, received the prestigious gong from her The Perfect Couple co-star Liev Schreiber, who played her husband.
She was recognized in the Best Actress category for her new romantic film Babygirl, which has been talked about a lot since its release on Christmas Day.
During her acceptance speech, Nicole drank an entire glass of milk while on stage at the prestigious venue: Cipriani 42nd Street.
While it might have left some baffled by its wild action, it was actually a nod to a now-viral scene from Babygirl.
In the film, Nicole plays Romy, a married company boss, who falls in love with her young intern Samuel, played by 28-year-old Harris Dickinson, and they embark on a passionate adventure.
Nicole Kidman caused a stir when she drank an entire glass of milk while accepting the Best Actress award at the 2025 National Board of Review Gala in New York on Tuesday night.
During her acceptance speech, Nicole drank an entire glass of milk while on stage at the prestigious venue: Cipriani 42nd Street.
The film features a lot of very raunchy scenes, but one in particular has gone viral on social media and interestingly enough it involved a glass of milk.
In the now infamous scene, Samuel already caught Romy’s attention when they were enjoying drinks after work with their colleagues.
A waiter presents Romy with a glass of milk and she realizes that Samuel has ordered the drink for her, prompting her to drink the entire glass while he watches.
As she leaves the bar, Samuel whispers to her, “Good girl,” setting the stage for the intense power-play dynamic in their budding relationship.
Surprisingly, it’s not the only scene involving milk in the film, as Romy also seductively licks milk off a plate at another point, before Samuel sucks it off her lip.
And Nicole made a cheeky reference to the headline-grabbing bar scene at the National Review Board Gala while once again downing an entire glass of milk.
In a nod to her character’s flirtatious exchange, Nicole raised a glass of milk to show the audience, before boldly kissing him on stage.
He then proudly showed the empty glass to the audience at the awards ceremony recognizing the best films of the year.
In a nod to her character’s flirtatious exchange, Nicole raised a glass of milk to show the audience, before boldly kissing him on stage.
While it may have left some baffled by its wild action, it was actually a nod to a now-viral scene from her film Babygirl, for which she was recognized at the awards show.
In the now infamous scene, Nicole’s character Romy drinks an entire glass of milk at a bar (pictured) during a flirtatious exchange with her younger intern, Samuel (Harris Dickinson).
The Hollywood star, 57, received the prestigious gong from her The Perfect Couple on-screen husband Liev Schreiber at Tuesday night’s ceremony.
Nicole recently addressed the recurring use of milk in Babygirl’s sex scenes and talked about how it’s symbolic of the issue itself.
“Milk, cookies and all those sensory things are used for the struggle for power,” he explained in a recent interview with Hits Radio.
The Australian star revealed that she had to drink around 16 glasses of milk while filming the iconic bar scene.
She admitted that her first thought when reading the scene was ‘how many glasses of milk am I going to have to drink?’ before adding: “I think it was maybe 15 or 16.”
Director Halina Reijn also revealed what inspired the sensual milk scene, revealing that something similar happened to her when she was 30.
Halina, 49, recalled going out for drinks after one of her theater performances, when a famous Belgian actor, who she said was “much, much younger” than her, sent her a glass of milk.
“I drank it and he just left,” she told W Magazine. ‘I thought, ‘How does this guy get courage?’ I thought it was very sexy. And I thought it was very funny.’
Nicole’s role in Babygirl is widely considered her most erotic yet, but the Big Little Lies star wasn’t even fazed by the challenge.
Nicole was seen smiling backstage with her former co-star Liev as they reunited for a rare appearance at the awards ceremony.
That night, Nicole cut a sophisticated figure in a black dress with white details around the cuffs and neckline.
“What attracted me to the movie is that it has a woman’s voice,” she shared on The Graham Norton Show.
“A lot of films of this genre that we saw in the ’90s came from the male vision, but this is twisted and told through the lens of a woman.”
Host Graham asked her if she was hesitant to film the sex scenes, but Nicole insisted she was just excited and wanted to go beyond her “comfort zone.”
‘I loved the script, I love supporting women in the industry and it was really good. “It’s exciting and bold, and I’m always looking to get out of my comfort zone,” he shared.
However, Babygirl’s erotic scenes were not without their challenges, as Nicole admitted that she had to pause filming the intense scenes at one point.
According to The Sun, he said: “There was a huge amount of sharing and trust and then frustration. It’s like, ‘Don’t touch me.’
“There were times when we were filming and I thought, ‘I don’t want to have an orgasm anymore.’ Don’t come near me. I hate doing this.”
In Babygirl, Nicole plays Romy, a married company boss, who falls in love with her young intern Samuel, played by 28-year-old Harris Dickinson, and they embark on a passionate adventure.
”’I don’t care if they never touch me again in my life! I’m over it.” “He was so present the whole time for me that it was almost like an exhaustion.”
The cast met with an intimacy coordinator for the racy scenes and Nicole believes she was able to play the racy moments because Halina was a director.
She said: “It’s the story that I wanted to be a part of, that I wanted to tell, and every part of me was committed to it.” “All of us took enormous care.”
Nicole hasn’t been afraid to push boundaries during her 40-year career, starring in an orgy scene in the 1999 film Eyes Wide Shut with her then-husband Tom Cruise.