Everyone’s reactions to death are different and when it came to the death of her father, Nicole Kidman was so overcome with shock that she actually burst out laughing.
The Expats actress, 56, was left devastated when her psychologist father Antony Kidman died aged 75 in 2014 after suffering a fall when visiting Nicole’s sister Antonia in Singapore.
At the time, she admitted she was ‘shattered’ after the tragedy, but felt she ‘had to rally’ for the sake of her kids.
Nicole has now opened up about seeing her father’s body lying in a casket for his funeral.
‘I literally started laughing because I was so grief-stricken and so devastated,’ she said.
‘My body and my psyche just couldn’t handle it.’
Nicole also said her grim habit of laughing at inappropriate times has followed her ever since.
She added to Elle: ‘Even at other times in my life, I’ve laughed at inappropriate times because I have this weird short-circuiting.
‘It’s like you need this moment to keep you alive, in a way, otherwise you’ll die. It’s too much pain.’
Nicole actually used her experience at her dad’s funeral to create a scene in Expats where her character Margaret starts laughing uncontrollably when she and her husband Clarke (played by Brian Tee) visit a morgue to view a body that matches the description of their missing son.
The series shows Margaret agonised by the fact her son has gone missing in a Hong Kong night market, and Nicole said playing the part of a mum-of-four in the Amazon Prime show was a heavy burden.
She described her character as someone who ‘will not give up hope’, which she ‘related to’ herself, as well as ‘the desire to go, “No, I know deep down, my child is out there and I’ll find my child”.’
The Big Little Lies actress added that she loved Margaret’s ‘dogged refusal to accept anyone that tells her differently.’
‘She just won’t stop. And that’s what I think I empathised with.’
Despite receiving an overwhelmingly positive reaction upon its release, Expats has also encountered some hurdles, such as being censored by Amazon in the city in which it was filmed.
The drama miniseries was filmed in Hong Kong in 2021 but when its populace sat down hoping to watch the show upon release in 2024, they were met with a message reading: ‘This video is currently unavailable to watch in your location.’
This was because the streaming service has elected to self-censor the show to ‘pre-empt any future potential business risk’, according to The Sydney Morning Herald.
Meanwhile Nicole stressed that away from her demanding roles, she has a ‘very full life’ with her friends, family and kids.
The American-Australian star has children Bella, 31, and 29-year-old Connor, who, she shares with ex-husband Tom Cruise, 61, as well as Sunday, 15, and 13-year-old Faith with her 56-year-old current partner Keith Urban.
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