Nicole Kidman Was ‘Terrified’ When Learning How to Breastfeed After Giving Birth: ‘Where’s My Milk’

A relatable mom. Nicole Kidman opened up for the first time about her challenges with breastfeeding after giving birth to her first child.

“I was terrified, asking, ‘What just happened? Where’s my milk?'” Nicole, 57, told Time in an interview published on Thursday, February 20, after being named one of the publication’s Women of the Year.

“I remember standing naked in the shower, and my sister helped me. She was my source of strength. She’d had five children — she had the wisdom to pass on,” the Babygirl actress said of her younger sister, Antonia Kidman.

Nicole gave birth to daughter Sunday Rose Kidman Urban on July 7, 2008, two years after she married country superstar Keith Urban in June 2006.

The Perfect Couple star was already a mom to the two adopted children she shares with ex-husband Tom Cruise: daughter Isabella Cruise, 32, and son Connor Cruise, 30.

Nicole found out she was pregnant with Sunday while filming the epic movie Australia in 2007. She was 40 years old at the time and went on to reveal how doctors told her she had a two percent chance of conceiving a baby.

“I was very lucky that … happened to me because I didn’t think that was going to happen in my lifetime. I didn’t think I’d get to give birth to … a child,” she explained to Good Morning America in November 2008.

Nicole and Keith expanded their family with the addition of daughter Faith Margaret, who was born via surrogate on December 28, 2010.

“Our family is truly blessed, and just so thankful, to have been given the gift of baby Faith Margaret,” the couple shared in a statement on January 11, 2011, when announcing their youngest daughter’s arrival. “No words can adequately convey the incredible gratitude that we feel for everyone who was so supportive throughout this process, in particular our gestational carrier.”

Nicole played the mother of an adopted son in 2016’s Lion, and spoke of her deep “maternal instincts,” in a February 2017 interview with CNN.

“I think because I’ve experienced motherhood in so many different ways. I’ve experienced adoption, birthing a child and I’ve experienced surrogacy,” she told the outlet. “I’m like when it comes to it, I just wanna be a mama.”

Nicole previously spoke of how tight the circle of women in her family was in a January 24, 2024, interview with Vogue Australia.

“I have a very close relationship with my sister and my daughters and my nieces and my mother and my aunts,” Nicole told the publication. “I’m very, very comfortable with sharing everything with them and hearing the way they see things and their perspective … It’s a very, very powerful place of protection for me with women.”

In the same interview, Nicole opened up about how Sunday was interested in directing and helped push the actress and producer to get things going on Big Little Lies season 3.

“She has a very good understanding of things, and life, so she was hand-held through it,” Nicole said of watching the show with Sunday. “And she was like, ‘No. There’s no more discussion. The third series has to happen … I’m sick of the talk. Sick of circling it. Just get it done.’ You need a teenager to go, ‘Enough. Just do it.’”