Nicole Kidman, an Oscar-winning actor from Australia, has canceled filming for her next movie, “The Reader,” because she is pregnant. Her baby is due in the middle of 2008.
“Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban confirmed today that they are expecting a baby,” Kidman’s publicist Wendy Day said in a statement on Tuesday. “The couple are thrilled.”
Kidman, who is 40 years old, was pregnant with her then-husband Tom Cruise before, but the baby died. Kidman and Cruise took in two kids, Isabella and Connor.
As Kidman and her husband Urban left a restaurant in Sydney on Tuesday, she said she was “very excited.” When asked whether she was having a boy or a girl, the beautiful star said, “Secret.”
For a few weeks now, there have been rumors that Kidman is pregnant. One story says she told her family in Australia over the Christmas break that she was expecting.
Kidman’s mother Janelle told local TV from the door of her Sydney home, “Very pleased, really pleased indeed. Nothing else would make me come straight out of the pool onto the front doorstep.” She said, “I think it’s going to be in July.”
As Kidman and her husband Urban left a restaurant in Sydney on Tuesday, she said she was “very excited.” When asked whether she was having a boy or a girl, the beautiful star said, “Secret.”
For a few weeks now, there have been rumors that Kidman is pregnant. One story says she told her family in Australia over the Christmas break that she was expecting.
Kidman’s mother Janelle told local TV from the door of her Sydney home, “Very pleased, really pleased indeed. Nothing else would make me come straight out of the pool onto the front doorstep.” She said, “I think it’s going to be in July.”
A close friend and publicist Day said she found out about the pregnancy on Tuesday morning.
“For years I’ve seen speculation and for years it’s never been right, so I didn’t think it was right this time,” Day told the media. “And then she’s just rung this morning.”
Day told the Australian Associated Press, “I didn’t know, so I’m very excited today.”
Kidman married country artist Urban, who was born in New Zealand, in Sydney in 2006.
Urban, who won a Grammy, went to a rehab center for two months after the wedding but didn’t say what kind of help he got. He has said that he used to be addicted to cocaine and that Kidman helped him get through his rough patch.
Big-budget movie “Australia” by Baz Luhrmann filmed most of 2007 in Australia with Hugh Jackman. She plays an English aristocrat who gets a huge cattle farm in the middle of nowhere Australia before World War II.
Kidman was set to begin shooting “The Reader,” a drama set after World War II, in early 2008. It would be directed by Stephen Daldry, who also made “The Hours,” which won Kidman an Oscar for best actress in 2003.
She has dropped out of “The Reader” because she is pregnant.
“I understand she’s had to withdraw from the film and therefore she’s had to give them the reason, and therefore she’s now able to confirm that she’s pregnant,” he added.
It’s unclear to me how far along she is in her pregnancy or when the baby will be born. “She just called me and said, ‘Wendy, I always promised you I’d tell you first. I’ll confirm it, and then you can make the right announcement,'” Day said.
“So I guess that statement ends all the Rumors and … I guess the poor girl will be hounded by paparazzi and all that.”
There were a lot of reporters gathered outside of Kidman’s home in Darling Point in Sydney’s eastern suburbs on Tuesday as flowers were brought to the happy couple.
Kidman’s big-budget fantasy movie “The Golden Compass,” which is now in theaters around the world, has already made about $300 million worldwide.
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Kidman is a famous actress in Hollywood, but she says that her marriage to Urban is more important to her right now than her work.
Kidman says she “spontaneously” picks most of her parts. Recently, flops like “The Stepford Wives” (2004), “Bewitched” (2005), and “The Invasion” (2007) have gotten a lot of attention.
She says that making a lot of money on a big movie lets her choose smaller art house movies like “Margot at the Wedding,” which came out in late 2007.
