Before Nicole Kidman agreed to let her eldest daughter pursue modeling, she turned to the woman whose guidance had shaped her own life.

Sunday Rose was interested in entering the fashion industry, but Kidman was uncertain. She understood the excitement of discovering a creative passion at a young age, yet she also knew the pressure that could accompany a public career.

So she asked her mother, Janelle Kidman, what she should do.

Janelle’s response was simple and deeply personal: Nicole had been allowed to follow her own passion as a teenager, so Sunday deserved the same opportunity.

The conversation took place before Janelle died in September 2024 at age 84. Looking back, Kidman now considers that advice one of her mother’s final gifts—not only to her, but to Sunday as well.

It gave Kidman permission to loosen her grip, trust her daughter and allow a new generation of the family to follow its ambitions.

A Mother’s Question to Her Own Mother

Kidman, 59, recently reflected on the conversation while discussing Sunday’s growing modeling career.

Sunday, now 18, had been with Kidman before Janelle’s death. At the time, the teenager was expressing a serious interest in modeling, leaving Kidman to decide how much freedom she should be given to pursue it.

Despite her own decades in entertainment, Kidman did not automatically assume that a public career was the right path for her daughter.

She took the question to Janelle.

Kidman recalled asking whether she should allow Sunday to model. Her mother reminded her that she had once faced a similar decision as a parent.

Janelle had allowed Nicole to begin pursuing her passion when she was 14. Because she had given her daughter that freedom, she believed Nicole should extend the same trust to Sunday.

The advice connected three generations in a single moment.

Janelle remembered the young girl Nicole had once been. Nicole was looking at Sunday and seeing another teenager eager to enter a creative world. The decision was not without risk, but Janelle’s answer encouraged her to focus on possibility rather than fear.

The “Parting Gift” Sunday Carried Forward

Kidman described her mother’s guidance as a parting gift to Sunday, whom she affectionately called Sunny.

Janelle’s message was not merely that Sunday should be permitted to work as a model. It was a broader encouragement to follow the path that brought her joy and pursue the passion she felt drawn toward.

Kidman remains grateful that her mother passed on that perspective before she died.

The advice appears to have helped her navigate a familiar parental conflict: wanting to protect a child while recognizing that protection cannot mean preventing that child from discovering who she is.

Kidman knows the rewards and pressures of entering entertainment at a young age. She began acting as a teenager and built a career that eventually brought international recognition and an Academy Award.

That experience may have made her especially aware of the scrutiny Sunday could face.

Yet Janelle’s words reminded her that young people sometimes need room to take meaningful risks. Kidman had received that opportunity from her own mother. Sunday would now receive it from her.

Sunday’s Runway Career Began During a Time of Grief

Janelle’s death was announced in September 2024 after Kidman left the Venice Film Festival early.

The actress had traveled to the event in connection with Babygirl, but departed before receiving an award. Director Halina Reijn read a statement announcing the family’s loss.

Only one month later, Sunday made her runway debut during Paris Fashion Week, walking in the Miu Miu show.

The timing placed the beginning of her professional modeling career close to the family’s grief.

Janelle was no longer there to see Sunday step onto the runway, but her encouragement had helped make the moment possible.

For Kidman, the debut therefore carried a meaning that extended beyond fashion. Sunday was beginning to pursue the passion Janelle had told her she should be allowed to follow.

The teenager returned to Paris Fashion Week the following year, showing that her first runway appearance was not simply a one-time experiment.

She continued building experience in the fashion world while becoming increasingly visible alongside her mother at major public events.

Mother and Daughter Step Onto Fashion’s Biggest Stage

In May 2026, Sunday accompanied Kidman to the Met Gala in New York City.

The event, held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, is one of the fashion industry’s most prominent nights. For Sunday, attending beside her mother marked another important step into the world she had chosen to explore.

Photographs from the evening showed the pair together on the red carpet, presenting a public image of a mother supporting her daughter’s developing career.

Behind that polished appearance was the private conversation Kidman had shared with Janelle before her death.

Sunday’s progress—from expressing an interest in modeling to walking in Paris and attending the Met Gala—reflected the freedom Janelle had urged Kidman to give her.

Kidman did not describe herself as surrendering all parental concern. She remained a mother balancing support, guidance and responsibility.

But she had decided that fear should not close the door before Sunday had the chance to discover where the opportunity might lead.

Nicole Kidman Is Raising Two Teen Daughters

Kidman shares Sunday and her younger daughter, Faith Margaret, 15, with her former husband Keith Urban.

She is also the mother of Isabella Cruise, 33, and Connor Cruise, 31, from her previous marriage to Tom Cruise.

Even while maintaining a demanding acting career, Kidman has spoken about the importance of returning home and remaining present for her teenage daughters.

While filming a new season of Lioness, she balanced production with parenting responsibilities. One daughter was entering her junior year, while the other was beginning her freshman year, and Kidman felt strongly that she needed to be available to care for them.

Her comments reveal the tension surrounding Sunday’s modeling career.

Kidman is not observing her daughter’s journey from a distance. She is actively parenting two teenagers while managing her own international career.

Supporting Sunday therefore involves more than celebrating runway photographs. It also means helping her navigate school, work, public attention and the ordinary emotional challenges of growing up.

The modeling opportunity may be glamorous, but Kidman’s role remains grounded in motherhood.

Janelle’s Influence Continues Through Her Family

Janelle’s death left Kidman with profound grief, but the advice she gave before passing continues to influence the family’s decisions.

Her words carried authority because they came from experience.

Years earlier, she had faced the uncertainty of watching Nicole enter acting at 14. She could have insisted on a safer or more conventional path. Instead, she allowed her daughter to pursue the work that inspired her.

That decision helped make Kidman’s extraordinary career possible.

When Sunday expressed a similar desire to enter a creative field, Janelle recognized the pattern immediately.

Her advice did not guarantee that Sunday’s modeling career would be easy or successful. It simply affirmed that the teenager deserved the chance to try.

That distinction matters.

Parents cannot control every outcome, but they can decide whether fear will prevent a child from reaching the starting line.

Janelle had once stepped aside enough for Nicole to begin. Before her death, she encouraged Nicole to do the same for Sunday.

A Legacy Passed From Mother to Daughter

Sunday’s modeling journey is still in its early stages.

At 18, she has already made her Paris Fashion Week debut, returned to the runway and appeared beside her mother at the Met Gala. Each milestone brings her deeper into an industry known for both opportunity and intense scrutiny.

Kidman will likely continue balancing pride with concern as her daughter’s career develops.

But when doubt returns, she has her mother’s answer.

Janelle’s final guidance gave Kidman a way to support Sunday without pretending that the path would be free of difficulty. It encouraged her to remember what it felt like to be 14, passionate and hopeful, asking for permission to begin.

Nicole received that permission.

Now Sunday has it too.

Janelle did not live to witness every step her granddaughter would take through the fashion world. Yet her influence remains present each time Sunday walks onto a runway or follows the ambition she chose for herself.

The advice passed quietly from one mother to another.

Its result can now be seen in a young woman building a future—and in Nicole Kidman’s decision to let her daughter chase the same kind of creative freedom her own mother once gave her.