The woman who'll travel to the ends of the earth for Nicole Kidman

When it was announced late last year that the 19-year marriage of Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban was over, reports soon emerged one person was by Nicole's side.Kidman's only sibling, younger sister Antonia, was described as her "rock" during the breakdown of the Hollywood star's second marriage, which has since ended in divorce.Now, as Kidman embraces the next chapter of her life, she and Antonia are once again leaning on each other just as they have always done, through marriages, divorce and death – and even travelling to the ends of the earth together.Early yearsAntonia Kidman was born in Melbourne, Australia, on July 14, 1970, just three years after her parents Antony and Janelle welcomed their first child, Nicole.The family later relocated to Sydney, where the sisters grew up in Longueville on the North Shore.Antonia was 13 when Nicole made her film debut in the 1983 film Bush Christmas. This was followed by the TV show Five Mile Creek and a second film also released in 1983, BMX Bandits. READ MORE: Fans push Victoria Beckham's song to No.1READ MORE: Kylie Minogue shares touching tribute to MichaelREAD MORE: Nicola Peltz and Brooklyn Beckham's relationship timelineBut just as her career was taking off, their mother Janelle was diagnosed with breast cancer, and Nicole put her career on hold to learn massage and help care for their mother. It also marked the first time the sisters were united by tragedy.Careers and marriagesAfter Janelle recovered, Nicole left school at 16 and threw herself into her career, with roles in films Windrider and Emerald City before her breakthrough part in the 1989 thriller Dead Calm led Hollywood to come calling.She was soon jetting off to LA, where she landed a role opposite Tom Cruise in the film Days of Thunder.After falling in love on set in 1989, the two married at Cruise's home in Telluride, Colorado, with Antonia among a small group of guests who reportedly attended the nuptials, which took place on Christmas Eve.Despite living on separate continents, the two remained close.Antonia and their mother Janelle raced to the US when Nicole and Cruise adopted their first child, Isabella, soon after her birth in December 1992.Nicole was her younger sister's biggest supporter as she embarked on her own career in the media, starting in 1991 with an editorial assistant role and later fashion editor for MODE Brides before she joined the Nine Network in 1994 as a researcher on shows such as This Is Your Life, Weddings and Today.Keen to work on air and not getting the break she was after in Sydney, she became an on-air reporter at NBN in Newcastle, in regional NSW, then joined Foxtel's FOX Entertainment News.In February 1996, it was Nicole's turn to play bridesmaid when Antonia wed Angus Hawley in North Sydney.Among the attendees at the wedding, which made the front cover of Aussie magazines, was Cruise and their two children, Isabella and her younger brother Connor, whom they had also adopted.Celebrity splitWhen news broke that one of Hollywood's best-known couples had separated in February 2001, Antonia and Janelle again rushed to the US to be by the side of a heartbroken Nicole, who was blindsided by Cruise's actions, according to court papers filed by her lawyers at the time.During the years she was single, Nicole often relied on her sister's support for red carpet appearances.She told The Sydney Morning Herald in 2020, "When I was alone, when I was single, I think [fame] was much harder."I was lucky because my sister would come. I remember her flying to Cannes [in 2001] because it's frightening walking up that red carpet with all that scrutiny, feeling very insecure and not quite sure where to go or how to survive."Meanwhile, Antonia and Angus welcomed four children during their marriage before they too split in 2007, when their youngest child was just months old.This time, it was Nicole's turn to support her sister through her marriage break-up.Both sisters went on to remarry. Nicole wed singer Keith Urban in Sydney's Manly in June 2006, with her sister by her side.Meanwhile, Antonia married businessman Craig Marran in April 2010.Both sisters had more children; Nicole and Urban welcomed Sunday in 2008, and Faith in 2010, while Antonia and Marran have two sons together; Nicholas, who was born in 2010 and Alexander, who arrived two years later.Tragic deathsIn 2014, while visiting Antonia and her family in Singapore, Antonia and Nicole's father Antony died suddenly after suffering a fatal heart attack.Antonia told The Sydney Morning Herald in 2020 she was the one who had to ring her sister with the news."I remember ringing her and telling her what had happened… she was feeling it, and experiencing it and [I had] to stay, perhaps, measured because you're battling through just the practicalities of everything, rather than hearing something where you've got time and the unknown."Then just a year later, tragedy struck again when Antonia's ex-husband Angus Hawley also died suddenly of a suspected heart attack.While Hawley and Antonia were divorced, they were committed co-parents of their four children.Antonia told The Sydney Morning Herald the tragedies helped strengthen their already tight bond."Nicole will say things to me that I don't know whether anyone else will say, or I won't listen to from anyone else," she said."And not things you'd immediately think of, not Dad's death, or Angus's death, but perhaps other things; she'll help me navigate situations."They were again forced to lean on each other when their mother Janelle died suddenly in September 2024, with Nicole forced to flee the Venice Film Festival and fly back to Australia.They even made a joint statement on Instagram thanking the public for their support.Doting auntsThe two are doting aunts to each other's children.In fact, when Kidman came to Australia to film Nine Perfect Strangers during the 2020 COVID lockdown, her sister and Antonia's six children joined her, and they lived all together in a rented house.Nicole told Marie Claire Australia in 2020 she simply asked her sister for help and she was there."I rang Ant and asked her to move in with the girls and she did, and brought along her kids," she said."That's special. This extended family where you're all raising each other's kids together."Nicole told The Sydney Morning Herald at the time, "If you have a sister, as a woman it's such a blessing because there's this closeness where you can really delve into another woman with safety."We're almost twins and we've been through a lot. I showed up for her and she showed up for me. That's a lovely thing to have."That same year, Kidman told WSJ Magazine she and her sister were so close they even had their own way of communicating."My sister and I have this language that we can speak so we can be understood in a crowd, and nobody can understand us," she said."It was really helpful when we were at parties, and we had our boyfriends – we would be able to use our language, and they'd all be like, 'What?' It's a really good tip for all the sisters out there."New careerAntonia went on to have a successful TV hosting career before going back to university while living in Singapore.She has since launched a new career as a family lawyer – something that no doubt came in handy as her older sister navigated her divorce from Urban, which was finalised in January.Shoulder to cry onWhen news broke back in October 2025 that Nicole and Keith had separated, it soon became clear Nicole's rock was by her side.Within days, photos emerged of Antonia on a hike with her sister near her home in Nashville, with the two at times walking arm in arm."Nicole's sister has been a rock, and the entire Kidman family has come together to support one another," a source told People at the time.To the ends of the earthAs it inched closer to Christmas, many fans wondered how Nicole would spend her first festive season since the split.It soon emerged Kidman opted to surround herself with loved ones, travelling home to Australia with her and Urban's two girls for Christmas in Sydney.The sisters were spotted together at a party on Christmas Eve and were thought to have spent Christmas Day together.In January, Kidman returned to social media for the first time since before Christmas to share a very special snap of her and Antonio, which she captioned with a simple, "Sisters".Both were dressed in festive colours; Nicole in a green dress while her sister wore a red jacket – the overcast sky another indication it had been taken in Sydney on Christmas Day.Then came this week's post of Kidman in Antarctica, with her sister again by her side."Thank you @SilverSea for taking me to my seventh continent! Once in a lifetime adventure with family and friends," Kidman wrote alongside a carousel of images.It proved the Kidman girls would travel to the ends of the earth for each other.FOLLOW US ON WHATSAPP HERE: Stay across all the latest in celebrity, lifestyle and opinion via our WhatsApp channel. No comments, no algorithm and nobody can see your private details.