Nicole Kidman Says Her Late Mother Was Always ‘My Compass’ in Life (Exclusive)

Nicole Kidman and Zoe Saldaña sat down with “Extra’s” Melvin Robert to talk Season 2 of their espionage drama “Special Ops: Lioness.”

Nicole plays Kaitlyn Meade, who is the CIA’s senior supervisor and also a tough mentor figure, while Zoe is Joe, a station chief of the CIA’s Lioness program.

Kidman shared how in her own life, her late mother, Janelle Ann Kidman — who just passed away in September — was always her mentor.

“My mother obviously was a major guide through my life and probably my compass in terms of everything that I did,” Nicole said. “I would always check in with her, but I’ve also had great teachers. I’ve had a lot of really, really wise women who have stepped up and shown me the way through.”

Zoe’s character Joe is trying to prioritize family life and mental health, and she reflected on how having a supportive partner in husband Marco Perego has enabled her to have a career that requires time away.

“Having the most supportive partner in life is the only reason why I’m able to do what I want to do,” Zoe shared. “My husband very early on sort of destigmatized this whole concept of telling our kids that I have to go versus I want to go. It’s just a different approach to this conversation of having the boys know that what I do that keeps me away from them gives me so much love and happiness. Then they’re able to sort of have a different perspective about it and they feel more a part of it as opposed to you live over there when you leave me and I’m on this other side no we’re always together.”

She added, “I can’t imagine what Joe’s life must be like. People that accept and take an oath to sacrifice themselves at any moment at any cost for the sake of other families and other people and sacrificing their own family’s lives and mental health… I have a great deal of respect.”

Nicole also shared how she and Keith Urban include their whole family in everything they do.

“We travel together as a family or it’s structured so that I can come in and leave and come in and leave,” Kidman said. “Part of what I’ve always done is… include my whole family and in the conversations I call them ‘our shows’… Keith calls it ‘our album’ so a lot of it is, it’s ours as a family. We’re all contributing even if I’m in front of the camera they’re supporting me or they’re providing the emotional well for me to draw from.”

Zoe also talked about how she trained for the role, saying, “We were working with an amazing trainer his name is Duffy and he trains a lot of people in this industry. He’s a former Delta you know a Special Forces officer,  retired and we just put our bodies in his hands and worked with an amazing stunt coordinator.”

Saldaña added that creator Taylor Sheridan “surrounded us with former military officers that every day were just so encouraging so it wasn’t just something that we had to figure out on our own, we were guided at every step.”