SAN FRANCISCO — Academy Award–winning actress Nicole Kidman revealed during an appearance at the University of San Francisco's Silk Speaker Series that she is training to become a death doula. She said the decision grew out of the profound grief she experienced after her mother's death.

"As my mother was passing, she was lonely, and there was only so much the family could provide," Kidman said during the San Francisco event. "Between my sister and I, we have so many children and our careers and our work, and wanting to take care of her because my father wasn't in the world anymore, and that's when I went, 'I wish there was these people in the world that were there to sit impartially and just provide solace and care.'"

Kidman also said, "So that's part of my expansion and one of the things I will be learning."

According to the International End of Life Doula Association, an end-of-life doula is a "non-medical companion" who provides support as individuals navigate death, loss and mortality. The association states that death doulas offer psychosocial, emotional, spiritual and practical care.

When her mother died, Kidman had just landed in Italy for the Venice Film Festival to accept a best actress award for her role in the film "Babygirl." She broke her silence on her grief in a CBS Sunday Morning interview three months after her mother's death. Her father, Dr. Antony Kidman, died in September 2014 at age 75 following a fall while visiting family in Singapore.