Nicole Kidman reveals secret gesture she made to struggling young boy as part of Vogue outback shoot

DURING her stunning outback photo shoot for Vogue, Nicole Kidman has revealed for the first time the touching gesture she made to a boy doing it tough.

NICOLE Kidman has rekindled her love of the Australian outback in a stunning shoot for Vogue Australia’s marquee September issue.

The red centre has been a compelling place for the Aussie Oscar winner since she made her first film, the 1983 family drama Bush Christmas, at age 15.

Kidman’s connection to the land was strengthened most recently when she filmed Baz Luhrmann’s romantic epic Australia in the Northern Territory in 2008.

Now she has returned to the outback to pose for authentic and stylish photographs with Uluru as the backdrop.

“I’m enraptured by it. I’ve always been drawn to the landscape, and I do think there’s something … the energy and the light … it’s just a very, very magical, special place,” Kidman told Vogue.

The photo shoot brought back warm memories of filming Australia, the most precious of which was when she swam in a waterhole believed by the local indigenous community to hold sacred fertility properties. After many years of trying to conceive with her husband Keith Urban, she finally fell pregnant with her daughter Sunday Rose at the age of 41 after swimming in the waterhole.

Kidman says it was so powerful that she believes some of Australia’s indigenous culture “really penetrated my family”.

While she has told the tale of Sunny’s conception many times, there is one story she has never revealed that came from the making of that movie, which furthered her intrinsic link to the culture of the land: that of the gift she gave a struggling Aboriginal boy.

The boy was an extra on Australia and he reached out to Kidman in the form of a letter after filming had wrapped.

“It was a beautiful letter, and basically he asked me to support him and help him get an education,” Kidman said.

“He was young, really young, but he wanted an education. And when a child does that, what do you do? I thought, wow, this is an amazing opportunity to help, so I was able to financially support him all the way through high school and he recently graduated.”

Nicole Kidman will appear on the cover of the September issue of Vogue. Styling by Christine Centenera. Picture: Will Davidson

The boy, who Kidman asked not be named to protect his privacy, is now a teenager.

“It’s so great, because he wouldn’t have had that opportunity, so I’m just so glad that he reached out like that,” she said.

Kidman paid for the boy to attend boarding school in Perth and he would occasionally stay with Kidman and Urban during school holidays.

When Kidman became pregnant and didn’t return to Australia as much, contact became less frequent, but she continued to pay for his education until his graduation.

“It was more like I was able to be that person from a distance, to be able to go: ‘Here is the financial ability to soar, to get what you need’,” Kidman said.

“Because I wasn’t in a position to offer emotional support — and if I’m going to be there I’m going to really be there — that would be more like fostering or adopting him, and that’s not what he was looking for. [The boy’s family] was just looking for financial support to get him through school. At first I was more emotionally involved, but then as he grew up and was a boy and took his own life by the horns … he has other people, and other cultures, to be his emotional support.”

Kidman is passionate about advancing women’s and girls’ rights and empowerment and, while at Uluru, she was invited to meet with the women of the Mutitjulu community, who wanted to perform a special women’s ceremony for her and showcase the work they do with the Ngaanyatjarra, Pitjantjatjara and Yankunytjatjara Women’s Council.

Kidman was joined by her mother Janelle and two of her daughters, Sunny and Fifi, in Uluru to experience the ceremony.

“It was special and I think we came back closer,” Kidman said of her mother. “It was one of those times that you can spend and do something special like that, you tend to move in to each other. We live in different countries and to have her be there and be part of it, I was so glad that she came.”

Tourism Australia managing director John O’Sullivan said he was delighted to see “one of Australia’s most internationally recognised exports” return to the red centre and once again play a starring role promoting Australia on the world stage.

“As photo shoots go, I doubt they come much better than getting to photograph one of the world’s most famous Hollywood actors against the unique backdrop of one of Australia’s most iconic landscapes," Mr O'Sullivan said.

“The Vogue images are stunning and, just like those amazing shots last year of the young Royal couple enjoying Uluru, will be viewed by millions across the globe. It’s fabulous exposure for Uluru and for great inspiration for an Australian holiday.

“The images and video footage we’ve been given access to will be put to good use internationally, helping inspire more visits to Australia and this very special place.”

Vogue Australia’s September issue is on sale on Monday, August 10.

Originally published as Nicole Kidman reveals secret gesture she made to struggling young boy as part of Vogue outback shoot