Nicole Kidman and Sandra Bullock are set to return as the Owens sisters in the long-awaited sequel, Practical Magic 2, which will hit theaters in September. To promote the movie, Kidman and Bullock, along with their new costars, Joey King and Maisie Williams, paid a surprise visit to a screening on August 1. For the witchy occasion, Kidman chose the ideal black cut-out gown.

Sharing footage of the night on Instagram, Kidman captioned her post, "Our kind of family reunion 🖤 Loved spending a magical night at @cinespia with all of you, our fellow witches."

Taking to the stage, Kidman wore a slinky long black dress, featuring spaghetti straps and subtle cut-outs throughout the gown. The Oscar winner forwent accessories and let her dress do the talking.

This isn't the first time Kidman has worn a slinky black dress to promote Practical Magic 2. In April, Kidman wore a partially sheer black gown to reunite with Bullock at CinemaCon in Las Vegas. She completed the look with a pair of pointed-toe patent black pumps.

With more than a month to go before Practical Magic 2 is released, Kidman will hopefully showcase several more witchy-adjacent gowns to give fans all the inspiration they need for the premiere.

Shop Outfits Inspired by Nicole Kidman

Two weeks from now, I'll be soaking up the sun in Newport, Rhode Island. So, it's time to start stuffing my suitcase with coastal-chic looks. I won't think twice about paying the overweight bag fee, as long as I can channel Nicole Kidman's recent airport outfit.

Kidman traded her dressed-up Wimbledon 2026 looks for more comfortable pairings for her flight to Ibiza. She styled a slightly oversized button-down with straight-leg jeans and low-profile white sneakers.

While she was heading to the Mediterranean, Kidman's color story and cool-girl uniform were more in line with the quintessential nautical style of New England than the print-forward Spanish island. Beachy shades of sky blue adorned her pinstripe Oxford shirt and everyday denim (which she cuffed to showcase her footwear). Her sand-colored baseball cap and bottomless carry-on bag added warmer tones to the cool-hued mix.

These days, Kidman rarely boards a flight without a denim-forward airport outfit and a pair of trendy sneakers. Two years ago, she was spotted outside Sydney airport in cuffed wide-leg jeans and trainers. The Practical Magic actor stacked a cropped navy jacket over a more fitted white shirt, offering a more dressed-up take on her most recent look.

In Feb. 2026, Kidman pledged allegiance to an almost identical outfit formula: a navy blue jacket, white gumsole sneakers, and cuffed jeans in borderline-black indigo denim. (At the time, the actress fit in with Hailey Bieber, Bella Hadid, and Jennifer Lopez, all of whom embraced the dark-wash denim trend in early 2026.)

When frequent flyers like Kidman find their favorite airport outfit, they'll stay loyal to it. Yes, she gave her uniform a coastal-chic upgrade this time, but her jeans, sneakers, and color palette are still Nicole Kidman classics. I, for one, will be keeping an eye on her post-vacation style. After all, I still want to look seaside-ready on the flight home.

Shop Coastal-Chic Airport Looks Inspired by Nicole Kidman

The white-sneakers revival was just as crucial to Emily Blunt and Julianne Moore's recent airport outfits as their passports. Both stars couldn't risk packing the shoe trend in checked bags. Instead, they styled them from baggage claim, through security, and onto their respective flights.

Two of Blunt's buzziest blockbusters premiered this season, The Devil Wears Prada 2 and Disclosure Day, meaning she had high standards for her travel sneakers. They had to accommodate a variety of off-duty outfits during her press tours, without blowing her cover. Axel Arigato's $300 Clean Sneakers—the same model she's worn on repeat since 2019—proved themselves up to the challenge.

Blunt kept a low profile in all-black loungewear, but her stark white shoes missed the discreet memo. Not only was the calfskin leather blinding, each rounded toe box, branded sidewall, and 1.8-inch-thick tread was decidedly anti-slim.

Unlike her Devil Wears Prada co-star, Anne Hathaway, Blunt never wavered into ballet-sneaker territory. The Oppenheimer actor's soles have been stuck to supportive Axel Arigato sneakers like glue for years. They haven't shown a single sign of separating anytime soon.

This summer, Hailey Bieber, Selena Gomez, and Dua Lipa are holding down the white sneaker fort on dry land. Bieber chose colorless Miu Miu sneakers; Gomez brought $150 Cole Haan to London; and Lipa flew to her Italian wedding in Nike x Jacquemus Moon Shoes.

The It sneakers are just as popular among VIPs in the air. Earlier this year, Nicole Kidman's take on the trend was spotted pre-security at the Sydney Airport. They mirrored the low-profile look of ballet sneakers, except with slightly more structured gum soles.

Most of her airport outfit bore Chanel tags, but the brand of her footwear remains a mystery. Their soles arch up each heel like Axel Arigato's Daze Runners, though. Perhaps Kidman and Blunt share more than just an affinity for white airport sneakers. Maybe they're fellow Axel Arigato girls, too.

Film festival season is prime time for airport sneaker sightings. On May 15, Julianne Moore landed at the 2026 Cannes Film Festival in unmissable Adidas Stan Smith sneakers. Much like Blunt, the strong tennis shoes have earned as many airline miles as Moore over the years. Since 2023, they've joined her in Milan, New York City, and the French Riviera. The Oscar winner prefers her $100 Stan Smiths in white, with just a splash of navy blue around each heel.

Moore almost always styles the Adidas best-sellers with a Bottega Veneta purse of some sort. In Oct. 2023, the Medium Gemelli was her It bag of choice. Earlier this year, she rotated between the Dustbag and the Barbara Tote, both in black Intrecciato leather.

This time around, the brand ambassador doubled up on Bottega Veneta bags, with the latter, the $5,900 Barbara Tote, as her carry-on and the $4,900 Madison as her personal item. To finish, Moore shade-matched her white sneakers to an oversize button-down and sweater-turned-shawl.

Take it from Hollywood's leading frequent flyers: White sneakers deserve the second spot on your vacation packing list, right after your passport, of course. Blunt, Kidman, and Moore proved your pair doesn't have to fit into a specific silhouette category either. White sneakers are quickly becoming summer's most ambiguous shoe trend.

Shop White Airport Sneakers Inspired by VIP Frequent Flyers

Sometimes I forget that Nicole Kidman's natural hair is full of springy curls, but every so often, she finds a way to remind me with a surprise photo.

Over the weekend, for example, the Scarpetta actress shared an Instagram photo where she's seen posing on what appears to be a farm. In the photo, she's leaning on a wooden fence while wearing a baby blue button-down blouse with blue jeans and white sneakers. In the spirit of keeping things casual for the occasion, she also swapped out her divorce bangs and signature blown-out, straight hair and embraced her naturally curly texture for the day.

"Weekend Vibes 💛," she captioned the photo.

Kidman has spent the last several months experimenting with her hair. The actress stepped out wearing a brand-new set of wispy bangs back in October, shortly following her divorce from Keith Urban, and a few weeks after that, she appeared on stage at a conference in Texas, where her strawberry blonde hair was lightened to a platinum blonde shade.

Since the fall, she's also been spotted out a handful of times proudly wearing her natural curls. At the top of the year, she took to her Instagram Story to share a photo of herself with her two daughters celebrating New Year's Eve, and in it, you can see her curls on full display. A few days later, she was spotted wearing her curls while walking through the airport in Sydney.

Summer is one of the best times of year to embrace your natural curls and coils, but if you live in a climate that experiences humidity, you'll need to put in some extra work to ensure your curls pop without becoming frizzy. Read ahead for tips on how to get the look.

As Nicole Kidman says in her viral promo for AMC Theaters, we come to this place for magic. Instead of the movie theater on my corner, the magical place in question is the 2026 Met Gala. The Oscar-winning actress just hit the red carpet at the star-studded event, and all I have to say is, wow.

Kidman is serving as a Co-Chair of this year’s Gala (alongside Beyoncé, Venus Williams, and Anna Wintour), so she arrived ahead of many of her buzzy, A-lister friends. She did arrive with one very special guest, though—her daughter, Sunday Rose Kidman Urban. I love a mother-daughter date night!

The Moulin Rouge actress's gown, a custom creation by Chanel, paid homage to the open-ended "Fashion is Art" dress code. Featuring a fully sequined fish and dramatic feathered accents, it's a stunning take on monochrome dressing. Kidman no doubt teamed up with longtime stylist Jason Bolden to bring the look to life. Her model daughter, on the other hand, opted for an equally maximalist purple look by Dior for her debut Met Gala.

Kidman, an OMEGA brand ambassador, accessorized her gown with a sleek, archival Constellation “Manhattan” Jewelry watch from the brand. Designed in 1982, the stunning timepiece comes straight from the OMEGA museum and features more than 200 diamonds throughout the design.

As for her beauty look, Kidman stayed true to her signature glam, making a U-turn from last year’s bold pixie cut. This time around, her blonde tresses (and her new signature bangs!) were styled straight by stylist Adir Abergel. Her makeup, on the other hand, included lit-from-within skin and clean girl-inspired makeup courtesy of makeup artist Gucci Westman.

Even her manicure had its own moment, with ultra-fine almond-shaped nails dipped in a shimmery, perlescent off-white polish. The look was crafted for her by nail artist Thuy Nguyen.

The theme, as Vogue reported back in November, is “Costume Art,” and celebrates the art exhibition of the same name—the first exhibition in the Costume Institute’s first permanent galleries at the iconic museum. The correlating dress code is "Fashion is Art."

Kidman is a Met Gala veteran at this point in her storied career. What makes her a best-dressed contender every time is her ability to pay homage to each year's theme and dress code without wearing something that feels too on-the-nose.

Case in point: The Babygirl actress appeared on the 2023 Met Gala red carpet in a pale pink feathered creation from Chanel. The theme that year was "Karl Lagerfeld: A Line of Beauty." In celebration of the legendary designer and her history with the brand, Kidman chose to wear a Lagerfeld-era gown from 2004, which she had already worn in a now-iconic advertisement for Chanel No. 5 perfume. It was a touching tribute that has stood out in the minds of fashion fans ever since.

Two years later, Kidman teamed her aforementioned out-there pixie cut with an otherwise simple, black Balenciaga gown on the 2025 Met Gala red carpet. Dainty bows adorned the drop-waisted bodice, which gave way to a tea-length skirt. It took a pared-down approach to the “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style” theme.

Off the red carpet, Kidman has stuck to a monochromatic Chanel vibe. Just last month, she donned a monochromatic sweater set from Chanel ahead of Matthieu Blazy's debut Cruise collection runway show in Biarritz, France.

The very next day, she swapped the mushroom-gray knit set for all-black, in a sleek backless midi dress and matching pointed-toe heels. The look was cool, sleek, and a little witchy—no doubt a reference to her role in the forthcoming Practical Magic sequel that is set to hit theaters in October.

It seems fashion girls have sampled every food-related color trend in the garden before taking it method. Gigi Hadid and Katie Holmes have worn tomato red, but where's their tomato-shaped Loewe bag? On April 29, Sarah Pidgeon finally got my memo: She traded strawberry-colored shoes for celebrity-beloved Chanel heels that feature berry-punctured stilettos.

Pidgeon reunited with her Love Story co-stars, Paul Anthony Kelly and Grace Gummer, at ABC Studios, but the dress code wasn't Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy-coded minimalism. Stylist Emma Jade Morrison secured Pidgeon's jeans outfit almost entirely from Chanel. Her Métiers d'Art Spring 2026 shoes stole the show.

Black-and-metallic gold cap-toe pumps emerged from beneath her light-wash take on the straight-leg jeans trend. Soon, side-angle shots revealed a fruity plot twist: Each slingback stiletto stabbed a faux strawberry. From far away, they looked as ripe as farmers market strawberries. Lime green leaves promised they weren't mistaken for cherries or tomatoes. Zoom in, and you'll see each crimson-colored base was Chanel-branded with interlocking Cs.

Pidgeon's glossy jacket from Brooklyn-based designer Zoe Gustavia Anna Whalen leaned more tomato than strawberry. (For context, it was a few shades closer to orange than Dakota Johnson's berry-hued barn jacket last week.)

Then, Morrison sourced Matthieu Blazy's Métiers d'Art show once more—this time for an oversize Chanel Flap Bag. You may recognize its coveted leopard-print from another New York City transplant's closet: It was Harry Styles's plus-one at a Saturday Night Live dinner last month, in place of fiancée Zoë Kravitz.

Neither Pidgeon's pumps or Flap Bag are available on the wider market right now. That's not to say they aren't making the VIP rounds already. Last February, Hailey Bieber brought the strawberry heels to a Rhode event in Australia. Her black-and-white pair complemented the simplicity of her cardigan skirt set, while adding a Blazy-era whiff of whimsy. Plus, the monogrammed berries looked right at home alongside her Flap Bag's double-C clasp.

One month later, the fresh-from-Chanel fruit made its red carpet debut at a pre-Oscars dinner. Nicole Kidman, another early boarder of the Blazy bandwagon, wore the same color combination as Bieber. The Oscar winner pulled off strawberry-sliced heels and ladybug appliqués in one tweed skirt suit.

Chanel's spring shoes were an instant fashion girl favorite—the two-tone pumps even caused a shopping frenzy in Paris. Footwear in the following collections, however, needed some time to grow. The minute Pidgeon's strawberry stilettos hit shelves, though, expect another round or two of in-store battles.

Blazy's couture collection also added hibiscus, camellia, and even mushrooms to his thriving garden. Which A-lister will be the first to click-clack onto a red carpet in fungi footwear? Don't count Pidgeon out just yet.

Nicole Kidman fell for Chanel's matching sets long before Matthieu Blazy mania set in last summer. Now, they're practically her front-row uniform at the new creative director's fashion shows. On April 27, Kidman offset the mermaidian glamour of Blazy's debut Cruise collection with one of Chanel's most wearable two-pieces.

Kidman was all smiles outside the Biarritz venue, and not just because she got to see the runway show before the rest of the world. I'd be beaming too if I could wear a cozy sweater set to one of fashion's buzziest runways. Stylist Jason Bolden likely helped Kidman select the taupe turtleneck and matching pencil skirt, which hasn't appeared on a Chanel catwalk yet.

The initial knit couldn't have been comfier: Its sleeves and funnel-neck seemed slightly oversize, while the fitted bodice ensured she wasn't drowning in wool. The long-sleeve was so simple, you might question if it's truly Chanel. But check out the cascading yellow gold buttons on Kidman's shoulder. Each stud boasted the atelier's interlocking Cs—a motif routinely revisited in Chanel collections.

It wouldn't be a Chanel by Blazy look without statement earrings of some sort. Kidman chose a floral, ruby red pair evocative of the unmissable studs on the French designer's recent runways. She shade-matched them to an east-west, croc-embossed flap bag, which she carried like a clutch.

To finish, the actor click-clacked to her seat in the slingback, cap-toe pumps still causing a Chanel shopping frenzy. Kidman traded last month's black-and-white pair for chocolate brown-and-noir stilettos.

While Hailey Bieber, Dua Lipa, and Margot Robbie prefer Blazy-stamped handbags, Kidman can't stop styling his skirt sets. Last month, she attended Chanel's pre-Oscars dinner in a skirt suit from Métiers d'Art Spring 2026. Ladybugs crawled around the long-sleeve cardigan and pencil skirt—lifelike appliqués that felt just as seasonal as her strawberry-pierced pumps.

An April 22 press event for Lioness brought her next Chanel set to New York City. Kidman took center stage in a tweed two-piece, featuring a plaid-esque mixture of black, orange, white, and red strands. Every edge along the collarless jacket and shift skirt fringed the tweed in true Chanel form.

The second showing of Chanel Cruise 2026 on April 28 welcomed Kidman again, this time in a backless little black dress. The high-neck number marked a sleek detour from Monday's matching set—one that would transform from day-to-night with ease.

Luckily for Kidman, sneak peeks at the Chanel show reveal it's ripe with similar skirt sets, should she be in the market for summer film festival 'fits.

Hello again! I logged on after vacation expecting to play catch-up on all the ways celebrities have been sampling spring trends and method dressing on the Devil Wears Prada 2 press circuit. Instead, the women I keep the closest tabs on had a different update: They’ve been rallying around one great closet essential: Leset's Margo T-shirt. It's so good, even NARPs (Non-A-List Regular People) own in multiples. When I say this was the shove I needed to overhaul my basics drawer for the new season ahead, I mean it.

The Leset Margo T-Shirt

The elevated basics brand Leset has been an IYKYK favorite among well-dressed women, famous and not-so-famous, for years now. But in the past few weeks, all women like Jennifer Lawrence, Katie Holmes, Nicole Kidman, and Emma Stone wanted to wear out and about is its plain white T-shirt. Her name is Margo, and she’s a one-hundred percent cotton crewneck that hits just above the hip bones.

Near-perfect reviews from Bloomingdale’s to Amazon shed some extra light on why this shirt has managed to turn up everywhere from Holmes’s downtown mom walks to film festival red carpets and panels. It’s even made a cameo in another Harry Styles music video. The weight and handfeel of the cotton are sublime—and it’s the rare white tee that isn’t even a little sheer.

This is the part of the newsletter where I reveal I’m seven-ish months pregnant and definitely on the lookout for easy wardrobe solutions. (Surprise!) So, styling up a plain, goes-with-anything tee fills a hole in my closet by default. Here’s how I’m wearing it.

How I Style It

The Jennifer Lawrence formula—Leset T-shirt plus an easy pant and high-vamp flats—perfectly maps onto my comfort-first styling strategy of the moment. But it’s a little too chilly to make the shirt my only layer, and I want more than black and white in the mix. My solution? Pulling last summer’s scarves out of storage and tying them under a light barn jacket.

Once things heat up again, I’ll wade back into Katie Holmes territory and style my white tee with a light poplin skirt and beachy accessories. This skirt was one of my favorites pre-pregnancy, and the smocked waistband still works with a seven-months-pregnant stomach, too. And when I’m lacking the willpower to really get dressed, I can still feel like a celeb in the same T-shirt, leggings, and an A-list-approved sneaker.

In case you were wondering, Nicole Kidman and her divorce bangs are doing just fine.

The Lioness actress attended a Paramount+ event this week alongside other stars like Ali Larter and Zoe Saldaña. She appeared on a panel at the event wearing a tweed skirt suit with a pair of black and white Chanel slingback heels with a red apple detail. The whole look was giving business casual chic, all the way down to her hairstyle. She let her recently chopped divorce bangs come out to play for the day and pulled the rest of her strawberry blonde hair up into a loose Barbie ponytail with a light flip at the ends. It looks like she also wore a side part with her bangs casually swept to the side.

It's been a pretty big week for ponytails. A few days ago, Lady Gaga hit the red carpet at the New York City premiere of The Devil Wears Prada 2 wearing the sleekest Barbie ponytail I've ever seen, complete with a thick curl at the ends. Anne Hathaway also attended a gala for the movie in London wearing a thick wraparound ponytail that was flipped at the ends.

Last year saw the resurgence of the ponytail, and it's become one of the most popular red carpet hairstyles for spring. Celebrity hairstylist Kellon Deryck previously told MC that ponytails work because they're functional but polished at the same time. “It works across textures and occasions, which is why it’s become iconic,” he said. “It’s universal. But when styled with intention, it feels like high art.”

Whether you want a look that's messy or sleek, a ponytail is probably one of the easiest styles to achieve at home. Read ahead to get the look.

When Practical Magic premiered in 1998, press tours weren't what they are now. 27 years ago, co-stars Nicole Kidman and Sandra Bullock attended a singular screening before moving onto their next projects. Press for Practical Magic 2, however, is having a very different debut.

Six months before the witchy rom-com hits theaters, the on-screen sisters made up for lost press tour looks at CinemaCon on April 14. Before introducing the sequel's long-awaited trailer, the millennial-beloved witches reunited on the red carpet, with Kidman in black and Bullock in red.

Kidman channeled her character, Gillian Owens, and her affinity for alluring slip dresses. Stylist Jason Bolden chose a chiffon LBD from Colleen Allen Spring 2026, featuring ruffles along the plunge neckline and asymmetrical, sheer paneling below her knees. (The Brooklyn brand is becoming a one-stop-shop for stars like Jennifer Lawrence or Emma Stone looking for '90s-inspired looks.) Matching pointy pumps and contrasting cocktail rings were the Oscar winner's only accessories.

Kidman brought the minimalism, while Bullock doubled down on witchy color trends in a tomato-red suit set from Gabriela Hearst. Her stylist, Elizabeth Stewart, was likely drawn to the blazer's chainlink-turned-leather belt and the ultra-padded shoulders. (If Bullock was truly feeling method, she threw salt over her left shoulder.)

Then, a black bralette emerged from beneath the suit jacket's lapels, which made her crimson, wide-leg trousers look a lot sultrier than, say, a traditional button-down. The Bird Box actor capped off her first red carpet look in two years with diamond drop earrings.

Despite bonding "like sisters," Kidman and Bullock have never walked a red carpet together. Practical Magic 2 is already changing that. The two are keeping their press tour plans under wraps, but we can expect "midnight margaritas, jumping off the roof, and also have our past catching up with us," Kidman revealed at CinemaCon. "We rebuilt the original house on the cliff," Bullock added. "We filled that house with many old and new characters that you’ll love and brought Alice Hoffman’s Book of Magic to life."

All that nostalgia could only mean one thing. Their press tour will likely travel fans back in time to Practical Magic's beginnings: chunky cable-knit cardigans, cigarette jeans, lace-trimmed tops, and chunky boots.

After a very brief hiatus, Nicole Kidman's divorce bangs are back and red carpet-ready.

Kidman is set to star in the upcoming TV adaptation of Margo's Got Money Troubles, based on the 2024 novel written by Rufi Thorpe, and she joined her costars on the red carpet this week for the show's New York City premiere. For the event, the actress stepped out wearing a black and white, see-through midi dress from Schiaparelli that featured sheer panels on the sides and white scales along the torso. When it came to her glam, she decided to embrace the messy updo look, piling her strawberry blonde hair into a very loose twisted bun. She wore the "divorce bangs" that she debuted back in October during Paris Fashion Week in a wispy, lightly-tousled style.

So far, 2026 has been all about messy, lived-in hairstyles and updos. Back in January, loose buns and ponytails practically took over the red carpet at the 83rd Golden Globes, but they were also a go-to look at last month's Essence Black Women in Hollywood Awards thanks to Kerry Washington, who wore a messy beehive. Jodie Turner-Smith was also spotted during Paris Haute Couture week this year wearing her curly hair in a messy top bun.

"In 2026, hair isn't about perfection—it's about intention," celebrity hairstylist Rogério Cavalcante previously told MC, predicting that "effortless, but never accidental" styles will be highly requested this spring.

The good news is that a chic, messy updo isn't hard to achieve at home. If you need some styling tips on how to make yours look effortless, read ahead.

Yes, Margo's Got Money Troubles, but what the characters in the upcoming Apple TV show may lack in funds, the star-studded cast makes up for in style cred. Take Nicole Kidman, for instance: On April 8, the actor (and executive producer) declared the adaptation's NYC premiere a fashion show in a nearly-naked skirt set from Schiaparelli.

Elle Fanning held down the press tour fort during the day on April 8, but Kidman joined her to debut the series on the pink carpet at New York City's Regal Union Square in the evening. Stylist Jason Bolden ensured it was a reunion to remember, dressing the Australian actor in see-through black-and-white Schiaparelli Fall 2026.

The set consisted of a fitted sweatshirt atop a matching calf-length midi, both featuring sheer sides and opaque, stark white scale-like strips down the front and back. On the runway, creative director Daniel Roseberry showed some skin between the two pieces, but Kidman opted to merge them together. She also swapped the brand's surrealist accessories for peep-toe Gianvito Rossi sandals, over $160,000 worth of Roberto Coin jewelry, and a silver, $3,900 watch from Omega.

Kidman's step-and-repeats haven't been this risqué in a minute, but it seems the Practical Magic star has a soft spot for black mesh. Back in 2019, she attended a Monte Carlo gala in a little black dress from Alexandre Vauthier boasting a see-through neckline and long sleeves.

Fast forward to 2023, and Kidman pulled off black mesh again in Saint Laurent at the Special Ops: Lioness premiere. This time, the bodice beneath her oversize rosette appeared just as transparent as her opera gloves.

Most recently, Kidman styled a partially transparent pick from the Chanel Spring 2026 Haute Couture collection by Matthieu Blazy. The double-breasted blazer dress was transformed by a tulle, feather-trimmed train.

The Schiaparelli set is by far Kidman's most revealing dress of 2026, following opaque pulls from Chanel for the 2026 Oscars, the Vanity Fair Oscar Party, and Blazy's Spring 2026 Haute Couture show. It's in line with what we've seen from other celebrities this year, from Chappell Roan at the 2026 Grammys to Jennifer Lopez at the 2026 Golden Globes to Hailey Bieber at the Wuthering Heights premiere.

Any designer tote can double as a 2026 laptop bag with the right dimensions. Just ask the busiest women in Hollywood.

With celebrities running production companies, beauty brands, and even book clubs these days, it's rare for your favorite style muse to step out without a bottomless bag in tow. Fitting an A-lister's entire life—plus a 13-inch laptop—into one shoulder style is no small feat, but with the right silhouette, it's possible.

Where non-VIP shoppers prioritize roominess as their top non-negotiable, fashion girls make an effort to test laptop bags from their signature labels. For instance, Kendall Jenner's $4,900 Alger Tote from The Row would've easily carried Apple's 14-inch MacBook Pro, while matching the '90s nostalgia of her straight-leg jeans and slipper-looking loafers on Jan. 27. Meanwhile, longtime Dior darling Jennifer Lawrence jetted home from Jonathan Anderson's couture fashion show with the Dracula Book Tote atop her carry-on. Its 14-inch, fresh-from-the-library body would've fit a few hardcovers, a laptop, and then some.

Jenner and J.Law aren't the only fashion girls giving designer handbags the laptop-proof treatment this year. Pamela Anderson, Zoë Kravitz, and Nicole Kidman wear sizable styles from Tory Burch, Saint Laurent, and Chanel, respectively—the brands they source the most. Keep scrolling for 2026's 12 best celebrity-worn work bags so far. Then, upgrade yours by shopping each star's exact select.

Kendall Jenner's The Row Alger Work Bag

Most of Jenner's The Row bags are capable of holding laptops and sold-out, including the Margaux and the Henri. But on Jan. 27, the $4,900 Alger Tote gave fans the chance to secure a still-shoppable tote beloved by Jenner. As is custom for the Olsen twins-led label, not a single logo, sequin, or pop of color decorated the bag's curved, 18.11-inch-long leather exterior.

Jennifer Lawrence's Dior Book Tote

Lawrence first realized the Dior Book Tote's laptop bag potential in 2018. It's only right that creative director Jonathan Anderson's circa-Spring 2026 version joined Lawrence on the Jan. 28 flight after his Paris Couture Fashion Week show. The vibrant Dracula version looked filled to the brim atop the brand ambassador's carry-on in JFK Airport.

Kaia Gerber's Paloma Wool Philana Work Bag

Despite owning the Paloma Wool Philana since Oct. 2024, the under-$500 piece is still Kaia Gerber's go-to laptop bag. On Feb. 5 specifically, she used its silver grommets to liven up classic workwear like a khaki trench coat, flared navy trousers, and Repetto ballet flats. Its crinkled leather can comfortably hold a 13-inch laptop, while bringing out a corporate girlie's grunge side.

Pamela Anderson's Tory Burch Romy Work Bag

The morning before Tory Burch's Feb. 11 fashion show, Pamela Anderson hinted at her RSVP by debuting the New York label's $595 Romy Tote. The deep brown Romy revived the belt bag trend of yester-summer. At the same time, elongated shoulder straps and an adjustable, 13-inch body made it as office-ready as a traditional briefcase.

Dua Lipa's Bottega Veneta Maxi Veneta Work Bag

The trophy for Priciest Laptop Bag of 2026 goes to Dua Lipa's Bottega Veneta Maxi Veneta, no question. Her Feb. 21 Instagram post spotlighted the largest—and most expensive—model in black Intrecciato leather. The Spring 2026, single-strap style stretched so far (23.2 inches, to be exact), it could keep a 16-inch laptop, plus an additional tablet or two safe.

Nicole Kidman's Chanel Maxi Shopping Bag

The Chanel Maxi Flap isn't the Matthieu Blazy-led label's only laptop bag option, as proven by Kidman's top-handle tote on March 3. The brand ambassador chose the quilted, chocolate brown Maxi Shopping Bag, which is just as tall as it is wide. What's more, the $8,500 bag's canvas drawstring interior would protect Kidman's (hypothetical) 16-inch laptop as cautiously as a computer case.

Zoë Kravitz's Saint Laurent Le Bea Work Bag

Kravitz, a bona fide Saint Laurent Le Bea babe since 2023, recently revived the black, $4,100 leather tote for 2026. This March, she paired it with two separate office-friendly sets, including the Penny Lane coat trend and flared trousers. Expandable gussets atop each sidewall stretched the already-wide body to 19 inches.

Dakota Johnson's Vintage Prada Tote

Given Hollywood's affinity for vintage, it's no surprise Dakota Johnson's favorite laptop bag is a one-of-a-kind Prada find. The exact dimensions of her top-handle, zip-up tote remain a mystery, but after studying other laptop bags, I can confidently say it could hold at least a 13-inch MacBook. Plus, its patterned exterior married two Spring 2026 trends: leopard-print and pony-hair.

Sarah Pidgeon's Balenciaga Rodeo Work Bag

Earlier in March, Marie Claire's fashion features editor, Emma Childs, called the Balenciaga Rodeo "the dark-horse bag trend of 2026." It originally snuck up on the street style scene late last year, when Lady Gaga, Lori Harvey, and Lipa fell for its no-fuss charm. By March 5, Love Story star Sarah Pidgeon gave the brown leather Rodeo a proper close-up at Paris Fashion Week. It's available in mini, small, and medium sizes. Pidgeon chose the latter, which could hide a 13-inch laptop beneath its turn-lock closure-turned-flap.

Rose Byrne's Longchamp Le Smart Work Bag

Longchamp's Le Pliage has reigned supreme as the laptop bag for years. It even earned the title of "Best Laptop Bag" after Marie Claire tested 17 alternatives. On March 5, Rose Byrne offered Longchamp's Le Smart as healthy competition. In lieu of the Pliage's dedicated top flap, a slim belt added dimension to the "soft, refined calfskin." That luxe leather also makes the Le Smart over $1,000 more expensive than its waterproof predecessor.

Bella Hadid's Loewe Amazona Work Bag

Bella Hadid's first Loewe purse just so happened to be the large, laptop-approved Amazona, which helped pioneer 2026's leading single-strap bag trend. Four curved corners and the center's zip-top closure kept all the contents safe and sound on March 12, while a blink-and-you'll-miss-it emblem looked just as sleek as her indigo, straight-leg jeans and white T-shirt.

Hailey Bieber's Chanel Maxi Flap Work Bag

It's tricky to track down a designer bag that can hold one laptop, let alone multiple. Hailey Bieber's Chanel Maxi Flap is that girl. Black pebbled leather covered every square inch of the top-handle tote, including the envelope-style flap and an extra-long hem. Whether or not she slipped a laptop inside on March 13, the less-than-structured leather kept the Maxi Flap purposefully slouchy—a spacious feature any fashion insider would fly across countries for.

After solving cases in 29 books spanning more than three decades, Dr. Kay Scarpetta, the heroine of Patricia Cornwell’s series of page-turning crime novels, finally received her own thriller series adaptation.

In the Prime Video show, Scarpetta, Nicole Kidman stars as Kay, the chief medical examiner for the Commonwealth of Virginia, who uses forensic techniques and her brilliant mind to track down killers and get justice for victims. Season 1 of the murder-mystery unfolds across two timelines, taking inspiration from two of Cornwell’s books: 1990’s Postmortem, and 2021’s Autopsy.

How these two stories connect, and the big cliffhanger it leads to, is all part of the mystery Kay has to contend with—both in the past (in which Rosy McEwen plays her) and present. Read on for a breakdown of the Scarpetta season 1 ending.

Who killed Gwen Hainey and Cammie Ramada in 'Scarpetta?'

Kay—with the help of her longtime investigative partner (and now brother-in-law) Pete Marino (Bobby Cannavale and Jake Cannavale in the present and past, respectively)–was able to connect the murders of Gwen Hainey (Emma Massalone) and Cammie Ramada (Brittany Belt) to the same killer.

The identity of the perpetrator, however, isn’t revealed until the season finale, and it’s someone Kay has known all along. It was Officer August Ryan (David Hornsby and Austin McMains), a cop she encountered during her investigations dating back to the Lori Petersen case in 1998.

Ryan was one of the first cops on the scene after Lori (Kassia Conway) was killed, and seeing her body unlocked something from his childhood: His uncle was a rapist who brought the young Ryan along while committing his crimes. He was given a penny to try to flatten on nearby train tracks as a distraction, which is how that became his signature to leave behind at his own crime scenes.

The officer became obsessed with Kay and, when she returned to the Virginia medical examiner’s office at the start of the series, began committing murders inspired by the ones she investigated years ago. This is all revealed when Ryan comes to Kay’s home at the end of the series, planning to strangle and kill her next. Thankfully, she’s able to resist and takes him down by beating him mercilessly with a baseball bat.

And who was the killer from the 1998 timeline in 'Scarpetta?'

The 1998 case came down to some good, old-fashioned detective work. Pete initially pegs Lori Petersen’s husband, Matthew Petersen (Graham Phillips and Anson Mount), as the prime suspect, but Kay disagrees: If this were a case of “the husband did it,” why would he also kill the other women in the same gruesome manner?

One breakthrough came via one of the strange coincidences that tied the cases together: a mysterious substance on the bodies that sparkled under a black light. That turned out to be a byproduct of a powdered soap the killer used to wash his hands, which he did frequently to cover up a medical condition (if you were curious, “maple syrup urine disease” is indeed a real thing) that gave him a distinct body odor.

Through tracking down the brand of soap and deducing that the killer chose his victims by the sound of their voice, Kay and Pete conclude that this man must do a job that requires him to be on the phone. That suspicion proves correct: The serial killer is a 911 operator named Roy McCorkle (Martin De Boer), who answered calls made by the victims.

How was Matt Petersen connected to Gwen Hainey in 'Scarpetta?'

One of the big questions hanging over Kay and Pete throughout the present-day investigation is why Matt Petersen’s fingerprints were linked to the Gwen Hainey case. If he were involved, that would mean that they got the wrong guy in the 1998 murders—and the case that made Kay’s entire career was built on a lie.

Turns out, Matt really just was a man grieving his murdered wife, though he winds up taking that in a weird (and potentially unsettling) direction. Now, 30 years on, he’s refashioned himself as a spiritual guru helping people deal with grief on a farm he operates as a kind of commune. He did meet with Gwen, but not to kill her: He’d read articles about her work at a bioengineering firm that was experimenting with 3D-printing synthetic human organs, and chatted with her about it after recognizing her out at a bar. So he had no interest in wanting Gwen dead and lots of reasons to want her alive. (Namely, so he could clone his dead wife. Like we said, unsettling!)

Also, what’s the deal with the whole space plotline in 'Scarpetta?'

And you thought the 3D organs were weird! Thor Laboratories, the firm where Gwen worked, was also conducting experiments on growing human organs in space. One of the astronauts on that orbiter was colluding with Gwen to sell the company’s trade secrets to the Russians, and murdered his colleagues before jumping off the ship onto another vessel. The dead men and the orbiter then crash into some poor man’s farm, making it a very active FBI scene investigated by Kay’s husband, FBI agent Benton Wesley (Simon Baker in the present, Hunter Parrish in 1998), and his partner.

This plotline is a red herring of sorts, because it seems for a moment like Gwen’s death could have been tied to her corporate espionage—but it also reveals that Benton knows more about the Gwen investigation than he’s telling his wife.

Who hacked Kay’s computer in 'Scarpetta?'

In both the past and present, Kay faces harsh professional scrutiny from the press and especially from her bosses, who balk at a woman holding the chief medical examiner position. At one point, someone sets her up to be fired by making it look like evidence from the Lori Petersen case was mishandled, potentially compromising the entire investigation. However, she insists her methods are solid, and Pete backs her up.

Someone also tried to hack into Kay’s computer in 1998, seemingly looking for information on the Petersen case. That call also turned out to be coming from inside the house: It was Dr. Reddy (Alex Klein), who had an ax to grind because Kay was made chief over him, and remains hostile to her in his present-day role as health commissioner. This revelation came via Kay’s assistant, Maggie (Georgia King and Stephanie Faracy), who, throughout the series, was painted as an adversary working with Reddy to take Kay down. Now, though, she’s ready to help expose her boss’s shady dealings, which probably includes why he covered up Cammie Ramada’s murder by pushing for it to be ruled accidental. Presumably, we’ll get into more of this cover-up in season 2.

What’s the secret Kay and Pete are keeping in 'Scarpetta?'

Kay and Pete’s relationship—as professional investigators, as family through marriage, and the fact that he may or may not be in love with her—includes a massive secret they’ve both been keeping about the night they tracked down Roy McCorkle in 1998.

When Kay identifies Roy as the killer, she tells Pete, and they plan to meet at his home to stake him out. But when Kay gets there, she hears screaming from inside the house and goes to investigate. That’s when Roy attacks and goes to strangle her like he did his other victims—until Kay grabs a piece of a broken ceramic plate and jams it into his neck, killing him. Pete arrives on the scene and covers for Kay by shooting Roy repeatedly, then claiming she was never there. When Kay does the autopsy, she lists his cause of death as gunshot wounds, making their lie the official record.

Where do things leave off between Kay and Benton in 'Scarpetta?'

These two kept big secrets from one another—including the truth about Roy’s autopsy. After Kay’s chaotic, drama-loving sister Dorothy (Jamie Lee Curtis and Amanda Righetti) drunkenly blabs to Benton that his wife has kept something major from him, the two wind up having a scorched-earth fight on their property, where Benton had been interrogating an FBI suspect without his wife’s knowledge.

Benton also has his own demons to contend with, stemming from dark and obsessive behaviors his mother identified in him as a child that he’s still trying to contain. As they’re having it out, he asks Kay for a divorce.

And what about Dorothy and Pete by the end of 'Scarpetta?'

After lots of tension because of Pete working alongside Kay—compounded by Dorothy’s over-the-top personality and worries about the closeness between her sister and husband—Dorothy and Pete wind up moving out of Kay and Benton’s home, where they had been staying while their house was undergoing renovations, and settle into a nearby Airbnb to regroup. Despite Kay saying she needs Pete’s help, he chooses to go with his wife, but things still seem uneasy between them. Dorothy’s fears about her husband being in love with Kay won’t go away that easily.

What happens to Lucy at the end of 'Scarpetta?'

Poor Lucy (Ariana DeBose and Savannah Lumar) has gone through it all season—essentially being raised by Kay as a teen when her mother was absent, and as an adult spending her days talking with an AI version of her dead wife, Janet (Janet Montgomery), while living in Kay’s guest house.

A lifelong tech genius, Lucy lends her talents to her aunt and stepfather’s investigation and becomes close to Blaise Fruge (Tiya Sircar), one of the cops also working the case. But there’s also a lot of fretting about how Lucy is coping: whether she’s too dependent on her aunt, spending too much time with her AI Janet, or both.

By the series’s end, someone has destroyed the AI Janet—it’s not clear who—leaving Lucy even more heartbroken. The final episode leaves her seeking solace at Matt Petersen’s grief commune.

How does 'Scarpetta' season 1 end?

The mystery-thriller series ends with a big new mystery. As Kay is bashing Officer Ryan’s head in with a baseball bat, someone opens the front door and catches her in the act. Who is it? And will they come to Kay’s aid, or try to blackmail her over what she’s done? We’ll have to wait until season 2 to find out.

Dr. Kay Scarpetta has been solving crimes for more than 30 years, and she’s showing no signs of stopping. The brilliant forensic pathologist is the protagonist of Patricia Cornwell’s long-running mystery-thriller series, which currently spans an impressive 29 books and has made her one of the most recognizable and enduring characters in crime fiction. Now, she’s cracking a new (but also very old) case in a Prime Video series that premiered March 11 and stars Nicole Kidman, Jamie Lee Curtis, Bobby Canavale, and Ariana DeBose.

Like Cornwell’s books, the thriller series follows Dr. Scarpetta (Kidman), the chief medical examiner of Virginia. Her skilled hands and relentless determination guide her as she investigates crime scenes, examines evidence, and serves as a voice for victims—including, in the world of the show, a murder that has unsettling connections to a case from her past.

If the murder-mystery TV show has you curious about the Scarpetta books, look no further. We have your guide to the series’s origins (including the real-life woman who inspired the character), the full rundown of the books in order, and some sleuthing about what’s to come in season 2.

Is Kay Scarpetta based on a real person?

Yes, and she has a fascinating story of her own. Dr. Marcella Fierro spent a three-decade career in forensic pathology, including serving as Virginia’s first female chief medical examiner from 1994 until her retirement in 2008. Author Cornwell met Fierro in 1984, when the then-aspiring writer, who was living in Richmond, Virginia at the time (where the Scarpetta novels are set), got an appointment to ask her questions about what a medical examiner does.

“Marcella told me, ‘This is not a spectator sport; I don’t just let people watch autopsies,’” Cornwell recalled in a 2025 interview with Richmond magazine. “She told me I had to make myself legitimate and suggested I become a volunteer police officer—so I did.” Cornwell then accompanied Fierro to crime scenes and observed her in the morgue, and that firsthand experience led her to craft the character of Dr. Kay Scarpetta.

“She would often run things by me to make sure they were plausible,” Fierro told Richmond. “I was convinced from the get-go her drive, her determination and her commitment to the accuracy of the work would triumph.”

Cornwell published her first Scarpetta novel, Postmortem, in 1990, with Fierro’s support, launching what would become a seminal part of the crime fiction genre. As she told the Associated Press when Fierro retired, “I would not be where I am today in my life were it not for Dr. Fierro.”

What are the 'Scarpetta' books about?

If we tried to recap all 29 books, we’d be here a while! But here are the biggest things to know about the series: Dr. Kay Scarpetta is the brilliant and compassionate chief medical examiner of the Commonwealth of Virginia, who uses her sharp analytical skills and forensic investigative techniques to solve crimes and unmask killers. Her work, naturally, also brings her into contact with law enforcement, including the gruff cop Pete Marino and FBI agent Benton Wesley (who becomes her husband).

The Scarpetta novels also spend time on the character’s life outside the office. She has a sister, Dorothy Farinelli, a chaotic and impulsive foil to the disciplined, even-keeled Kay, and a niece, Lucy, who is extremely intelligent and tech-savvy.

What book is 'Scarpetta' season 1 based on?

As Cornwell noted on Instagram, season 1 of Scarpetta takes inspiration from two books in her long-running series. One is the first Scarpetta novel, 1990’s Postmortem, which follows Kay as she hunts down a serial killer while navigating scrutiny and possible sabotage from those who are skeptical of a woman holding the chief medical examiner post. The other is 2021’s Autopsy, in which Kay returns to Virginia with Benton after many years away. Newly back on the job as chief medical examiner, she’s called to a murder case with a trail that leads “unnervingly close to her own historic neighborhood.”

The TV series breaks up these stories across two timelines, in 1998 and the present day. The 1998 part of the plot—featuring an ensemble of younger actors—is where Kay Scarpetta, newly appointed as chief medical examiner, investigates a series of murders with the help of Pete and Wesley. The present-day timeline sees Kay (Kidman) and Benton (Simon Baker) returning to Virginia after some time away—while also navigating complicated family dynamics with Dorothy (Jamie Lee Curtis); Pete (Bobby Cannavale), who’s now married to Dorothy; and Lucy (Ariana DeBose), who lives in Kay’s guest house and is grieving the death of her wife. Now reinstated as chief medical examiner, Kay finds herself investigating a murder with surprising connections to that first case she cracked 28 years earlier. And if they are connected, it could mean her entire career was built on a lie.

How do I read the 'Scarpetta' books in order?

Here are the 29* Scarpetta books, starting with 1990’s Postmortem and continuing through 2025’s Sharp Force.

• Postmortem (1990)
• Body of Evidence (1991)
• All that Remains (1992)
• Cruel and Unusual (1993)
• The Body Farm (1994)
• From Potter’s Field (1995)
• Cause of Death (1996)
• Unnatural Exposure (1997)
• Point of Origin (1998)
• Black Notice (1999)
• The Last Precinct (2000)
• Blow Fly (2003)
• Trace (2004)
• Predator (2005)
• Book of the Dead (2007)
• Scarpetta (2008)
• The Scarpetta Factor (2009)
• Port Mortuary (2010)
• Red Mist (2011)
• The Bone Bed (2012)
• Dust (2013)
• Flesh and Blood (2014)
• Depraved Heart (2015)
• Chaos (2016)
• Autopsy (2021)
• Livid (2022)
• Unnatural Death (2023)
• Identity Unknown (2024)
• Sharp Force (2025)

*There’s also a holiday-themed novella, Scarpetta’s Winter Table (1998), which features Christmas recipes and photographs.

What book will 'Scarpetta' season 2 adapt?

The show was given a two-season order right from the jump, so we know that Kay will return for another round of crime-solving.

There’s no logline or casting info for the new season just yet, but showrunner Liz Sarnoff said it will adapt two more books from Cornwell’s Scarpetta series: 1993’s Cruel and Unusual and 1994’s The Body Farm. She also said things will pick back up after the events of the season 1 finale and continue telling the story across the past and present timelines. That means the younger troupe of actors, including Rosy McEwen and Jake Cannavale (yes, son of Bobby) as the past versions of Kay and Pete, seems likely to return alongside Kidman, Curtis, Cannavale, and DeBose.

“I read the first eight books again, and I thought these two really speak to each other, and it’ll be really interesting if we can make them work together,” she told The Hollywood Reporter of choosing those two books to focus on next. “I didn’t want to get too far into the series—those are actually books four and five of [Cornwell’s] series—so I took a step back from the present-day books and thought, ‘Let’s do a past book with the present-day cast.’”

Sarnoff also revealed that Cornwell has been involved in the series, including having her expert eyes on the season 2 scripts. “She read all the scripts and corrected us when we got stuff wrong, and she was always there. I could reach out to her, and it was wonderful for me. I’m a big fan, and she was very available to the show,” she revealed to TV Insider. “We had her in season 2. She was in the writers’s room a bunch, where we would Zoom with her and talk to her about what we were planning. And she has unbelievable ideas, and she was just a pleasure to have as a resource.”

For now, fans can watch the eight-episode first season of Scarpetta and play forensic analyst, looking for clues about where the story could go next. And if that’s not enough to keep you hooked until the show returns, you know which two books to pick up next.

Fresh from her appearance in The Beauty, Bella Hadid is launching her Ôrebella fragrance line in Italy. For the occasion, the model borrowed a vintage Christian Dior gown, which was previously worn by Oscar winner Nicole Kidman.

In snaps shared to her Instagram Stories, Hadid could be seen wearing a pale blue floor-length brocade gown adorned with fringing and featuring a large sheer cut-out in its skirt. The elegant dress is taken from Christian Dior's Spring/Summer 1998 Ready-to-Wear collection, when John Galliano was at the helm.

Nicole Kidman previously wore Hadid's gown, and a number of other pieces from the same collection, for a Marc Liddell photoshoot in Harper's BAZAAR Australia, via @archivedrunway and @everythingnicolewore.

Earlier this month, Raffe Vintage added this Dior gown to its global archive. It goes without saying that the iconic archival dress brings the romance to whoever is wearing it, making it the ideal elevated outfit for Hadid's Italian Ôrebella launch.

Shop Outfits Inspired by Bella Hadid

Happy Chanel day to all who celebrate. You too, Dua Lipa.

On January 27, Matthieu Blazy made his Haute Couture Week debut in Paris to a front row of celebrity clientele. Lipa's eyes were glued to the creative director's use of sheer muslin and mushroom embroidery. Miles away, livestream audiences couldn't help but admire her twist on Chanel's classic tweeds, too.

As the face of Chanel's 25 bag, the pop star had an all-access pass to Blazy's runway catalog, including his month-old, Métiers d'Art Spring 2026 collection. Out of 81 public transit-proof options, Lipa and stylist Lorenzo Posocco chose Look 14: a maximalist skirt set woven from a fiery yellow, black, and red pattern. Both the shoulder-padded jacket and knee-grazing pencil skirt featured asymmetrical, red-trimmed hems resembling burnt edges. Instead of the model's black mock-neck top, Lipa opted out of anything underneath, giving the coat's monogrammed, double-C buttons a proper close-up.

Blazy maximized the fresh-from-the-bonfire theme with a classic Chanel Flap bag, decorated in the same ablaze shades. Lipa, of course, got her hands on the matching accessory. (That's the third Chanel by Blazy purse to join her closet.) Her skirt set's crimson border reappeared on the shoulder style's top-flap closure, beneath the brand's small but mighty emblem.

The Grammy winner's ankle-strap stilettos modernized Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel's circa-1957, cap-toe house code in black and white. To finish, Lipa coordinated her yellow gold Tiffany & Co. engagement ring to firework-inspired statement earrings, straight from Blazy's Spring 2026 ready-to-wear line.

Lipa wasn't the only celebrity guest drawn to Blazy's Métiers d'Art designs for the couture front row. Stylist Jason Bolden outfitted Nicole Kidman in Look 51's little black dress. Black and white feather trim bookended the satin shift, before matching sequins stretched the hip-hugging hem by two feet. She accessorized with two-tone pointy pumps seen on Chanel's Spring 2026 catwalk. Extra points for her itty-bitty, east-west bag made of matte alligator.

Penelope Cruz, Claire Foy, Tilda Swinton, and Bruna Marquezine also arrived in Chanel's Métiers d'Art Spring 2026 selects, while Gracie Abrams and Margaret Qualley scored custom looks. The current class of Chanel It girls is the one to beat, so good luck to future couture front rows. They're rarely more on fire than this.

2026 will mark Nicole Kidman's first anniversary as a Chanel global brand ambassador, so "wear more Chanel" is probably high on her new year's resolution list. Sure enough, apart from her take on the slim sneakers trend, her January 4 airport outfit hailed almost entirely from Chanel.

After checking bags at Sydney Airport, Kidman strolled past the paparazzi with her daughters, Faith Margaret and Sunday Rose, plus an outfit overflowing with Chanel Spring 2026 selects. First, she layered a black monogrammed tank top beneath a coordinating cropped leather bomber jacket. Each staple was a perfect shade match to her carry-on: Chanel's celebrity-beloved 25 bag. The hobo silhouette's suede exterior made it slightly more rare than Taylor Swift or Dua Lipa's classic colors. Now, only secondhand boutiques sell the quilted, drawstring design in black suede for $11,500.

The bottom half of Kidman's co-ord looked right at home in Australia, where it's currently summer. High-rise, wide-leg khaki trousers—which also boasted Chanel tags—complemented her ballet slipper sneakers with ease. The exact brand behind the gumsole trainers remains a mystery, but the treads curve up each heel like Axel Arigato's Daze Runners.

Kidman is one of Hollywood's most frequent flyers, accruing miles to and from Nashville, Sydney, and L.A. Still, the Big Little Lies star's travel attire veered off course from last year's airport looks. For instance, she's never styled ready-to-wear Chanel through security. The slim sneaker trend, however, is as common as her carry-ons. Last October, Kidman coupled Adidas Sambas with an unreleased Chanel tote, courtesy of new creative director Matthieu Blazy.

Her first (and only) casual Blazy-era Chanel look came at the Spring 2026 runway show on October 6. Kidman posed for photographers in an oversize white button-down, alongside silk trousers made to mimic jeans. (You may recognize the menswear top from Look 13, minus the high-low skirt.) Kidman traded the model's cap-toe pumps for a pointy black pair. Even her silver rings hailed from Chanel's shelves.

Fresh-from-the-runway Chanel may be new to Kidman's closet, but sleek sneakers surely aren't. In recent years, Adidas Sambas, Vans-inspired trainers, and Converse Chuck Taylors traded places from flight to flight. In 2026, however, it seems her in-air footwear will lie low.

Shop Airport Styles Inspired by Nicole Kidman

Nicole Kidman is back with another post-divorce hair transformation. If you can recall, just days after the news dropped that she and singer Keith Urban had officially split after 19 years married, Kidman popped out during Paris Fashion Week with brand new bangs. Now she's keeping the hair changes going, this time with her hair color.

The Big Little Lies star spoke on stage during the 2025 Texas Conference For Women in Austin this week, and she showed up wearing a platinum blonde hair color that was a few shades lighter than the strawberry blonde color that's pretty much become her signature in recent years. For the event, her newly bleached locks were styled in a middle part and mermaid waves.

The rest of her glam was pretty subtle. Her brows were filled in with a brown brow product and she wore a bit of mascara and eye makeup as well as some peachy lipstick. Kidman also decided to forgo the chic, wispy bangs she debuted a few weeks ago and let her hair fall to both sides of her face.

This is just reminding me of how much I love a blonde moment, whether it's temporary or not. If you've been considering going blonde for fall and have fully been convinced by Nicole Kidman's color change, read ahead for some essentials you'll need.

Breaking news: Nicole Kidman is an undercover sneakerhead. Longtime fans just assumed she lived in stilettos. (She's rarely seen in any other footwear.) Turns out, the actor reserves her sneaker collection—an impressive one at that—for the airport. See her fresh-from-the-plane Adidas Sambas on October 29 for proof.

Minutes after touching down in New Orleans, paparazzi captured Kidman's travel outfit, sneakers and all. She began her airport-worthy attire with a fitted cashmere sweater. Its gray knit felt especially autumnal alongside green cargo pants.

The ankle-length legs ensured her $100 sneakers were easy to identify. Obviously, Kidman wore the Adidas Samba OGs, beloved by Anne Hathaway, Sophie Turner, Doechii, Olivia Rodrigo, and many more fashion girls. Her iconic colorway included black leather uppers and suede overlays, while the triple stripes and heels appeared white. Contrary to Turner's green Sambas, Kidman's dark gum soles blended into each sidewall.

As Chanel's new brand ambassador, Kidman's travel look would feel incomplete without a carry-on from the Matthieu Blazy-led label. She chose a "fits everything" tote, featuring Chanel's double-C emblem as its yellow gold closure.

It's unclear when the black bag debuted—the leather purse was noticeably absent from the Spring 2026 runway show. Perhaps it's an unreleased design from the world of Blazy. If that's true, one can only hope it hits the market soon.

Kidman's Wednesday afternoon flight doubled as her Adidas Sambas debut—she's never publicly styled them before. But slim sneakers have been her airport staple for years. Since early 2023, she's worn the same white leather trainers to and from Australia, Mallorca, and L.A., of course. And yet, they look good as new.

In Jan. 2024, she arrived at Sydney Airport in a cropped button-down, pleated trousers, and the aforementioned sneakers. The one-color shoes have since gone into hiding, which suggests the Adidas Sambas are their official successor.

There's no better time to refresh your travel gear than right before the holidays. From now until New Years, you'll presumably board planes, trains, and automobiles to be with family and friends. So, why not do it in style, à la Kidman?

Shop Adidas Sambas Inspired by Nicole Kidman

Unless you're living under a rock, by now you've heard that Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban are getting divorced. After 19 years together, the Oscar-winner and country singer have called it quits, which is sad, yes, but once I processed the shock of yet another iconic Hollywood couple splitting up, I had a realization: Kidman is about to enter her divorce era and I have a feeling it's going to be so good. After all, she's already reached meme material with that infamous photo of her leaving the final divorce proceedings meeting from her ex Tom Cruise (the truthfulness of the circumstances are still a bit iffy, but I digress), and now we'll have the privilege of watching an older, wiser, savvier, and sexier Kidman navigate her glow up era—not that she needs one. I mean, did you see Babygirl? Luckily, the actress didn't make her fans wait very long, nor did she hesitate to update her beauty look with a fresh set of painfully chic bangs.

On Monday October 6, Kidman stepped out for the first time in a week since her divorce news hit rocked the internet, attending Matthieu Blazy's debut Chanel Spring/Summer 2026 show with her daughters, Sunday Rose and Faith Margaret. She looked as elegant and statuesque as ever, all five foot eleven of her, in a classic white button-down shirt, pale blue trousers, and a red Chanel flap bag. My eyes, however, were immediately drawn to her stunning strawberry blonde hair and wispy bangs.

Kidman is no stranger to making a statement at a Paris Fashion Week show, having attended the Balenciaga Couture show on July 9 sans bra under her crisp black blazer, her hair colored a bright, buttery blonde and blown out into a '90s supermodel sleek look. And yes, she looked just as incredible during that summer moment, but I'm partial to her wearing her natural red hair while also pulling a classic breakup hair transformation during what is arguably the buzziest fashion show of the entire season. Seriously, what better way to ensure your fans and the rest of the world—both of which seem to be deeply invested in your love life—that you're doing just fine than debuting a brazen new hairstyle? Divorce bangs for the win.

Adir Abergel, Creative Director of Virtue, shared how he achieved the look, mere hours before Kidman left for the show." “For the premiere of Matthieu's collection for Chanel, we gave Nicole a fresh cut and leaned into an effortless, early '70s French vibe," he says. After applying the Virtue Damage Reverse Serum and Virtue Unfrizz Cream product, Adir let her hair air dry to maintain its natural shape and movement. Then he crunched and used a hair diffuser to enhance the texture and volume before adding the Virtue Healing Oil to add separation, shine, and a "polished-but-undone finish."

The rest of her glam was equally notable, with smokey bronze eyeshadow, mile-long lashes, a creamy pinkish-nude lip, and cheekbones that could cut glass. Her porcelain complexion looked dewy and flawless, as per usual, and the fluttery nature of her new bangs really highlighted the standout makeup look. If this is what we can expect Ms. Kidman to deliver throughout the rest of the fall and through awards season (seriously, I am so sat for her next industry red carpet moment) then I believe we are about to witness yet another iconic divorcée glow up for the ages. Bravo, and good riddance!

If you're looking to try out a set of bangs for yourself, whether or not you're in the midst of a breakup, keep scrolling for a few products to help them look their best.

Ask any person what kinds of nail colors they tend to gravitate toward in the summer months, and chances are they'll name a handful of bright colors and designs that perfectly match the carefree, laid-back energy of the season. Think butter yellow, lemon drop, fruit nails, or even pastel chrome. But if you're someone like Nicole Kidman—more specifically, Nicole Kidman attending the Balenciaga Fall/Winter 2025 runway show during Paris Couture—your ideal summer nail color might be something a little more atypical. Exhibit A: the "Nine Perfect Strangers" actress was among many celebrities photographed doting around Paris this week, and instead of wearing a typical summer neutral on her nails, she opted for a vamp-y, dark manicure.

Kidman attended the Balenciaga show on July 9, and judging by the paparazzi photos, it seems the unofficial dress code was all-black. The actress wore a slightly oversized black suit and black sunglasses, complimenting the look with a manicure that featured either an all-black polish or a black cherry color with a reddish undertone.

Colors like black and dark cherry usually tend to trend in the cooler months since they match the moodiness of the season, but Kidman's nail choice just proves that there aren't really any rules when it comes to when you're allowed to wear a nail color, and that lighter neutrals don't always have to rule summer.

If you're like her and you simply can't wait until fall to break out your vamp-y colors, read ahead to shop some of my favorites.

At last, Nicole Kidman has made her first appearance at Paris Couture Week. She couldn't have picked a more appropriate show.

On July 9, the Nine Perfect Strangers star attended Balenciaga's 54^th Couture Collection presentation, watching Kim Kardashian walk the runway and Demna take his final bow as creative director. The latter's new line ranged from Old Hollywood references and nods to "La Bourgeoisie," to reinterpretations of technical "business" jackets—the likes of which would look right at home in Kidman's character's formidable on-screen wardrobe.

It's exactly this aesthetic that Kidman herself embraced for Wednesday's show. She arrived to the venue wearing a simple, black suit with nothing underneath. Jason Bolden styled her longline, single-breasted blazer with a pair of tailored trousers and cinched them with a sleek leather belt. Kidman finished off the look with black sunglasses and a pair of glossy, patent leather pointed-toe pumps.

The only thing missing from her Couture Week look was Masha's brutalist blunt bob haircut. Instead, Kidman wore her own blonde hair in sleek, subtle waves.

The look is one Kidman has worn both on screen and on the red carpet. Masha sports several similar all-black outfits in Season 2—a fact that has seemingly inspired Kidman's own outfit choices. Months prior, on May 15, the actor embraced another power suit for a Nine Perfect Strangers event, also wearing this set with nothing underneath.

Kidman's newly-adapted on-screen aesthetic is a 180-degree shift from the wavy-haired, earth mother persona she embodied during Season 1, but it certainly aligns more with her individual style. The actor has always gravitated toward the elegant and streamlined, over breezy florals. Essentially, she was made for this role.

The worlds that author Liane Moriarty weaves are so ripe for television that networks and streamers have a habit of extending adaptations of her work from limited series to ongoing ones. HBO did it with Big Little Lies, and now Hulu is also following suit. On May 21, Nine Perfect Strangers returns for a second season, somewhat in the form of an anthology, with only Nicole Kidman reprising her role as Masha Dmitrichenko.

The first season of the Hulu series was set at a California wellness retreat gone wrong, when the nine guests uncover secrets about themselves and the mastermind resort director played by Kidman, including the fact that they’re all being nonconsensually microdosed with a psychoactive drug. In season 2, Masha takes her tactics to a fresh, snowy locale where she meets a new set of characters. Ahead, learn more about the Nine Perfect Strangers season 2 cast, including the nine new guests checking into the Austrian Alps Zauberwald resort.

Nicole Kidman as Masha Dmitrichenko

Nicole Kidman’s Masha, the Russian wellness retreat owner who secretly microdoses her guests, is the only returning character to the series. As revealed by the end of season 1, she was microdosing her patients to test if she could see her late daughter Tatiana, who died in a car crash at age 7, by using psychedelics.

Kidman, 57, is one of the most prolific Hollywood actresses alive. She’s been nominated for five Oscars, winning one for The Hours, and three Emmy Awards, winning two for Big Little Lies. After breaking onto the scene via films like Moulin Rouge!, Eyes Wide Shut, and Batman Forever, she’s more recently become a TV darling with vehicles like The Perfect Couple, Expats, and Special Ops: Lioness. Often dubbed the hardest-working woman in showbiz, Kidman has also become a cultural phenomenon for her beloved AMC Theatres commercial.

Murray Bartlett as Brian

Brian is a guest at the resort, hoping to outrun a public scandal involving his job as a former children’s TV host. Bartlett called the role “an actor’s dream” at the show’s premiere.

Australian actor Murray Bartlett’s career in Hollywood began in the early 2000s, but he became a household name for his role in the first season of The White Lotus in 2021. His performance as hotel manager Armond earned him an Emmy. Bartlett, 54, followed that up with a guest appearance opposite Nick Offerman on The Last of Us in a critically acclaimed episode that gained him another Emmy nomination. He has also appeared on shows like Sex and the City, and in leading roles on Looking, HBO’s hit 2010s LGBTQ+ drama, Welcome to Chippendales, and Physical.

Christine Baranski as Victoria

Christine Baranski’s Victoria is a wealthy woman who arrives at the resort with her younger lover (Aras Aydin) and estranged daughter (Annie Murphy).

Baranski, 73, is a veteran of both stage and screen. Her resume includes films like Cruel Intentions and The Birdcage, several musicals like Chicago and Mamma Mia!, and TV shows like The Good Wife, The Gilded Age, and Cybill. Her stage credits include The Real Thing, Rumors, and Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. She has been nominated for 16 Emmy Awards (winning 1) and 2 Tony Awards (winning both).

Aras Aydın as Matteo

Aras Aydin plays Matteo, Victoria’s younger lover.

Aydin, 36, is a Turkish actor who had exclusively acted in his native language before Nine Perfect Strangers. He was a regular on the Turkish series Cherry Season, Canevim, Siyah Kalp, and Aldatmak.

Annie Murphy as Imogen

Imogen is Victoria’s estranged daughter who bonds with Peter (Henry Golding) over their difficult parental relationships.

Annie Murphy, 38, broke out on the Canadian sitcom Schitt’s Creek, for which she won an Emmy. Following that, she led the series Kevin Can F**k Himself, and appeared in Russian Doll and Black Mirror.

Dolly de Leon as Agnes

Dolly de Leon plays Agnes, a former nun seeking forgiveness for something in her past.

de Leon, 56, is a Filipino actress who gained Western recognition after her scene-stealing performance in Triangle of Sadness in 2022. She began her career in the Philippines in films like 2019’s Verdict and 2021’s History of Ha.

King Princess as Tina

King Princess (real name Mikaela Straus) plays Tina, a talented but unhappy pianist who came to Zauberwald with her girlfriend Wolfie, hoping to find rest and relaxation.

This is the first acting role for King Princess, 26, who is primarily a Brooklyn-based indie pop musician. She is notably signed to Mark Ronson's label Zelig Records and frequently collaborates with the Grammy-winning recording artist, and her songs have appeared in hit shows and movies like Arcane, Bottoms, Hacks, and The Morning Show.

Maisie Richardson-Sellers as Wolfie

Wolfie accompanies her girlfriend Tina to the resort, but her over-eagerness conflicts with the spa vacation Tina was hoping for.

British actress Maisie Richardson-Sellers, 33, broke out on The CW show The Originals in 2014. Since then, she has appeared on TV shows Legends of Tomorrow, Of Kings and Prophets, and The Undeclared War, as well as in The Kissing Booth film franchise.

Henry Golding as Peter

Henry Golding plays Peter, a man hoping to reconnect with his billionaire father. At the resort, he bonds with Imogen (Annie Murphy), who is experiencing a similar dynamic with her mom.

Golding, 38, is best known for starring in films like the hit rom-com Crazy Rich Asians, A Simple Favor, Last Christmas, and The Gentlemen. Nine Perfect Strangers is the British actor’s first serialized television appearance.

Mark Strong as David

David is an emotionally detached billionaire who comes to the resort with his son, Peter (Henry Golding).

Mark Strong, 61, is a British actor known for films like Sherlock Holmes (2009), Green Lantern, Zero Dark Thirty, The Imitation Game, and the Kingsman series. He has appeared on television as well, on American shows like Low Winter Sun and The Penguin and British serials like Temple and Deep State.

Lena Olin as Helena

Helena is Masha’s former mentor who invites her protégée to run a new mountaintop resort called Zauberwald.

Lena Olin, 70, is a decorated Swedish actress known for her collaborative relationship with the legendary filmmaker Ingmar Bergman. She appeared in a few of his films—Face to Face, Fanny and Alexander, and After the Rehearsal—before breaking out internationally via The Unbearable Lightness of Being in 1988. Since then, she has been acclaimed for performances in films like Chocolat and Enemies, A Love Story, and on the hit ABC TV show Alias.

Lucas Englander as Martin

Lucas Englander plays Martin, Helena’s sidekick installed at Zauberwald to keep Masha in line and avoid another scandal.

Englander, 32, appeared in The Witcher and Catherine the Great before landing a regular role on the German political series Parlement. Since then, he starred in the Netflix series Transatlantic as well as the 2023 Harry Potter franchise film Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore.

For decades, there has been an unfortunate but common belief in Hollywood (and beyond) that women over 40 are invisible. They’re often relegated to playing somebody’s nondescript wife. Or mother. Or in some mind-boggling cases, somebody’s grandmother.

While this has improved in recent years (though statistics regarding on-screen representation remain dismal), now more than ever, women in Hollywood are taking matters into their own hands and shaping the conversation around aging with their own art. And it’s paying off. Several films that see women wrestle with their age have garnered acclaim this awards season: the Demi Moore-led feminist horror film The Substance, the Gia Coppola-directed indie The Last Showgirl, which marks Pamela Anderson’s first movie in 34 years, the Amy Adams-led adaptation of Rachel Yodder’s novel Nightbitch (and, in some ways, the Nicole Kidman-starring erotic drama Babygirl). Though each film tackles the subject matter uniquely—whether following a celebrity fitness instructor deemed “past her prime,” a Las Vegas dancer facing an unknown path, or a stay-at-home mom who’s convinced she’s turning into a dog—what unites them is how their complex characters face both the internal and external. Their poignancy and power lie not just in these characters’ reckonings with their self-worth, but in realizing just how frustrated they’ve become with the glass ceilings that exist to make them feel the way they do.

These feminist movies have become frontrunners for Oscar nominations and will continue to resonate in cinema going forward. With the arrival of The Last Showgirl in theaters nationwide on January 10, Marie Claire asked The Substance writer/director Coralie Fargeat, Nightbitch co-writer/director Marielle Heller, and The Last Showgirl writer Kate Gersten about their projects and Hollywood finally embracing of stories that examine the complexities of aging.

Here, they share what they found most liberating in the writing process, the hurdles they’ve had to overcome, and where they hope the industry goes next.

Marie Claire: There’s a trend in movies that sees aging women as they come to terms with how society casts them aside. Why do you think we’re having these conversations now?

The Last Showgirl writer Kate Gersten: It's taken bravery—from writers, directors and actors but also from producers and distributors. We've actually been writing these stories for years, but they're finally coming to light because the ones putting forth the money for these projects are finally seeing how worthy, relevant, and necessary to female audiences they truly are.

The Substance writer/director Coralie Fargeat: Because women directors finally have more room to express themselves! These voices have always existed, but society didn't really allow them to be heard. That's why it's so important to have diverse voices and points of view in the cultural space.

Nightbitch writer/director Marielle Heller: It’s a good question. I don’t know why this is happening now, but I know, for me, it’s happening from a personal place of watching myself and my friends’ age and grappling with what that means as a woman.

MC: Did you have any surprising, refreshing, or even frustrating conversations while developing your project about wanting to depict aging through a female POV?

CF: There were many frustrating moments. I was hearing that movies with ‘a female lead don't sell as much as with a male lead’...which is unfortunately probably true because society has been shaped that way for so long. That's why we need all the more to support the new female voices that emerge. That means financing their films and trusting their visions even if they can be surprising and unconventional.

MH: I’ve had more frustration with some responses to the finished film. Amy [Adams] was asked by a male audience member if we’d ever considered telling the story from the husband‘s point of view, a man who goes out and feels the responsibility of making a living for his family. I wish I had been there. I would have said, ‘We’ve seen that story for decades. It’s called Death of a Salesman, American Beauty, or countless others.’ I guess I’m sort of shocked by how people are up in arms that the story is really from a woman’s perspective.

MC: What did you find to be most liberating about telling this story in such a nuanced way?

KG: I love writing female characters who don't have to be perfect. The cliches that society and Hollywood suffocate women with don't cross my mind while I'm in my writing process, because I'm basically just having conversations with the women/characters in my head. Especially with something like this, where I wasn't discussing it with anyone—no producers, no director, or actors—while I was writing it. It was just me and my imagination and my women.

CF: Being able to tell it in such a not nuanced way! Oh gosh, that was so liberating! As women, we are always asked to be delicate, polite, smiling, and it was so cool to do the exact opposite with The Substance. That is exactly what the film is about: to break free from the typical representations and constraints that have corseted women for so long.

MH: I truly was not worrying what men would think of this movie—for the first time in my life. I felt like Get Out gave me that permission. From my perspective, that movie wasn’t worrying what white people would feel about it, and I found that inspiring.

MC: Was there anything too unconventional in the script that you chose not to include or that you had to fight to include?

CF: I had to fight for literally everything. The whole movie is so unconventional and doesn’t convey the image people are used to seeing with female portrayal. This is what I wanted to fight against. I didn’t want to have my voice shaped by someone else. I wanted to be able to tell my way of experiencing the world, with its excess, its grossness, its specificity.

MH: I fought to show a woman and her aging body in a natural light. Amy was thankfully really game for this challenge and my collaborators all really understood the assignment, but I think it’s undoing some habits in Hollywood to not light, dress, stage a woman as a sex object.

MC: These films come from female filmmakers and screenwriters. What added perspectives do you think that brought to these stories?

KG: Oh, the whole damn thing. Women need to tell complex women's stories, it's that simple. Women's stories by men largely focus on sex or competition. That's the male lens. Depictions of groups of women by men are often all about conflict without care. Female characters can and should disagree and spar, but I think male filmmakers forget that we can do that with love, and that at the end of the day, most of us have each others' backs.

MH: I don’t really know how else to tell a story. My lived life informs every choice I make—which is why the more diverse voices making movies, the more diverse storytelling we get. It benefits everyone.

MC: Though these films vary in genre and tone (horror to comedy to drama) there’s a somber element at their crux. Why might that be the throughline?

KG: Because being a woman is complicated as hell. But actually, I reject the word ‘somber.’ It's just that what all of us have done here is we've been truthful. Being a woman can be wonderful and it can be miserable. We have to hold contradictions all the time, especially as we age. Being a mother is so hard, yet so fulfilling. Feeling beautiful but ignored is a real mindfuck. A truthful movie about themes like these isn't a ‘somber’ thing, it's reflecting how women feel and, to me, that is beautiful and uplifting.

CF: Well, just listen to the news. What’s happening to women everywhere is still such a fucking disaster. In the real world, we often don't have a choice but to silence ourselves to be able to make our way, so when we can really speak loud through our films, I guess it's the dark part that we can finally express.

MH: Because life is hard, man. Life is suffering. And it’s beautiful and magical. And also hard. Maybe it’s the national mood.

MC: What depictions of women aging on screen have stuck with you in the past, either positively or perhaps have shown how far we’ve come?

KG: One of my very favorite characters ever is Celeste Talbert in Soapdish, played by Sally Field. She's a soap opera star who feels obsolete at 45. She's paranoid and vengeful and completely insane, but I loved every second of it. It's a satire.

CF: One depiction that has stuck strongly with me is the old woman in the bathroom of The Shining. It’s how you represent a normal process like aging into a nightmare. This is the depiction that has unfortunately existed since the beginning of humanity and cultural representations, like the old witch, the old evil stepmother in the fairy tales, etc.

MH: I can’t think of many good ones, but I remember when I was making Can You Ever Forgive Me? [the 2018 drama about Lee Isreal] and I had this realization that Lee could only truly get away with her crimes because nobody really noticed her. As a woman of a certain age, she was fairly invisible. That was a lightbulb realization for me.

MC: What progress would you like to see from Hollywood with these kinds of stories being told? And more opportunities for older women on screen?

KG: Just let us tell more of our own stories. Female filmmakers and writers shouldn't be hard to find. P.S. Give us more money to make our films.

CF: Don’t dump these movies, support them! I want to see a real commitment to support new female voices.

MH: I just want people to watch these awesome movies. I want them to be taken as seriously as the wonderful movies about men and not be considered fringe. I want the money to reflect the reality of the world.

Nicole Kidman has had one whirlwind of a year. From romancing Zac Efron in A Family Affair and a famous novelist with secrets in The Perfect Couple, to voicing a queen of a kingdom in Spellbound, she's has been booked and busy in 2024. Now it’s time for her to (hopefully) earn her flowers at the 2025 Golden Globes for her most recent role showcasing female desire in Babygirl, in which she’s nominated for Best Performance by a Female Actor in a Motion Picture, Drama.

To kick off this year’s award season, Kidman arrived at the Golden Globes 2025 red carpet in a custom Balenciaga backless gown, complete with a twisted one-shoulder neckline and long train. To complete her shimmery look, she wore a vintage watch and earrings.

Kidman worked with longtime stylist Jason Bolden, who's been behind her most recent red carpet appearances. Just last month, Bolden had her in a floral Dolce & Gabbana number for the 2024 Gotham Awards (as seen on Sex and the City) as well as a sheer floral appliqué gown at the Spellbound premiere, also by Dolce & Gabbana. With florals as the running theme for the last month or so, Kidman and Bolden seem to be switching it up with the off-the-shoulder metallic number for tonight’s big event.

On the beauty front, Kidman stuck to her signature soft glam with glimmery peach eyeshadow and a nude lip. But it was her hair that could've acted as an accessory on its own—Kidman went with a big mane of hair to perfectly complement her gown.

This year marks Kidman’s first physical appearance on the Golden Globes red carpet since 2020. Then styled by Julia Von Boehm, Kidman arrived to celebrate her nomination for her role in Big Little Lies in a custom red Versace gown complete with a strapless neckline, thigh-high slit, and a big bow at the back. However, Kidman did not skip out on the chance to get dolled up for 2021’s award show when nominees phoned in from the comfort of their own homes, either. She video-called in with husband Keith Urban and daughter Faith Margaret Kidman Urban in a back embellished halterneck gown and a sweeping updo.

If this is what Kidman and Bolden have pull out for the first red carpet of the season, we can't wait to see what's in store.

There's a scene in Halina Reijn's erotic thriller, Babygirl, where Nicole Kidman drinks an entire glass of milk in a bar while staring directly at Harris Dickinson — much to the bewilderment of those around her at the company holiday party. It's a wildly erotic and thrilling moment... and it also happened to Reijn in real life.

In a new interview with W Magazine, the director revealed that the scene was actually pulled from her own life and an encounter she had with a famous Belgian actor who was "way, way younger" than her.

The Bodies Bodies Bodies director — who was also a successful stage actress in her home country of the Netherlands prior to making the jump to the director's chair — explained the situation as something that happened in her 30s after a show. While out drinking with her colleagues at a bar, the aforementioned actor sent over a large glass of milk.

So what did she do? "I drank it, and he just walked out," she explained to W. "I thought, 'How does this guy get the courage?' I did think it was a very sensual thing to do. And I thought it was very funny."

It's a moment that, even without any sex involved at all, is rife with erotic and sensual undertones, making it all the more alluring even in its awkwardness. Because that's what sex is, really: it's not like how they portray it in film and television (for the most part), which is why Reijn set out to do what she did in this evocative and powerful film. It's also why she's called her film a counter-narrative to other big-name productions in the genre, like Eyes Wide Shut.

"I wanted those scenes to feel incredibly hot and steamy and fun, but I also wanted them to be real," she explained. "Sexuality is stop-and-go. It's never like a glamour scene from a Hollywood movie in the '90s. That’s just not how it works."

"Sex isn’t about two bodies banging up against each other," she added later on. And I think most people would tend to agree, which is what makes this film — which truly doesn't have that much actual sex in it — so damned sexy.

This story contains heavy spoilers for Babygirl. There’s a scene mid-way through Babygirl where Nicole Kidman’s character, Romy, seemingly reaches orgasm with a partner for the first time. The mother-of-two and high-powered exec lies face-down on the tacky carpet of a downtown motel room, her clothes tangled around her body; it’s her intern Samuel (Harris Dickinson) who has his hand up her skirt. When she allows herself to relax, finally giving herself over to the pleasure, she unleashes a guttural yell.

The moment feels unprecedented. Much of Babygirl does. Because save for select feminist films (consider The Piano, Benedetta) and TV series (Girls, Sex Education), we’ve become accustomed to seeing heterosexual women on screen climax within moments of being intimate. That is, if it’s depicted at all. The male gaze tends to prioritize men’s satisfaction, or what Babygirl writer/director Halina Reijn describes as the “orgasm gap.” But often when we do see it in women, it’s like a formula: passionate kissing, a couple of thrusts, and the woman lets out a dainty gasp of satisfaction.

Romy’s pleasure in Babygirl, however, is carnal. It’s not concerned with being seen as what society may deem as “pretty” or “feminine,” and feels far more realistic than previous depictions we’ve being exposed to. Romy's entirely uninhibited (so much so that Kidman got exhausted filming orgasm scenes). But that’s only part of why the new A24 erotic drama, about an affair between a CEO and her intern, at least 20 years her junior, feels so groundbreaking and sexy. The eroticism of the motel scene, and many of Romy and Samuel’s encounters, lies in how honestly Babygirl depicts a woman pursuing what she wants for the first time (even if that means risking her picture-perfect life in the process).

Romy has everything she could ever want in Babygirl in a way that feels tongue-in-cheek; she’s the well-respected businesswoman, married to a doting husband (played by Antonio Banderas), the mother to two talented, headstrong daughters, with a penthouse in Manhattan and quintessential home in Connecticut. She can even afford to make time for high-end wellness treatments. But what she wants in the most intimate moments, she can’t get—mainly an orgasm with her husband Jacob who is reluctant to try anything new in the bedroom.

In the film’s opening scene, after Jacob finishes and goes to sleep, Romy sneaks off to a room down the hall to watch porn and touch herself in private. It's something we can tell has become commonplace in her routine. The position she’s in and the sound she makes as she climaxes parallels what she experiences with Samuel later on—a culmination of her desire that’s been repressed (for potentially her entire adult life).

But Romy and Samuel’s affair is by no means out of the romance novel or even classic erotic thriller playbook. They don’t simply realize their attraction, rush into each other’s arms, and start making out behind closed doors. The pair don’t even know where to put their hands on each other at first. How they discover and consent to the roles they hope to fulfill for each other is unique to the film—and immensely hot.

When the two first connect in the office, Samuel weasels his way into Romy’s orbit by bolding requesting she be his mentor. In what’s supposed to be an informational interview, he crosses a line by telling Romy that he suspects she likes being told what to do, seeing a side of her few others seem to have noticed and daring to engage with it. He continues to push boundaries, toying with their corporate power imbalance, like sending her a glass of milk at a bar and whispering, “Good girl,” in her ear when she gulps it down like any perfect baby girl would.

So when he requests she meet him at a motel, their S&M dynamic seems somewhat obvious, except it’s not at all. Samuel tells Romy to get on her knees, to which she’s aghast, leading him to laugh and sheepishly admit that he doesn’t know what she wants. It’s hysterical, uncomfortable, oddly heartwarming, and wildly erotic all at once because, with one awkward interaction, Reijn demonstrates that these two individuals are unsure of how to fulfill Romy’s fantasy but willing to explore that together. By the end of their encounter, she climaxes like she hasn’t before.

Many of their subsequent encounters also include missteps and fumbling on both parts. When they meet in a conference room early on, Samuel’s domineering tone comes off as too self-serious and corny. Once, after having sex, they dance together like friends at a sleepover in their plush hotel room robes—with Samuel performing an awkward striptease to none other than George Michael’s “Father Figure.”

It also feels notable that Babygirl finds sex appeal in submission. When the trailer dropped, many viewers first reactions expressed disappointment that Dickinson did not play the titular baby girl, or assumed that they’d seen this kind of movie about an age-gap relationship or heterosexual S&M dynamics before. But as Reijn reveals, that’s far from the truth. It’s not at all about Samuel getting off in commanding Romy; in fact, he never once orgasms on screen and his reactions are largely kept out of frame. This is entirely about Romy. There’s a raw vulnerability in how she wants someone else to take control for once and how she’s empowered by accepting that and also by being the partner who ultimately has the final say in doing what she’s told.

Of course other films, from teen raunch comedies like Yes, God, Yes to coming-of-age movies like Diary of a Teenage Girl and LGBTQ+ dramas like Disobedience or Portrait of a Lady on Fire, have explored similar themes, especially in recent years. But Babygirl feels like the start of the next great chapter for erotic dramas in its openness to center a story on a woman, over 40, not shying from the messy and humorous parts of sex, while also being so damn honest about how brave it can be to fall in love with every side of yourself and your desires.

When Romy first sees Samuel, he calms a stranger’s unruly dog on the street. She’s momentarily frightened but impressed with his composure and power over the animal. Later, in the film’s final moments, Reijn incorporates flashes of the black German Sheppard into the motel room scene where the two had their first physical encounter. Pacing back and forth where Samuel stood in his black hoodie and chain, in some ways, it’s as if they’re one and the same. But it’s also as if the dog represents Romy, having unleashed something inside herself and tamed the beast all the same. “Good girl” is right.

At last night's 2024 Gotham Awards, dozens of looks were served. Zendaya, for example, wore a custom Louis Vuitton gown in creamy ivory. Meanwhile, Zoë Kravitz made her first red carpet appearance since splitting from fiancé Channing Tatum, and Pamela Anderson continued her no-makeup streak.

But the biggest moment of the night (apparently the Gotham Awards are the new Oscars), came from actress and AMC matriarch Nicole Kidman. Though she was nominated for Outstanding Lead Performance her role in Babygirl, Kidman's outfit played tribute to a totally different production—one she wasn't even in.

The star was outfitted by stylist Jason Bolden in a vintage, skin-tight strapless gown with a long stain train. Her Dolce & Gabbana gown struck a nerve with fans, as it was covered in an oversized floral print that felt incredibly familiar. For amateur fashion historians, it immediately called to mind one of Carrie Bradshaw's most famous looks from Sex and the City.

Sarah Jessica Parker had dozens of iconic looks throughout SATC's six-season stretch: the newspaper dress, the "naked" dress, the belt-on-a-bare-stomach look, and, of course, her signature tutu outfit. But one of the most famous is an outfit that never was: the Dolce & Gabbana maxi dress.

In season four, Carrie is tapped to walk in a fashion show highlighting both models and "real people." Though she is dressed in a delightful column dress during the fitting, when she arrives backstage, Carrie finds that Heidi Klum was given her dream gown—leaving her to wear a bedazzled thong on the runway. The dress, however, still lives in the hearts and mood boards of fans, all these years later.

Carrie wore the gown with a heart pendant necklace and her signature wild curls—an easy styling that felt true to her character. Kidman, on the other hand, went for a more polished take, rocking a bold burgundy lip and pointed-toe pumps. Conversely, her blonde hair was worn pin-straight.

More than two decades after Bradshaw's look first aired, the gown still goes just as hard. Shop your own version below.

Shop Floral Maxis Inspired By Nicole Kidman

Nicole Kidman knows that certain photos of her got turned into an uplifting meme following her divorce from Tom Cruise. However, according to the Oscar-winner, the pictures have been completely misinterpreted.

The meme in question involves photos of Kidman looking positively elated, throwing her arms out in a relief, and looking to the sky with a smile as she steps out on to the street. Often, the memes include a caption along the lines of, "On this day in 2001, Nicole Kidman’s divorce from Tom Cruise was finalized!" However, according to Kidman herself, the photos have been taken completely out of context.

Speaking with GQ, Kidman debunked the beloved meme, saying, "That was not me; that was from a film, that wasn't real life. I know that image!"

As for the story that usually accompanies the images, regarding her split from Cruise, the Big Little Lies star explained, "That's not true." According to GQ, Kidman laughed while reflecting on the meme, and said, "There's always something behind the actual images that go out there, right?"

Cruise filed for divorce from Kidman in February 2001, citing their date of separation as Dec. 21, 2000, just days prior to their tenth wedding anniversary, Entertainment Weekly reported.

While discussing the meme, Kidman also referenced the memorable GIF in which she appears to be clapping in a very strange way at the Oscars in 2017. "I've also seen the one where I'm clapping like that," she said, reenacting the funny moment. "'Cause I had a massive heavy borrowed ring on and it was really painful, and I was scared of wrecking the jewelry. Ha!"

As for the unforgettable AMC advert she made, in which she implored people to return to movie theaters following the COVID-19 pandemic, Kidman has no regrets. "'Heartbreak feels good in a place like this,'" she said, mimicking herself. "But I'll do anything for cinema, so you can meme me as much as you want."

Nicole Kidman is reflecting on one of the most difficult aspects of getting older.

In a new interview with GQ to promote her forthcoming movie Babygirl, in which she stars opposite Harris Dickinson, Kidman discussed the reason she's started experiencing sleep issues.

"Mortality," the Oscar-winner told the outlet. "Connection. Life coming and hitting you. And loss of parents and raising children and marriage and all of the things that go into making you a fully sentient human." She continued, "I'm in all of those places. So life is, whew. It's definitely a journey."

The Big Little Lies star shared the particularly traumatic way all of these concerns about life affect her each night. "And it hits you as you get older how... it's a wake up at 3 a.m. crying and gasping kind of thing. If you're in it and not numbing yourself to it. And I'm in it. Fully in it."

In September, Kidman announced the death of her mother, Janelle, at the age of 84. In a statement, the actress wrote (via The Guardian), "I'm in shock, and I have to go to my family... She shaped me, she guided me, and she made me." Kidman continued, "The collision of life and art is heartbreaking... And my heart is broken."

During her interview with GQ, Kidman elaborated on why she's drawn to certain projects, and how her emotions figure into her decision-making.

Sharing that she recently cried while watching Past Lives and Inside Out 2, Kidman explained, "I cry, I do... I consider myself open to emotions." When the interviewer suggested that the actress' emotions were "very close to the surface," Kidman responded, "More so now. Even more so."

As she's so in touch with her emotions, Kidman also shared that she finds herself becoming too connected to her work at times. "You can absolutely tell when people are phoning something in," she told GQ. "For me, that doesn't work. I'm not moved by that."

Kidman's dedication to her craft makes an indelible mark on her personal life, too. "I get sick or I get disturbed," she revealed. "It penetrates my dreams, I don't sleep well, I shake, I have all sorts of different physical manifestations from it."

Unsurprisingly, playing Celeste, a woman who experiences domestic abuse, in Big Little Lies had a huge impact on her body and mind.

"Your body is just going, Oh right, this is happening, and I'm responding as anyone does to stress," Kidman said.

At this point, the naked dress has been done to death. Between the Met Gala and the VMAs and the Billboard awards (not to mention the coinciding after-parties), celebrities have worn virtually every style of see-through dress there is. So it's rare to find a design that actually feels fresh—and Nicole Kidman's latest look is just that.

On Nov. 11, the actor walked the red carpet in Paris for the premiere of her new animated Netflix movie Spellbound. She wore a naked dress, yes, but it was a wholly unexpected take that barely felt naked at all.

Instead of your typical bare-everything style, Kidman took a more modest approach. Her floor-length Dolce & Gabbana gown featured a sheer base, covered heavily in large floral appliqués. It also had long, bell sleeves, for additional coverage. From there, her stylist Jason Bolden added a simple white slip beneath, effectively neutralizing the revealing number.

Her outfit additions were simple and glam—nothing more than a few diamond-encrusted jewels and a pair of black pointed-toe pumps. The subdued styling made the look feel true to Kidman's prim and proper style.

That said, her hair was easily the best accessory of all. Kidman wore her signature blonde waves in early-2000s crimps, which added a laid-back, boho feel to her long white gown.

Though this dress positively screams "spring," Kidman's styling felt more akin to a glamorous ice princess—she basically was a walking snowflake. Take a page from her book and consider this your sign to wear a white naked dress to your next holiday party.

Shop White Dresses Inspired By Nicole Kidman

Keith Urban has given his two cents to the Australian dollar on his and Nicole Kidman's daughter Sunday Rose Kidman Urban's accent, which has fascinated the internet.

An Entertainment Tonight reporter described Sunday's accent to Urban as a "Southern, Aussie hybrid" and asked him how he would describe it.

Clearly a man of few spoken words, the country singer answered, "She's just our daughter."

Urban was born in New Zealand and raised in Australia, while his wife was born in Hawaii to Australian parents. The couple and their kids now live mostly in Tennessee, though they also have pads in L.A., New York, and Australia, per Architectual Digest. They share daughters Sunday, 16, and Faith, 13. The actress is also mom to daughter Isabella, 31, whom she shares with ex-husband Tom Cruise.

Though the couple largely keeps their children out of the public eye, the internet caught wind of the teenager's accent after she walked the Miu Miu runway at Paris Fashion Week earlier this month. (A feat which Urban commented on with the following: "It was great. She did great.")

Sunday then gave Vogue a short video interview about her first time on the runway, telling the outlet, "I'm Sunday Rose Kidman Urban and this is my first show. We're at the Miu Miu show in Paris."

She added, "I've been wanting to do this for so long, so when the offer came through it was really exciting, and now the day is finally here."

Commenters immediately picked up on the teen's accent, with one person saying, "Love her accent. Australian meets Appalachian." (Though others answered that they couldn't hear any Australian amid the American.)

Someone else observed, "Her accent! A southern drawl mixed with a twinge of Australian. What a mix."

Only Nicole Kidman and Sunday Rose Kidman-Urban could make matching mother-daughter outfits look this cool. The Perfect Couple actor and her 16-year-old daughter arrived at Miu Miu's Monday evening dinner party at Paris Fashion Week sporting preppy black and navy blue ensembles that made their family resemblance even more apparent.

Nicole Kidman opted for a long-sleeved black sweater with a slim red stripe at the neckline layered over a white button-up. She paired the knit with a black and white plaid kilt embellished with floral appliqués and a set of black brogues. Kidman-Urban, on the other hand, chose a navy blue polo with white stripes, a black mini skirt with plaid accent panels running down the side, gray knee socks, and black combat boots. She accessorized the look with a black Miu Miu Adventure top-handle bag and a white manicure.

Earlier that day, Kidman-Urban marked her runway debut by opening Miu Miu's Spring 2025 show in a breezy white skirt and top paired with gray leg warmers and black peep-toe pumps. The Italian fashion house is known for having its finger on the pulse when it comes to casting young talent and under-the-radar celebrity progeny.

Case in point: Kidman-Urban was joined on the spring runway by Eliot Sumner, the child of rockstar Sting and actor Trudie Styler. Zaya Wade—the daughter of former Miami Heat basketball player Dwayne Wade—made her runway debut at Miu Miu during the Fall 2023 season. Amelia Gray Hamlin, the daughter of Real Housewives star Lisa Rinna and actor Harry Hamlin, also walked for the Miu Miu Fall 2023 show in Paris.

Of course, this isn't Kidman-Urban's first time at Paris Fashion Week. In June, she accompanied her mother to the Balenciaga 53rd Couture Collection presentation in the City of Lights wearing a black velvet turtleneck mini dress with long sleeves, sheer black tights, and black patent pumps with a pointed toe. She topped off the outfit with a black clutch and a pair of oversize black sunglasses. Her pin straight blowout mirrored that of her mother, who turned up in a skintight beaded mock-neck maxi dress and black sunglasses.

A month later in July, the two attended the 2024 Paris Olympics with country star Keith Urban—Sunday Rose's father and Kidman's husband of 18 years—in tow.

It seems Kidman-Urban has chosen to forge her own path in modeling as opposed to following in her parents footsteps by pursuing acting or music. But she did make a childhood cameo in Kidman's 2020 mini series The Undoing and her 2019 hit series Big Little Lies, so I'm not ready to call her career in Hollywood over just yet.

This story includes heavy spoilers for all six episodes of The Perfect Couple. At this point, there’s a whole subgenre of murder-mystery series revolving around someone who dies while in the company of a bunch of rich people. Since Big Little Lies became a runaway hit, several must-watch TV shows, like The Undoing and The White Lotus—and many predictable, missable titles—have followed suit. Netflix’s latest rich-white-people-behaving-badly series, The Perfect Couple, hit streaming on September 5, 2024.

The show, based on Elin Hilderbrand's novel of the same name, follows a formula many will be familiar with and is even notably helmed by The Undoing director Susanne Bier and features alum from both The Undoing and The White Lotus(!). Starring an A-list cast led by Nicole Kidman and Liev Schreiber as the matriarch and patriarch of the Winburys, an elite family of old-money WASPs on Nantucket, The Perfect Couple sees their family unravel when someone dies the night before their son Benji’s (Billy Howle) wedding. The wedding had already been tense among the Winburys, particularly famed author Greer Garrison Winbury (Kidman) who disapproved of her son tying the knot with the more working-class zoologist Amelia (Eve Hewson). So when Amelia’s longtime best friend and maid of honor Merritt (Meghann Fahy) is found dead, floating along the shoreline outside of the Winbury’s estate known as Summerland, even more melodrama ensues.

As Nantucket police immediately suspect foul play was involved with Merritt’s death and begin questioning people in the Winburys’ orbit, who killed Merritt becomes the central mystery of The Perfect Couple. By the end of the six-episode miniseries created by Jenna Lamia, the investigation into her death is solved, but not without a few twists being revealed. Below, find a breakdown of the ending of The Perfect Couple.

What is the truth about Greer Garrison Winbury’s past in 'The Perfect Couple?'

Throughout The Perfect Couple, Greer is obsessed with her image, from planning pristine wedding celebrations to booking PEOPLE features that paint her and her husband Tag (Schreiber), the heir to the Winbury dynasty, as nothing short of idyllic. The end of the show proves that she’s not only obsessed with her and her family’s image but covering up her past. In the finale when Greer is seen as a suspect—and assumed to have hired a man named Broderick Graham, an affiliate of the Turkish mafia, as a hitman—she opens up about her real history to clear her name.

When the police question Greer, they bring Broderick into the investigation room to try to break the two of them together, and Greer admits that he’s her brother. She explains that the $300K she asked her son Benji’s friend Shooter Dival (Ishaan Khattar) for and wired to Broderick was to pay back his debts. She tells the detectives that he is a fixer for the Turkish mafia, but she has been paying off his debts for years.

Greer later comes clean to her entire family. After being let go by the police, she confesses to her sons Benji, Will (Sam Nivola), Thomas (Jack Reynor), as well as his wife Abby (Dakota Fanning), Amelia, and her publicists, that she used to be an escort. She reveals that she has always lied about meeting Tag at a gallery, and instead, he paid for her services as a high-level escort on several occasions, and her brother set her up with clients. “And now I pay for everything,” she sneers at her husband. “I’m done living your goddamn mess. I’m not cleaning everything up for you. I’m done with your ego. I’m done with your bullshit. I am done. Done. I’m not taking care of everything for everyone anymore. I’m done. I’m done with living the lie.”

Who killed Merritt in 'The Perfect Couple?'

From the beginning of The Perfect Couple, Greer seems set up to be the killer. Even in the first episode, she suspects her husband is having an affair when a jeweler comments on a bracelet he purchased, which she never received but finds the receipt for. When Merritt arrives at the Winbury’s ahead of the wedding, Greer sees the bracelet on her wrist and realizes instantly that she must be seeing Tag.

As the series unfolds, it’s interspersed with flashbacks from Benji and Amelia’s engagement and wedding festivities over the past year, giving insight into Merritt and Tag’s secret relationship. Then in the lead-up to the wedding, Merritt tells Tag she’s pregnant.

Merritt also tells Amelia (who is not so innocent throughout the show herself, as she’s been having an affair with her fiancé’s friend Shooter), leading to an argument. The night before the wedding, Merritt also has an impassioned conversation with Tag about her pregnancy and how she wants him to leave his wife. Someone overhears their dramatic exchange, because shortly after Tag leaves Merritt alone on the beach, she pleasantly says, “Hello,” to someone who approaches her—presumably the killer.

By the end of the finale, the investigators piece together that Abbi, the pregnant, wealth-and-status-obsessed wife of Thomas, murdered Merritt. Abbi is the culprit and had wanted to get rid of Merritt because of how the Winbury family trust fund, which would go to her husband and therefore her, is set up. The trust fund is planned to go out to all three Winbury sons once the youngest, Will, turns 18, and his birthday is just a few weeks away in the series. Should another Winbury son be born, though, the trust fund would reset—which is exactly what would happen if Merritt saw her pregnancy through.

So Abbi drugs Merritt and drowns her, in hopes she can still get the seven figures in the next couple of weeks that she’s expecting. Abbi takes a tip from her husband—who has a habit of stealing other people’s pills and abusing them—and takes the barbituates that he stole from Amelia’s mother with cancer. (Once it’s clear in the investigation that Merritt died with barbituates in her system and Thomas had stolen those same pills, Amelia’s mother reveals they are meant to assist euthanasia and she got them from a peer in her cancer support group.) The detectives realize Abbi must have been the one to slip the lethal dosage into Merritt’s drink when they recall how Winbury’s maid (Irina Dubova) told them during her questioning that she’s constantly bossed around and asked to wash dishes, especially by Abbi, but Abbi demanded she not help her wash a glass in one instance the morning after Merritt died. That glass, they infer, must have had drug residue and her fingerprints, which is why she was washing it clean herself.

A flashback reveals that Abbi approached Merritt on the beach after she argued with Tag and vented to her about how seedy and untrustworthy men can be. As it turns out, not only did Abbi want Thomas’ dividend of the trust fund for herself, but because of how much money he owed the family friend Isabel (Isabelle Adjani), who he had been having an affair and abusing substances with. Abbi suggests to Merritt they both go for a late-night cold swim to clear their heads, drowning Merritt when she gets into the water.

How does 'The Perfect Couple' end?

When the truth surfaces, Abbi is arrested and, even as she demands Thomas call their lawyer, is bound to go to prison while she’s still pregnant.

Benji and Amelia also call off their nuptials, with him saying he’s heartbroken over her affair but understands her moving on. A flash-forward reveals just how much she moves on from the Winburys, as the zoologist takes a job at a zoo in the U.K.

She’s not the only person who is over the Nantucky elites. Greer visits Amelia at work, saying that she tracked her down, is proud of her for doing well on her own and was inspired to do the same, wrote a new novel inspired by her, and hopes the two can reconnect. All along the two were more similar than different.

To tie it all together, though, the Netflix show couldn’t go out with one more replay(!) of the entire wedding party doing a choreographed dance to Meghan Trainor’s “Criminal” from the opening credits. Merritt’s murder may have been solved, but it’s still a mystery why this scene kicked off all six episodes and capped off the finale. (It may be time for the rich-people-behaving-badly subgenre to take a breather.)

How does 'The Perfect Couple' ending differ from the book?

The Perfect Couple doesn't have the same ending as its source material. In Hilderbrand's book, Merritt's death is officially ruled an accident, and only one character pieces together what happened.

Rather than Abigail killing Merritt in an attempt to ensure access to the family trust fund, she intends to drug her husband's mistress, a Brit with financial woes named Featherleigh Dale in the book, with sleeping pills. (According to Variety, the family friend character was tweaked to be the French expat Isabel in the Netflix series once Adjani came on board.) When Abigail learns of Thomas' affair, she slips a pill into Featherleigh's drink so she'll pass out and not spend the night with Thomas. However, Featherleigh gives the glass to Merritt when the two chat about their troubles with men. After Featherleigh leaves Merritt alone, she cuts her foot on loose glass on the beach and attempts to wash it off along the shore. The maid of honor then notices a ring Tag had given her in the water, reaches for it, and at that moment is hit by the sleeping pills, passes out, and drowns.

While the case is ruled a murder and ends up being closed in the Netflix adaptation, it's seen as an accident in the book—and only Greer realizes what happened. Instead of telling the authorities, she keeps the information to herself.

Showrunner Jenna Lamia opened up about the book-to-series changes in an interview with Variety, explaining that she wanted The Perfect Couple to "lead to a denouement that would feel utterly fair but also utterly surprising."

"I wanted a more overt and active motive, and I wanted someone to have meant to kill the person they kill," Lamia said, noting that the book is told from various characters' perspectives so readers can understand their motives more clearly.

The showrunner added, "The best kind of murder mystery leaves you with a feeling that the filmmakers have played fair with you, that you feel satisfied, that maybe you didn’t guess whodunit, but maybe you could have or should have, and maybe if you watch it again you’ll see little clues that were there that maybe you didn’t know were important the first time."

Nicole Kidman is opening up about her new movie Babygirl and how the film's director made her feel comfortable during the film's most intimate scenes.

On Friday, Aug. 30, during a press conference held before the film's Venice Film Festival debut, the actress said filming sex scenes for the movie was different thanks to the writer and director, Halina Reijn.

"That's what made it so compelling, was being in the hands of Halina, because I knew she wasn't gonna exploit me," Kidman said at the time. "I mean, however anyone interprets that, I didn't feel exploited. I felt very much a part of it. It's the story that I wanted to be a part of, that I wanted to tell. And every part of me was committed to that."

The actress went on to say that there "was enormous care taken" during the filming process, adding that the cast and crew were "all very, very gentle with each other and helped each other."

In the film, Kidman plays a high-powered CEO who decides to risk her career and her family so she can begin an illicit affair with her younger intern, played by Harris Dickinson.

In a previous interview with Vanity Fair, Kidman said starring in the erotic drama made her feel "very exposed as an actor, as a woman, as a human being."

"There’s something in me going, 'Okay, this was made for the big screen and to be seen with people,'” she told the publication at the time. “But then I’m like, 'That’s a high-wire act. I’m not sure I have that much bravery.'

"I’ve made some films that are pretty exposing," she added, "but not like this.”

She went on to say that there were moments in the film when she didn't "want to be touched," adding that at one point she didn't "want to do this anymore."

“But at the same time I was compelled to do it. Halina would hold me and I would hold her, because it was just very confronting to me,” she added. "This is something you do and hide in your home videos. It is not a thing that normally is going to be seen by the world.…I had to go in and go out like, I need to put my protection back on," she continued. "'What have I just done? Where did I go? What did I do?'”

During the same Venice Film Festival press conference, Kidman clarified that the film follows "one woman's story," going on to say that she hopes it is a "very liberating story."

"It's told by a woman through her gaze...and that's what, to me, made it so unique," she added. "Suddenly I was gonna be in the hands of a woman with this material."

Before "tradwife" had a hashtag and dedicated aesthetic, Stepford Wives was the blueprint of homemaker style.

The 2004 comedy-thriller starred Nicole Kidman as Joanna Eberhart, a high-powered executive who moves to the suburbs and finds herself in a nightmarish utopia populated by brain-washed housewives. Stepford Wives was an embodiment of 1950s style; The hair was big, the skirts were long, the heels were unnaturally high—and it's this very look that Kidman tapped for her latest red carpet appearance.

While at the Venice International Film Festival on Aug. 30, Kidman attended a photocall for her newest project, Babygirl. The actor walked the red carpet in style—'50s style, to be exact—wearing a fitted A-line dress with puff sleeves and tea-length skirt.

Kidman's Bottega Veneta gown acted as a perfect tribute to her former character, with a prim and proper design and an all-black colorway (the metropolitan girlboss' hue of choice). She styled it with white heeled mules, also from Bottega Veneta, and a pair of $5,640 diamond earrings from Roberto Coin.

Her hairdo, meanwhile, was the spitting image of her character's. In the film, Joanna typically wore her long blonde hair pinned half-up, with soft curls (a major contrast to her pre-brainwash brunette bob).

Kidman's red carpet version, featured a similar style, with the addition of a bouncy, 1950s-era ponytail.

Twenty years later, Kidman is still nailing the look.

Throughout her astounding career, Nicole Kidman has proven she's capable of taking on any genre. From her emotive turn in Big Little Lies to appearances in superhero movies like Aquaman, Kidman is a chameleon. So when asked why she has appeared in several blockbusters, as opposed to the thought-provoking, independent movies she's known for, Kidman had the perfect response.

In a new interview with L’Officiel magazine, Kidman explained, "Everyone's like, 'Why are you doing that?' I'm like, 'Because I get to kiss Batman!'" She continued, "The thing people don't understand is, it's not about the check. A lot of the mainstream big blockbusters that I do are hopefully different." Kidman, of course, starred opposite Val Kilmer in 1995's Batman Forever.

She also revealed she chose to star in Aquaman after famed horror director James Wan asked her personally. As it turns out, Kidman is a huge horror movie fan, and she's hoping to take on some terrifying roles in the near future.

"I've not done classic horror yet," she explained. "Hardcore horror. I’m putting it out there, because I watch hardcore horror. I’m a fan of Ti West!" West, of course, recently directed a horror trilogy with Mia Goth, culminating with 2024's MaXXXine. It's more than a little exciting that Kidman is keen to work with the auteur.

During the same interview, Kidman opened up about her process as an actor, especially when it comes to her emotions. "I obviously feel things really, really, really deeply," she told the publication. "My mother would always say, raising me, it was raising a highly sensitive child."

For Kidman, being in tune with her emotions can aid her craft as an actor, but can quickly become overwhelming, too. "Part of my path in life is learning not to be so overly empathetic with people that it destroys me or sabotages me, because I can move into other people's skin and psyche in a very weird way," she said. "It's almost like a pull. I can physically manifest it and emotionally manifest it. It can be very, very frightening at times."

Matching sets have been trendy for years as a convenient and stylish way to pull together a cohesive look. The style spans from fast-fashion retailers like Zara to mid-range brands like Reformation, all the way up to luxury houses like Chanel. It's no surprise, then, that the matching set trend is currently taking over summer collections across retail. Now, celebrities have taken it upon themselves to give the minimal summer outfit the red carpet treatment.

On July 29, Nicole Kidman attended the Omega House Paris event in a crisp white gabardine set by Valentino, a high-waisted poodle skirt with a small gold "V" hardware logo on its pockets and a boxy short sleeve crop top with the same "V" on its neckline. The actress completed the look with a pair of $73 Charles & Keith shiny white slingback pumps with red rose-shaped stiletto heels. She kept her accessories simple in just a silver Omega watch with a midnight blue dial. (Kidman has been an Omega ambassador since 2005.)

Kidman isn't the first star to put a formal spin on the matching set trend. Earlier this month, Scarlett Johansson wore a light mauve-and-white gingham skirt set—a floor-length pencil skirt and a high-neck sleeveless crop top that met at her natural waist, exposing just a sliver of stomach—to the New York City premiere of her latest film, Fly Me To The Moon.

Yesterday's look fits squarely into Kidman's current red carpet wardrobe, consisting of black, white, and cream color palettes and subtle showings of skin. Just last month, she walked the carpet at the premiere of her new Netflix movie A Family Affair, wearing a nude, form-fitting custom Gucci gown made from a skin-tone silk.

This time around, Kidman brought her daughter, Sunday Rose Kidman-Urban, to the red carpet. Kidman-Urban wore a crop top of her own, it the form of a mini tailored vest and matching gray skirt. Like mother, like daughter.

Shop the Matching Set Trend Inspired by Nicole Kidman

Today, Balenciaga made its return to Paris Haute Couture Week, showcasing its anticipated runway collection on Avenue George V in the city's 8th arrondissement.

The house's 53rd couture show itself was a showstopper in itself. Creative director Demna continued with his subversive vision for the brand, this time giving a very Demna-esque streetwear take on underground subcultures—goth, skater, and metalhead—with a hint of glamour. Ultimately, what landed on the glossy runway were 39 looks—mostly comprised of oversized graphic tees and baggy pants—topped with larger-than-life headwear and butterfly masks. There was also the final look: a tulle gown made up of 47 meters of black nylon wrapped "destined to be only worn once," according to the show notes, and "takes approximately 30 minutes to make and 30 seconds to dissolve."

For such an event, one must enlist not only a trusty team backstage but a star-studded guest list up front to bring the entire showcase together. The show included A-listers and brand ambassadors from all walks—from pop stars to actors—most of whom opted for the usual Balenciaga dress code: an all-black uniform.

Upon arrival, Katy Perry and Camille Rowe turned heads as they went nearly topless, while Nicole Kidman stunned in a rhinestone-studded maxi dress. Boxy blazers and pantaboots ran rampant, too, as worn by Ashley Graham, Teyana Taylor, and more.

Some celebs strayed away from the monochrome memo. Instead, Maya Rudolph went for a breezy blue frock, while Naomi Watts picked a sculptural white midi set for the occasion. The Balenciaga front row didn't disappoint, to say the least.

Below, take a look at the best-dressed stars from Balenciaga's Fall 2024 couture show.

Charli XCX

Charli XCX's Brat era has made it to couture week, in the form of a flowy black button-down gown with skin-tight pantaboots, a mini leather bag, and oversized sunglasses.

Katy Perry

No top, no problem. Katy Perry wore a long black faux fur jacket, sans top, and "ripped" pantaboots.

Nicole Kidman

Any place she goes is magic. Nicole Kidman dazzled in a floor-sweeping, short-sleeve black maxi gown embellished all over with rhinestones and oval sunglasses.

Kerry Washington

Kerry Washington kept up the uniform in a black sweater tucked into a leather midi skirt paired with matching-colored pumps and black sunglasses.

Ashley Graham

Supermodel Ashley Graham opted for a slit-adorned black dress layered with an oversized blazer and paired with strappy sandals.

Naomi Watts

Naomi Watts shined in a white sculptural blouse and a coordinating midi skirt, along with black boots, a medium leather purse, and sunglasses.

Teyana Taylor

Teyana Taylor stunned in a black mock-neck dress with a long loose-fitted blazer, matching pantaboots, and sunglasses.

The Boyz's Juyeon

A moment for the K-pop idols: Juyeon wore a floor-hitting blazer dress with matching leather shoes and fitted gloves.

Michelle Yeoh

Michelle Yeoh kept things glamorously low-key in a glossy leather trench coat and oversized black sunglasses.

Camille Rowe

Americana, the Demna way. Camille Row wore a blue denim jacket, matching straight jeans, and black shoes.

Isabelle Huppert

The longtime Balenciaga ambassador chose a sculptural blazer top with straight trousers, pointed black boots, and sunglasses.

Maya Rudolph

Finally, some color! Maya Rudolph wore a long-sleeve blue patterned midi dress with black pumps and sunglasses.

Amelia Dimoldenberg

The internet's favorite interviewer and host of "Chicken Shop Date" chose a skin-tight corseted jumpsuit with long black gloves and a leather clutch.

Nicole Kidman proved she's a master of illusion during her latest red carpet appearance.

On Thursday, June 13, while attending the world premiere of Netflix's new film A Family Affair at The Egyptian Theatre Hollywood in Los Angeles, California, Kidman had onlookers doing a double take thanks to a nude, custom Gucci gown made from a skin-tone silk.

The bombshell gown, inspired by a look from Sabato De Sarno’s fall 2024 Gucci collection according to W Magazine, featured a waist-high slit and corset bustier made from nude illusion fabric, giving the appearance that, well, Kidman wasn't wearing much of anything at all.

The actress coordinated her dress with a pair of strappy sandal heels and a Gucci gold choker necklace. The off-white, flesh-tone look was on-par with Hollywood's naked dressing obsession, minus any see-through mesh or peek-a-boo cut-outs. Clearly, you don't have to actually show any skin in a nearly-naked outfit.

Other Hollywood A-listers have also embraced the barely-there look, but perhaps more literally with what some may consider risqué cut-outs and see-through prints. For example, sheer, nearly-naked dresses dominated the 2024 Met Gala red carpet—everyone from Florence Plugh to Ice Spice to Paris Hilton wore see-through gowns, showing more than just leg with carefully placed cutouts and boatloads of sheer fabric.

Even pregnant A-listers leaned into the trend, including actress Vanessa Hudgens, who debuted her baby bump in an exposing cape-style dress layered with matching black underwear.

When Kidman is not embracing the barely-there look, she is making red carpet appearances more of a family affair. In April, in honor of Kidman's AFI Life Achievement Award, the actress's daughters Sunday and Faith made their first red-carpet appearance ever.

Fifteen-year-old Sunday wore a white floral strapless gown, while Faith, 13, wore a poppy red structural strapless dress.

In a 2023 interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Kidman admitted that she has "always been drawn to fashion," with a more direct focus on "classic lines with a twist."

"Edginess is something I don't shy away from," she said at the time. "I love the artistry of fashion, and I’m very lucky, because I’ve been friends with a lot of designers since I was really young, when I first came to America and I was working. Part of it was, Omigosh, now I can access these designers who I only dreamed of wearing. I get to wear their clothes and be a part of their lives.”

Netflix just dropped a very steamy trailer for its upcoming romantic comedy film A Family Affair, featuring Nicole Kidman and Zac Efron kissing with aplomb. Coincidentally (or not) Kidman said in a roundtable discussion with The Hollywood Reporter that she has, in fact, secretly been excited to make out with certain co-stars—though she didn’t name any specifically. (Dammit.)

Kidman spoke about onscreen chemistry at the roundtable alongside fellow actresses Jennifer Aniston, Naomi Watts, Sofia Vergara, Brie Larson, Jodie Foster, and Anna Sawai, per People. Fellow actress Anne Hathaway wasn’t there, but she was referenced, specifically recent comments she made about being less than enthused to kiss a number of men in just one day for an onscreen chemistry test back in the aughts. Kidman said she could relate, though she did admit “I think maybe secretly I’ve been excited” about kissing certain co-stars, she said, laughing.

Kidman added that, in her opinion, chemistry tests shouldn’t be the No. 1 defining factor during auditions: “You can not have chemistry [in the audition], and onscreen, it’s made,” she said. “There’s a way you can shoot things. I think just relying on chemistry is lazy. There’s the writing. There’s the interaction. You can literally be directed through it.”

For what it’s worth, A Family Affair isn’t the first time Kidman has made out with Efron; they played lovers in 2012’s The Paperboy, as well. Efron said he was nervous working with the Oscar winner 12 years ago, and was similarly nervous on the set of A Family Affair, he told People: “I was still a bit apprehensive, but reuniting with Nicole is always so great,” he said. “And as talented as she is as an actress, she is equally kind, caring, and wonderful to spend time with,” adding that their characters’ chemistry in the movie is “seamless, natural, and fun.” 

In real life, Kidman has been married for 17 years to husband Keith Urban. In a 2018 interview, Kidman said that the secret to their long-lasting marriage is “knowing that you have to keep contributing to what we call the ‘us,’” she said. “You go, ‘Does this work for us?’ When you make an us, it’s yours together—that’s what you create.”

Nicole Kidman was the belle of the ball this weekend, glittering in a gold metallic Balenciaga dress complete with a long train as she received the American Film Institute’s Life Achievement Award on Saturday night. Among those there to fete the Academy Award winner were Morgan Freeman, Reese Witherspoon, Naomi Watts, and Meryl Streep, who actually presented Kidman with the award.

“For me, the very, very hardest part of being incessantly called the greatest actress of my generation,” Streep teased as the audience roared, “throwing her hand theatrically over her head,” The Hollywood Reporter writes. “What is the hardest part? Oh! The hardest part is when you come up against, or you’re acting with, another person who is also really, really, really, really, really, really great. That’s difficult.”

Of her Big Little Lies season two co-star, “It’s like somebody who you work all day with and you go home—‘That was a great day, great day’—and you go home and you go, ‘How did she do that?’” Streep said of Kidman as she poured and then mimed downing a drink. “‘I could do that.’ ‘No, I don’t think I could.’ ‘Yes you could!’ ‘No, no, you couldn’t do that.’”

Looking back on the HBO hit—which is reportedly planning a third season—Streep said “That’s the time when I really came within breathing distance of the formidable gifts Nicole has, and her process and her seismic bank of emotion she’s got locked up inside there, and her stamina and her drive to be an artist, and her discipline.” 

Streep recalled when Kidman chose to shoot a very emotional screaming scene on the first day—and did it over and over and over again with equal passion. “I haven’t recovered from that first day,” Streep said. “I’ve never seen anything like that in my life. For me, it was traumatizing because I thought, ‘This woman is a Valkyrie. How is she able to sustain that? Never letting up, never letting down.’”

In another part of her speech, Streep said of Kidman “You’re like a mustang, a workhorse, and a champion racer all in one, but one whose spirit they’ll never break,” she said. “Never. The range of your work is stunning. Your list of credits and roles and good deeds in the world would take a normal person three lifetimes to achieve. Your life and your resume challenges everything we know about how many hours there are in the day and how many places a woman can be at one time. It’s hard not to envy Nicole, but it’s also impossible not to be in awe of her.” 

Of their time spent working together in 2019 on Big Little Lies, Streep said “When an actress bares all and leaps off into the unknown, she dives deep into the darker parts of what it is to be a human being. But I don’t think it’s bravery. I think it’s love. I think she just loves it. And I think that’s the greatest attribute an actor can have—that blend of appetite and curiosity and recklessness. You have that, baby.”

As she accepted the award, Kidman returned the praise for Streep, saying “Meryl Streep, I just love you. I’ve always loved you. I don’t know what it is, but you’re a beacon of excellence and warmth and generosity, but you’ve been my guiding light, so to receive this from you—you have no idea. My husband will attest, my parents will attest, it’s always been you, and no one can touch you.”

Kidman was the first Australian to receive the prestigious award, and while the tributes were largely sentimental, Streep also revealed a very interesting anecdote about her co-star, who she called “a wild mongrel talent”: “Reese [Witherspoon] told me the very first night we were up in Monterey, before we started shooting, she said, ‘You know what she does?’” Streep said. “I said, ‘No, Nicole?’ She goes, ‘Yeah, you know what she does? She goes out at 5 [a.m.], before dawn, and she goes skinnydipping behind the hotel in the ocean.’ I looked at Nicole and I said, ‘Are you kidding me? The Pacific is like 48 degrees in March.’ Nicole said, ‘Yeah! I love it!’” 

Nicole Kidman received an AFI Life Achievement Award over the weekend, and she brought her husband, teenage daughters, sister, and niece along to celebrate on the red carpet.

The sweet family posed together, marking Kidman and Keith Urban's daughters Sunday and Faith's first red-carpet appearance ever. Sunday, 15, wore a white floral strapless gown, and Faith, 13, wore a poppy red structural strapless dress. Also in the photo were the actress' niece Sybella, and her sister Antonia Kidman.

During her acceptance speech, the Big Little Lies star acknowledged that she'd had an "enormous amount of luck in my life," but especially that "there's also the most important thing, love" (via People).

She continued, "Big, big love. And then right there is the love of my life, and the loves of my life. My daughters have never been anywhere publicly with me on a red carpet, tonight was their first night, so they're here, Sunday and Faith."

The actress wore a stunning gold sequined gown by Balenciaga, with a long train, styled by Jason Bolden. She also worked with makeup artist Gucci Westman, hair stylist Adir Abergel, and nail artist Thuy Nguyen to achieve the look.

Over on Instagram, Kidman wrote about the honor, "Deeply moved by all of the support around the world that I’ve been seeing and hearing. Thank you to all of you and to the @AmericanFilmInstitute for including me in this illustrious group of honorees - now let’s have some fun!"

Kidman and Urban have been married since 2006. The Australian star also shares children Isabella, 31, and Connor, 29, with ex-husband Tom Cruise.

Country music star Keith Urban isn't too proud to admit that when it comes to teaching his wife, Nicole Kidman, how to play the guitar... well, he's experiencing some difficulties.

In an exclusive interview with Entertainment Tonight's Cassie DiLaura, the singer said that guitar lessons with Kidman have been "slow going," to say the least.

"(It's going) not so good," Urban admitted, and with a laugh. "I gotta find a great left-handed guitar. Obviously, that's the first step."

Look, selling out stadiums and winning Grammys is one thing, but teaching your partner of more than 15 years how to play a musical instrument? That's a whole new situation (apparently).

While the guitar lessons are a bit of a struggle, their strumming sessions are not the first time the pair have flexed their musical prowess together.

Seven years ago, Urban posted a YouTube video of the couple singing his song "The Fighter" together in the car. Kidman, of course, was not to be outdone—hardly a surprise for anyone who was watched the hit 2001 movie Moulin Rouge. Kidman has some pipes, ya'll!

Kidman also sings the backup vocals on her husband's song "Female." Despite her singing chops, the actress told Entertainment Tonight on the 2017 American Music Awards red carpet that it "didn't come easily" to her at all.

"I went down (to sing vocals) and I did it because he asked me to," she said at the time, adding that she doesn't believe her husband when he tells her that she has the most beautiful voice in the world.

"He knows I have no confidence when it comes to singing," she continued. "So I'll sing for him and that's it."

Last year, Urban posted a throwback video on TikTok showing him serenading his wife during an intimate performance five years earlier. In the video, Urban plays the guitar and sings to Kidman, who is sitting down and, from time to time, joins in on the singing.

"5 years of Graffiti U," the country music star captioned the post.

Of course, fans instantly swooned, flooding the comment section with praise for Urban and Kidman.

"He loves his wife so good man," one fan wrote.

"Relationship goals!' another commented.

Something tells me Urban and Kidman are going to survive those less-than-ideal guitar lessons, folks.

Back in November, Nicole Kidman confirmed that, at last, there would be a season three of HBO’s hit Big Little Lies after season two wrapped five years ago, in 2019.

“I loved Big Little Lies, because it sort of came along at a time in my life when I had my children and I was thinking I was going to retire,” she said. “And then this situation came along where Reese Witherspoon and I were able to produce that show and create that show. And then all of you watched it and made it a massive success. And we will bringing you a third one, just FYI.” 

In a new interview with Elle, Kidman said that the five-year break was necessary: “There’s the richness of the storylines, which we’d always discussed, but it needed time because there’s actual unbelievable depth to the next chapter of these women’s lives and their children’s lives—because children grow up, and that’s kind of fascinating,” she said.

The show—which stars the powerhouse ensemble cast of Kidman, Witherspoon, Laura Dern, Zoe Kravitz, Shailene Woodley, and Meryl Streep—was last onscreen in July 2019 after its debut two years prior. The show is based off of a 2014 novel of the same name by Liane Moriarty (who also wrote Nine Perfect Strangers and Apples Never Fall, which have both been made into shows on Hulu and Peacock, respectively) and the Big Little Lies screen adaptation amassed eight Emmys. It takes us through the lives of high-powered yet troubled moms living in Monterey, California.

In 2021, at just 58 years old, the show’s director Jean-Marc Vallée died “suddenly and unexpectedly,” his representative said, the result of a fatal cardiac arrythmia. His loss also contributed to the delay in season three, and many thought it would shutter the show for good. As the cast plans to head back to Monterey, their respective busy schedules are proving a bit prohibitive (after all, they are some of the biggest actresses in the world), but their offscreen friendship is helping to continually propel the project forward, Kidman said.

“I think when you’re all scattered and never sort of cross paths, it’s very, very different,” she said. “But when you’re all still very intertwined, that’s what makes it doable, because there’s a willingness, and you want to spend time together.”

And where shall we send a thank you card for the push for season three to finally happen? Well, to someone unexpected, actually. “My daughter is the one who watched both of the [seasons] and went, ‘Okay, there’s just no question, there has to be a third,’” Kidman said. “She’s like, ‘Celeste, she’s not coping in the second one, what is she doing? I could kind of see the point of view of Mary Louise.’”

In addition to sharing two children with ex-husband Tom Cruise, Kidman and husband Keith Urban are parents to two teenage girls, Sunday Rose, 15, and Faith Margaret, 13.

“I love teenage girls,” Kidman said. “I just find them exquisite. I marvel at that age group and what they’re dealing with, but also their ability to handle so much.”

Nicole Kidman is opening up about the less-than-glamorous side of walking down a Hollywood red carpet.

In a recent interview for Elle's April 2024 Impact issue, the Days of Thunder actress admitted that getting ready for a red carpet event can be "overwhelming" and at times even a "little unreal."

"I want to get out, take my dress off, and put my jammies on," Kidman told the publication at the time. (Celebrities, they're just like us!) "It's kind of like the opposite of Cinderella—I'm happy to go home and just go back to me."

The mom of four went on to say that despite being in the entertainment business for over four decades, preparing to walk down a red carpet can still "feel a little overwhelming."

"I'm like: 'I need to go home now. I'm very tired. I want to get warm, and I want to curl up, and I want to feel real,'" she added.

While Kidman is undeniably a member of Hollywood A-list royalty, the actress told Elle she gets the most fulfillment from the life she lives beyond the camera and outside the entertainment spotlight.

"I have a very full life with people that I love. I’m raising daughters. I’m a wife, I’m a best friend. I’m a sister, I’m an aunt. I have deeply intimate relationships with people," she continued. "And that, to me, is the meaning of life—and then taking care of what we leave behind, who we leave behind and how we do that, and our sense of respect for that."

Kidman married country music star Keith Urban in 2006 and, two years later welcomed the pair's daughter, Sunday Rose, to the world. In 2010 the couple's second daughter, Faith Margaret, was born. Kidman also shares two adopted children with her ex-husband, Tom Cruise.

In a 2021 interview with The Guardian, Kidman said it wasn't until she gave birth to her first daughter while in her 40s that she "found the (entertainment) industry suddenly less hospitable."

"(I decided to) have my baby and sit on a farm. Until my mum said to me: ‘I don’t think you should just give up,'" she told the publication at the time. "I was quite convinced I could grow vegetables and be at home and be very satisfied with that, but was pushed quite substantially by my mum. Friends, too—I have friendships that have permeated my life.

“Those relationships are relevant," she added. "They’re the threads that pull you through, when people show up and go: ‘I know you and I believe in you,’ and push you forward.”

Movie buffs know that the most exciting times to catch drama movies are at the beginning and end of each year, and 2024 is no exception. (Well, outside of Challengers dominating the spring.) As awards season starts to rev up in December before continuing into early 2025, many of 2024's most exciting, acclaimed films—from epic romances to coming-of-age stories to psychological thrillers—are still coming to theaters. Cinephiles can expect standout performances from Hollywood’s biggest actresses and indie darlings that may dominate awards season.

That's not to mention the great films we've seen throughout the year. So as you're reflecting on what's graced our screens in the past 12 months, and what to look out for as the year comes to a close, read on for the best drama films of 2024.

'All We Imagine As Light'

Payal Kapadia's acclaimed festival darling stars Kani Kusruti, Divya Prabha, and Chhaya Kadam as three friends and hospital employees seeking happiness and struggling to survive while living in Mumbai, a city full of lonely transplants.

WATCH IN THEATERS

'Anora'

This Palme d’Or winner from Sean Baker stars Mikey Madison as Ani, a sex worker who grew up in the Russian N.Y.C. enclave of Brighton Beach. One night at her club, she finds a client (and romantic interest) in Vanya (Mark Eydelshteyn), the son of a Russian oligarch facing deportation. When he asks Ani to marry him, the Cinderella story is threatened by Vanya's family.

WATCH IN THEATERS

'Babygirl'

In this erotic drama from director Halina Reijn, Nicole Kidman plays Romy, a high-powered CEO who appears to have a perfect life with her husband and teenage daughters. However, when she strikes up a forbidden affair with a new intern (Harris Dickinson) at her company, she's turned on by the transgression that could destroy her life.

In theaters on December 25, 2024

'The Bikeriders'

This crime drama follows the rise and fall of a midwestern motorcycle club, the Vandals MC, over the course of a decade as it "evolves from a gathering place for local outsiders into a more sinister gang, threatening the original group's way of life," per the film's description. The saga is shown through the eyes of the long-suffering wife (Jodie Comer) of one of the members (Austin Butler), who embodies the club's original ethos.

WATCH ON PRIME VIDEO

'Bob Marley: One Love'

Barbie star (and former Ken) Kingsley Ben-Adir portrays the musical legend in this biopic, which covers Marley's life and celebrates his revolutionary music. (The icon's children Ziggy and Cedella and widow Rita Marley served as producers.)

WATCH ON PRIME VIDEO

'The Brutalist'

Don't let the three-hour-thirty-five-minute runtime deter you, critics have been raving about Brady Corbet's ambitious, epic saga on the American Dream. (Also, there's a 15-minute intermission built into the film.) Holocaust survivor and Brutalist architect László Tóth (Adrien Brody) arrives in America determined to rebuild his life but finds making it in the country difficult until a wealthy benefactor changes everything.

In theaters on December 20, 2024

'Challengers'

Zendaya plays Tashi, a former tennis prodigy turned coach for her husband Art (Mike Faist), in this dramedy from Call Me By Your Name director Luca Guadagnino. After Art ends up on a losing streak, he is forced to play against his childhood best friend and Tashi’s ex-boyfriend (Josh O’Connor), rekindling a tense love triangle.

WATCH ON PRIME VIDEO

'A Complete Unknown'

Timothée Chalamet brings Bob Dylan's life and career to the screen in this biopic helmed by Walk the Line director James Mangold, which is getting rave early reviews. It follows the legendary singer-songwriter as he rises to fame in the '60s Greenwich Village folk music scene, with Elle Fanning co-starring as Sylvie Russo (a role inspired by activist Suze Rotolo) and Monica Barbaro as Joan Baez.

In theaters on December 25, 2024

'Conclave'

One of this year's films that the internet can't stop talking about (after Challengers and The Substance but before Wicked in terms of online buzz), Conclave takes place amid a power vacuum in the Vatican. After the Pope dies, Cardinal Thomas Lawrence (Ralph Fiennes) juggles secrets, scandals, and power plays as he organizes a papal conclave to elect a new head of the Catholic Church.

WATCH ON PRIME VIDEO

'The Fire Inside'

This sports drama based on the real-life boxer Claressa "T-Rex" Shields boasts an impressive filmmaking team, with Moonlight's Barry Jenkins serving as screenwriter and Black Panther cinematographer Rachel Morrison in her directorial debut. Ryan Destiny will portray Shields, a Flint, Michigan, native who at the 2012 London Olympics made history as the first woman to win an Olympic gold medal in boxing.

In theaters on December 25, 2024

'His Three Daughters'

This tense family dramedy follows the titular sisters, who reunite during their ailing father's final days. Per Netflix, "As they wait at his bedside, old resentments rise to the surface, and the sisters’ relationships face new strains. Will their father’s imminent death bring them closer together—or push them apart for good?"

WATCH ON NETFLIX

'Housekeeping for Beginners'

This loving dramedy follows an unconventional family living in North Macedonia. Social worker Dita (Anamaria Marinca) never wanted to be a mother, but circumstances forced her to raise her partner Suada's (Alina Serban) rebellious daughters Mia (Dzada Selim) and Vanesa (Mia Mustafi). "As their individual wills clash, a heartwarming story unfolds about an unlikely family's struggle to stay together," per the film's description.

WATCH ON PRIME VIDEO

'How to Have Sex'

Molly Manning Walker's directorial debut follows 16-year-old besties Tara (Mia McKenna-Bruce), Skye (Lara Peake), and Em (Enva Lewis) as they go on a rite-of-passage holiday for what should be the best summer of their lives. In the middle of it all, Tara (the only virgin of the three) feels pressured to keep up with her more experienced friends.

WATCH ON PRIME VIDEO

'It Ends With Us'

All of its behind-the-scenes drama aside, It Ends With Us is a gripping adaptation of the Colleen Hoover novel of the same name, which includes depictions of domestic abuse. Lily Blossom Bloom (Blake Lively) thinks that she's found a happily ever after with neurosurgeon Ryle Kincaid (Justin Baldoni), but when his anger issues evolve into emotional and physical abuse, Lily has to grapple with her lifelong trauma and how to move forward.

WATCH ON NETFLIX

'Janet Planet'

This indie flick centers on the shifting relationship between 11-year-old Lacy and her mother Janet, during the summer of 1991 in Western Massachusetts. Per the official description, "As the months pass, three visitors enter their orbit, all captivated by Janet and her spellbinding nature. In her solitary moments, Lacy inhabits an inner world so extraordinarily detailed that it begins to seep into the outside world."

WATCH ON MAX

'Kinds of Kindness'

Less than a year after Poor Things took home several Oscars, director Yorgos Lanthimos and star Emma Stone returned with their third collaboration. Per the official description, the new film is "a triptych fable, following a man without choice who tries to take control of his own life; a policeman who is alarmed that his wife who was missing-at-sea has returned and seems a different person; and a woman determined to find a specific someone with a special ability, who is destined to become a prodigious spiritual leader."

WATCH ON HULU

'La Chimera'

This Italian film directed by Alice Rohrwacher follows a group of eccentric tombaroli (“grave robbers”) who search for precious artifacts from the Etruscan era. They're led by Arthur (Josh O'Connor), a British archaeologist grieving the loss of his great love, following his release from prison.

WATCH ON HULU

'Lee'

This biopic chronicles a "pivotal decade" in the life of Lee Miller (Kate Winslet), the famed photojournalist and war correspondent whose "singular talent and unbridled tenacity resulted in some of the 20th century's most indelible images of war, including an iconic photo of Miller herself, posing defiantly in Hitler's private bathtub," per the film's description.

WATCH ON PRIME VIDEO

'Mufasa: The Lion King'

Disney's live-action (a.k.a mostly computer-generated) Lion King is getting a prequel film, directed by Oscar winner Barry Jenkins. The story of young Mufasa (Aaron Pierre) and young Scar (Kelvin Harrison) is narrated by Rafiki (John Kani), as he tells Kiara (Blue Ivy Carter)—daughter of Simba and Nala—the story of her grandfather. (Of course, with Timon and Pumbaa offering color commentary.)

In theaters on December 20, 2024

'Nickel Boys'

RaMell Ross's adaptation of Colson Whitehead’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel is a truly unique cinematic experience that shows a story of injustice through a survivor's eyes. Elwood Curtis (played in two timelines by Ethan Cole Sharp and Daveed Diggs) is a kind and intelligent teenager who accidentally runs afoul of the law while growing up under Jim Crow in Tallahassee, Florida. He's sent to the abusive "reform school" Nickel Academy, where he befriends the cynical repeat student Turner (Brandon Wilson).

In theaters on December 14, 2024

'Omni Loop'

Mary-Louise Parker and Ayo Edebiri lead this thoughtful dramedy with a sci-fi twist. Here's the film's official synopsis: "A quantum physicist (Parker) finds herself stuck in a time loop, with a black hole growing in her chest and only a week to live. When she meets a gifted student (Edebiri), they team up to save her life—and to unlock the mysteries of time travel.”

WATCH ON PRIME VIDEO

'Origin'

Ava DuVernay wrote and directed this fictional movie based on Isabel Wilkerson's 2022 non-fiction book Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents. The moving drama follows Wilkerson (played by Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor) in the wake of several personal tragedies, as she travels the world researching the thesis that will become Caste.

WATCH ON HULU

'The Piano Lesson'

After the success of 2021's Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, it seems Netflix and Denzel Washington are committed to bringing every play from August Wilson's Century Cycle to the big screen. For The Piano Lesson, the legendary Oscar-winner is on as a producer, with his son Malcolm as director/co-writer. It's even more of a family affair as John David Washington stars oppositeTill star Danielle Deadwyler, as they play two siblings battling over whether to sell or keep their family’s precious heirloom of a piano.

WATCH ON NETFLIX

'The Promised Land'

This Danish historical drama stars Mads Mikkelsen as a retired military captain who seeks to conquer the uninhabitable Danish heath in the name of the King. All that stands in his way is the merciless local ruler (Simon Bennebjerg) who believes the land belongs to him. The two men become locked in a ruthless battle of revenge, in this 18th-century tale.

WATCH ON HULU

'A Real Pain'

Eisenberg serves as writer, director, and star for this dramedy film that sees himself and Culkin as cousins with very different personalities who reunite for a trip to Poland, gifted to them by their recently deceased grandmother. As the neurotic Dave (Eisenberg) and outgoing Benji (Culkin) tour Holocaust memorials and cemeteries, they grapple with both their family's dark history and their estrangement.

WATCH IN THEATERS

'Rez Ball'

LeBron James and Reservation Dogs co-creator Sterlin Harjo teamed up for this sports drama about the Chuska Warriors, a high-school basketball team based in Chuska, New Mexico, rooted in Native American heritage. Per the official description, "After the loss of their star player, the team must unite like never before to keep their dreams of a state championship alive."

WATCH ON NETFLIX

'Scoop'

In 2019, the U.K.'s Prince Andrew sat down for a televised interview with BBC's Newsnight, where he spoke on his friendship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein for the first time. This Netflix film depicts the lead-up to the infamous appearance, following the daring female journalists who made it happen.

WATCH ON NETFLIX

'Shirley'

Regina King made her welcomed return to the big screen in John Ridley's biopic of Shirley Chisolm, the first Black female congressperson in the United States and the first Black woman to run for president. The film focuses on Chisolm's groundbreaking presidential campaign, with the help of exclusive behind-the-scenes details provided by the politician's estate, per Netflix.

WATCH ON NETFLIX

'Sing Sing'

This emotional drama—which is based on a real-life rehabilitation program in the titular New York penitentiary and features formerly-incarcerated actors—follows a prison theater troupe as they stage their latest production while their, John “Divine G” Whitfield (Colman Domingo), is seeking parole.

WATCH IN THEATERS

'Sometimes I Think About Dying'

Fran (Daisy Ridley), a socially awkward office worker in a small coastal town, lives an isolated day-to-day life that's broken up by intrusive fantasies of what it would be like to die. When a new employee shows up in the office and attracts her interest, she wonders if she's suited for living this way or if there's something else to life that she's been missing.

WATCH ON PRIME VIDEO

The best little black dresses prove that the stereotypically simple things in our closets are far from boring. Since its inception, the LBD has taken many forms. There's, of course, Princess Diana's iconic revenge dress. More recently, Zendaya in a surrealist dark Schiaparelli gown, Rihanna's RiRi spin on the staple, and now Nicole Kidman in a backless (!), side-less (!!) Versace dress. The actress wore the sultry piece for the premiere of her new show Expats at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. Kidman’s skin-baring ensemble further solidifies her as the fashion risk-taker we love her for. (Remember her viral Miu Miu mini skirt moment?)

Kidman’s Versace number looked hand-crafted to fit her—the tailoring on the gown was that good. For starters, it had a sleek neckline with a cowl-like illusion via structured draping. Attached to the bodice on each arm was one thin strap piecing the dress together. The dress was completely open on the back and sides (the bottom of the back brushed her tailbone!). In addition to its all-over openness, the dress had a high-leg slit that showed off her matching black pumps. Its final unique touch was a pop of kelly green fabric found on the inside paneling of her dress.

Kidman, working with stylist Jason Bolden, opted for little accessories to give the dress its well-deserved moment. She added drop earrings, a silver watch, and other small dainty additions to up the outfit’s shine. For glam, Kidman strategically wore her hair to the side to show off the plunging back of the dress. She kept the makeup easy with a bronzy eye and cheek. 

We know Kidman is not new to a risque fashion moment, but we can’t help but be slightly concerned that she was cold! (Ahem, Kendall Jenner in a minidress in the snow?) Did the carpet have heaters? New York got snow in the past week! Someone, get these celebrities a coat! 

Expats is set to release later this month on Prime Video. The series, created by Lulu Wang, follows Kidman’s character and her close group of friends living in Hong Kong. Oh, and we can’t forget to remind you of the highly anticipated return of Big Little Lies, which Kidman has confirmed is in the works for a third season! 

We're adding Kidman’s risque look to the latest list of her best-ever style moments. The actress continues to embrace her preference for more daring, skin-baring pieces even when it comes to the LBD—and we're thrilled about it

Today, Nicole Kidman proudly stands tall and embraces her 5’11’’ frame—but this wasn’t always the case.

Kidman recalled in an interview with “The Radio Times Podcast” (and per People) that early in her acting career, “I was told, ‘You won’t have a career. You’re too tall.’”

Kidman had already reached 5’10’’ by the time she was 13 years old. “I was called ‘storky,’” she said. “[People would say] ‘How’s the air up there?’ … [Now I get] ‘You’re so much taller than I thought,’ [and then] grappling with how high my heels should be. Whenever you go on the red carpet, they send the shoes, and the shoes are always so high. And I’m like, ‘Do they have a kitten heel?' … I’m just gonna be the tallest person—the giraffe!”

Kidman told the podcast that she used to lie and say she was 5’10 ½’’—and specifically recalled auditioning for Annie as part of a large open call and worrying that she would be cut early because of her height. “I had to talk my way through the door, ‘cause they were measuring you before you went in,” she said. “I was mortified.”

Kidman admitted that her height does “bother” her at times, like “when I’m acting and I want to be small … [but] there’s times when I appreciate it, when it’s related to what I’m doing [in my work]. I’m like, ‘Okay, I can use this now.’”

And, she said, while she is “incredibly grateful to be healthy and walking around,” Kidman said she has “had knee issues and all sorts of things—partly ‘cause of my height.”

But any insecurity she feels is put into perspective when she thinks about her kids—Bella and Connor, whom she shares with ex-husband Tom Cruise, and Sunday and Faith, whom she shares with husband Keith Urban. “I tell my daughters none of it matters,” Kidman said. “What matters is how you allow other people to either say ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to you, and whether you accept that. … That inner resilience, as a human being—that’s the superpower, really.”