Meryl Streep Says Nicole Kidman Skinny-Dipped Every Morning While Filming 'Big Little Lies'

By Emily Richardson | Celebrity | April 29, 2024 |

By Emily Richardson | Celebrity | April 29, 2024 |

Nicole Kidman picked up an AFI Life Achievement Award on Saturday night. She is the first Australian to receive this honor. The ceremony featured tributes from stars like Naomi Watts, Reese Witherspoon, Morgan Freeman (he re-created her AMC ad), Miles Teller, Zoe Saldaña, Zac Efron, David E. Kelley, and Nicole’s husband of eighteen years, Keith Urban.

But it was Nicole’s The Hours and Big Little Lies co-star Meryl Streep who presented the big award at the end of the night:

In her speech, Meryl revealed an interesting tidbit about Nicole’s process while filming Big Little Lies Season 2, via Entertainment Weekly:

“Reese [Witherspoon] told me the very first night we were up in Monterey, before we started shooting, she said, ‘You know what she does?’ I said, ‘No, Nicole?’ She goes, ‘Yeah, you know what she does? She goes out at 5 before dawn and she goes skinny-dipping 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!’”

Dear God! Skinny-dipping in the freezing cold ocean? That sounds miserable. But to each their own (see: people who do triathlons). And Nicole is wise to do it before the sun comes up. The paps can’t snap her naked body in the dark!

Meryl also gushed over Nicole’s acting talents, saying it was “hard not to envy Nicole,” but also “impossible not to be in awe of her”:

“You’re like a mustang, a workhorse, and a champion racer all in one, but one whose spirit, they’ll never break. 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 résumé challenges everything we know about how many hours there are in the day and how many places a woman can be at one time.”

During her acceptance speech, Nicole praised Meryl right back:

“I’ve always loved you. I don’t know what it is. 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.”

She also told stories from her childhood, her community theater days, and the time she passed on doing a young Jane Campion’s student film cuz she didn’t like the script: “Be careful who you say no to. I’ve subsequently learned, you don’t turn down Jane Campion. Ever.”

Nicole concluded her speech with a call to support “exciting” new talent:

“There’s so many more exciting young directors and writers and voices that are completely original and need to be heard, and they have a lot to say. We need to give them the chance to say it and to hear them.”

“And I’m here. I’m ready to roll up my sleeves,” she concluded. “I believe art can hurt, that it can heal, and love does win, and film is forever.”

Here’s the 56-year-old actress’ entrance at the AFI ceremony:

And a red-carpet interview where Nicole talks about being an “Aussie girl” and doing “risky” films: