Nicole Kidman has said she is training to become a death doula, a step she decided to take after her mother died in 2024. She discussed the decision at the University of San Francisco’s Silk Speaker Series, describing how, despite family being present, her mother felt lonely in her final days and Kidman wished there had been impartial companions to provide comfort.
Kidman told audiences the idea of becoming a death doula drew curiosity and confusion, but she called the role fascinating and beautiful and said she believes her temperament suits that kind of work. She hopes formal training will help her support people and ease suffering during their last stages of life.
A death doula, also known as an end-of-life doula, is a nonmedical companion who offers individualized emotional, spiritual, psychosocial, and practical support to people approaching death and to their families. According to the International End of Life Doula Association, doulas focus on preserving dignity and helping people exercise self-determination as they die. They do not provide clinical care, but often collaborate with medical teams, sit with people in their final days, facilitate difficult conversations, and assist with planning such as advance directives.
Public awareness of death doulas has been rising, in part because of media portrayals. A recent episode of the medical drama The Pitt showed a nurse acting as a death doula for a terminal patient, and physician-doulas say such depictions can prompt viewers to think about their own end-of-life wishes.
Physician and death doula Shoshana Ungerleider, founder of the nonprofit End Well, has worked with writers to encourage realistic portrayals of end-of-life care. Ungerleider points to a persistent gap between how many people actually die and how they say they would like to die, noting that final days often occur in impersonal, highly medicalized settings and that conversations about what matters frequently happen too late or not at all. She emphasizes that dying is fundamentally a human experience, not just a medical one.
Advocates welcome the added attention, hoping it will encourage more people to pursue doula training and lead to better integration of doulas into care teams. They want more research on how doulas affect quality of life and healthcare costs and believe increased visibility could help restore the human elements of living and dying, making end-of-life experiences more compassionate and better aligned with patients’ wishes.