Nicole Kidman at U.N.: Mom's the Word

By Diane Herbst

01/27/2006 at 08:45 AM EST

Mother's Day arrived early for Nicole Kidman's mom on Thursday at the United Nations. During a news conference about her commitment to women's rights as an ambassador for the U.N. Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), the Oscar winner revealed it was her mother, Janelle, who helped focus her attention to the cause.

The actress said the elder Kidman was listening to a BBC radio report last year about UNIFEM's work in Cambodia to help rural women create economic alternatives, such as silk-weaving rather than being forced into exploitations such as human-trafficking.

"She calls me up and says, 'You've got to hear this,'" recalls Kidman, 38. The actress then called UNIFEM executive director Noeleen Heyzer, eventually making what she hopes is a lifelong commitment to the program.

Kidman said she wants to bring her son, Connor, 10, and daughter, Isabella, 13, with her on UN visits that, in 2006, may include Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Liberia, Afghanistan and Cambodia. "I believe that them seeing will help them step into their responsibility as privileged children," she says.