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When we met at the races back in 2012, Nicole Kidman was fun. Happy to yack away with a random<\/a> on Derby Day, she kept pulling $100 notes from a little envelope and plonking them on the nose. I liked her panache. No pussyfooting around, just backing her instincts.<\/p>\n Also, her heels were cracked like anyone\u2019s are if they get around without shoes a lot. A weirdly cool move.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve cheered Nic on in her post-divorce life, the trips with her daughters, the way she looks in a tailored Chanel jean, her apparent refusal to stew on things. Smart PR move, positioning herself as the unbowed gal shucking off heartbreak to write her own third act at 59.<\/p>\n But Nicole\u2019s latest outing on the cover of UK Vogue <\/a>has put me off a bit. Loved the styling \u2013 rugby jumper, sunnies on 1980s beauty queen hair \u2013 but inside, ah, Nic.<\/p>\n Her tales of what she\u2019s been up to this northern summer, including hot nights in Ibiza, Spain, come close to what an early 2000s radio segment used to call Proclamations of a Wanker.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a small dinner party or it\u2019s a rave,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019m either playing Scrabble or I\u2019m out. It\u2019s that simple.\u201d The \u201cout\u201d version includes 10.30pm dinner and club at 1am, wearing glasses and sometimes \u201ca little dark wig\u201d so she can fly under the radar. Her clubbing cred was further boosted this week by her starring role in pop star Troye Sivan\u2019s new video<\/a>.<\/p>\n Ibiza, it turns out, is just one stop. \u201cI\u2019m stealth,\u201d said Nicole. \u201cLondon, Ibiza, Paris, Portofino. A Euro summer.\u201d<\/p>\n Right. I don\u2019t know what \u201cI\u2019m stealth\u201d means, and I don\u2019t know if all that makes me jealous or thrilled.<\/p>\n Jealous because who wouldn\u2019t want to teleport to that place and time? Hours on the D floor. Cultivating an air of mystery via a disguise. Getting trolleyed, staggering home thinking, \u201cshit, Steps songs haven\u2019t aged well\u201d and \u201cit\u2019s true, bodysuits don\u2019t need to be snapped up at the crotch\u201d.<\/p>\n Thrilled because it\u2019s lovely to see someone deciding, right, that last bit of my life was brutal, but I\u2019m alive and I\u2019m getting back out there.<\/p>\n Most of us midlifers relish the idea of freedom from responsibilities other than making sure our wig\u2019s still on. (PS Nicole, just saying, we would all still know it\u2019s you, even with a kicky brunette pixie look.) But it\u2019s not realistic.<\/p>\n Start with the calendar. Nicole\u2019s job requires her to turn up to a set for a couple of months, say words other people have written, emote, then leave with millions of dollars. The rest of us have the sort of work that wants us there on Monday. And Tuesday. And the Tuesday after that. There are kids to drive, dogs to walk, parents to help with online banking.<\/p>\n Then there\u2019s the money. Ibiza clubs surely mean a door price, a round or 40, a car home. Bloody expensive when you\u2019re juggling school fees and car rego and mortgages.<\/p>\n The divorce bit is relevant to many of us, though, because that\u2019s what this really is. A woman on the cusp of 60 feeling her way as a single person again, which is hard at any age.<\/p>\n Losing the present and future you thought you\u2019d have is devastating. It knocks confidence and destroys self-esteem. Makes you fear what comes next instead of seeing it as an opportunity. You wonder if you were ever loveable.<\/p>\n Related Article Nicole, good for her, may have already moved through that. She\u2019s reportedly seeing a financier \u2013 lol \u2013 which does take some of the edge off any \u201cbrave lone wolf\u201d narrative. Still. She could have gone quiet. She went dancing.<\/p>\n That energy is something lots of us miss from a past life. Hands up anyone who can stay up all night \u2013 I need to know your secret. An achievable night out these days for me is a 5.45pm dinner, preferably around the corner, then home to spoon my dog once the electric blanket\u2019s been on for a while.<\/p>\n So, is Nicole\u2019s glamorous Euro summer ruining midlife for the rest of us? Nah. Is she giving post-divorce life a good name? I think so.<\/p>\n She\u2019s decided there\u2019s still optimism to be found via bass lines shocking your heart into a new rhythm and thinking nothing can touch what freedom feels like for you. More power to you, disco lady.<\/p>\n Kate Halfpenny is an author and the founder of Bad Mother Media.<\/p>\n The Opinion newsletter is a weekly wrap of views that will challenge, champion and inform your own. Sign up here<\/a>.<\/p>\n Save<\/p>\n You have reached your maximum number of saved items.<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/c7b3b068c72a15140510224421852360991c7457.jpeg\")
A day at the races. Halfpenny (right) with Marie Claire editor Nicky Briger (left) and Nicole Kidman.<\/p>\n![\"Our](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/c4ac7e95ecb5731d9ebc61efb0486e1a282d9892.jpeg\")
Our Nic rocks a rugby jumper on the cover of Vogue.Vogue\/Instagram<\/p>\n![\"Harry](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/49ea3b6f4ec03f555db079ac39ea9b976fc5babc.jpeg\")
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