Antonia Kidman on raising her six children following the death of their father.

Antonia Kidman has just lived through two very rough years.

The sudden death of her father, Antony Kidman, 75, in September 2014 was followed by the passing of ex-husband, Angus Hawley, 46, only six months later.

Antonia, 46, shared not only a life with Hawley but also four children. Lucia, 18, Hamish, 16, James, 13, and Sybella, 9.

Their unexpected deaths forced the now mother-of-six to grieve in new and unexpected ways.

“I guess I was pretty protected from death. I’d never had anyone who was a huge part of my life pass away, so the fact dad died in such sudden and shocking circumstances, was quite surreal,” she said.

“A few major things have happened to me and most of them have been sudden.”

Listen to Antonia Kidman talk with Mia Freedman on No Filter.

Antonia began her career as a researcher for Channel 9’s Today show before moving to news reporting for the NBN television station in Newcastle.

The journalist later used her media know-how when she turned her hand to television presenting.

Antonia hosted three lifestyle-orientated series in the years between 2002 and 2006. The first series focused on raising children, The Little Things, the second on health, Antonia Fitness Yoga: The Power And Style Of Ashtanga and the third on the home, The Bigger Things. 

Antonia was also awarded Favourite Female Personality at the ASTRA awards in both 2007 and 2008.

Since then she has co-authored two parenting books, Feeding Fussy Kids (2009) and The Simple Things: Creating an Organised Home, a Happy Family and A Life Worth Living (2012).

During the No Filter interview Antonia spoke about how she has managed the onslaught of complex emotions that follow death.

“Grief, it’s a funny thing. It just comes and bites you when you least expect it. It consumes you, and then you sort of breathe through it and you let it pass when it’s in that acute phase,” she said.

The journalist went on to share how the loss of her father was further pained by the new role he had taken in her children’s lives following her divorce from Hawley.

“When we split, he really stepped up and was almost like another father, to Sybella – particularly to her,” she said.

This developing relationship continued even after Antonia and her second husband Craig Marren moved their lives to Singapore.

It was this level of involvement and love that gave brutal strength to the depth of the sudden loss.

“There’s no remedy or response to that solution that’s right," she said.

Antonia and Craig now share the load of raising six children, after the pair welcomed sons,  Alexander, 4, and Nicholas, 6.

Antonia said life in Singapore had granted her family, and her well-known sister, actress Nicole Kidman, quite a bit of anonymity.

"I'm sort of Antonia Marren up there," she said.

“Nicole stayed there and nobody blinked an eye, nobody recognised her for the three or four days she was there.”

Listen to the full episode of No Filter with Antonia Kidman and Mia Freedman. 

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