AceShowbiz - Nicole Kidman has thanked her parents for letting her go "wild" as a youth. The "Big Little Lies" actress, 56, says she is still in awe of how her mum Janelle and dad Antony knew she was sneaking into nightclubs as a teen, but said her taste for adventure was balanced by her desire to have a nurturing home life.

She told Vogue Australia about how she still has that dual aspect to her personality, "That's probably seeped over into the way I approach my career and my life as well. Because I was thrust into it all at a very early age. But I wasn’t destroyed by it, either."

Nicole's Vogue profile said her mum often told her, "You can go and explore things and try things, but don't lose your head." Nicole added, "But she never said don’t go and explore. When I think back on it, 'I'm like, Wow! That was great.' "

Nicole's late dad Antony would sometimes be sent to fetch his daughter in the early hours of the morning when she'd been out. She said, "People would be like, 'Who's that?' And it would be my father showing up to drag me home. I'm grateful for that now. There were always those two things happening, where I was like, I wanna be wild! And then I would have a strong family and nourishing home. I probably still have those two parts to my personality."

Nicole had adopted children Bella, 31, and Connor, 29, with ex-husband Tom Cruise, 61, and has daughters Sunday Rose, 15, and Faith Margaret, 13, with her musician spouse of 18 years Keith Urban, 56. She says despite her role as a mum she still protects herself from expectations around how she is meant to live her life.

Nicole added, "I keep a lot of distance between me and what everyone thinks or wants or how I’m meant to behave. I try to keep a shield around me. Partner to a lover, I'm a mother, I'm a daughter, I'm a sister, I'm an aunt, I'm a best friend. I'm able to still have a very, very real, palpable life that's my own, where I'm exploring every part of this journey. You know?"