Madame Tussauds to open in Sydney

Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman are expected to be among the first Australian stars to feature when waxworks museum Madame Tussauds opens a venue in Sydney next year, the company said Thursday.

The world-famous London attraction will begin welcoming visitors in the Darling Harbour tourist district of the city next May.

"The latest attraction will reflect the franchise's 200 years of expertise and research, with each figure crafted with both a high level of artistry and accuracy," the company said.

"Most contemporary figures are also produced following sittings with the celebrities themselves, and talks are already well advanced with a number of Australian icons."

The first Australian to be waxed will be "Home and Away" soap opera actor Ray Meagher, who has played Alf Stewart in the popular series since 1988. Politicians and sports stars are also expected to feature.

There are already branches of the museum in cities across the globe, including Hong Kong, Las Vegas, New York, Amsterdam and Bangkok. (AFP)

A Minute With Nicole Kidman working on "Rabbit Hole"

Oscar winning actress Nicole Kidman has scored positive reviews, and a Golden Globe nomination, for her role as a mother dealing with the death of her child in the independent film "Rabbit Hole."

The film was released last week in major US theaters and expands around the country starting on Christmas day.

"Rabbit Hole" is based on the Pulitzer prize-winning play by David Lindsay-Abaire. Kidman stars alongside Aaron Eckhart as grieving couple Becca and Howie. Kidman also produced the film, marking it the inaugural project from her company, Blossom Films.

Kidman, who lives in Nashville with her country star husband Keith Urban and their daughter Sunday Rose, spoke about the film, her family and being a mother.

Q: How did you come across the play?
A: "I read the review of 'Rabbit Hole' in the New York Times. Living in Nashville, I get the New York Times and Wall Street Journal. That's my contact with the city because that's where I used to live and I'm a theater buff. When I read the review, I thought, 'Gosh, that sounds like rich material.'"

Q: As a mother, you felt for Becca's pain?
A: "When we first optioned the play, I wasn't pregnant. This has been years in the making, so there wasn't a thought of being pregnant. I thought I'd never get pregnant. But I get what she goes through. I get her relationship with her mother, her sister, God. I get the way in which she is so angry."

Q: How did you prepare to play a woman who goes through something no parent should ever have to face?
A: "I read stuff. I tried to go to a grief group but I was told 'No, you're not allowed. You can only step into these rooms if you lost a child.' I totally get it, yet for whatever reason, that rawness was available to me. Maybe it was from giving birth (to daughter Sunday Rose) 11 months prior."

Q: The subject must have made for a difficult shoot.
A: "It was more like there was a big thrust to honor the people who are going through this right now. There's almost something lifting you up, going 'Come on, if someone can actually be living this, I can be living this.'"

Q: How has motherhood impacted your career?
A: "Time is the most precious thing. I'm very particular about how I spend it. I'm more reluctant to leave my family. Keith and I are very tight, and we're never separated. If we are, it's no more than three days."

Q: How is motherhood today different than it was when you were raising Connor and Isabella (with ex-husband Tom Cruise)?
A: "I raised two kids when I was in my 20s, but that was a different thing. I was a kid and still so young mentally and emotionally -- a totally different mom."

Q: And now?
A: "There is something about mothering late in life. A lot of it is I want to stay alive for Sunday. There is plenty of deep fear and emotion. Sunday has healed an enormous amount in me. It's a very private thing, but she just has."

Q: What's Sunday like now?
A: "She's two and a half and in what we call 'the raccoon' stage because she's into everything. She's into this, she's into that. She's just really hard to wrangle at this stage."

Q: Were you like that as a kid?
A: "I don't think so. I was more placid. But Keith rode BMX bikes and grew up in a pretty rambunctious family. Sunday's got a lot of her dad's face and a lot of his DNA."

Q: You and Keith were both raised in Australia and you're now living the country life in the United States. Does Sunday have any of your Aussie roots in her?
A: "Our daughter is a Tennessee girl, but she still says 'G'day mate.' She says both 'Hi y'all' and 'G'day mate.'"

Q: Any plans on expanding the family?
A: "We're hoping for another one!"

keith urban & Nicole Kidman "saved my life"

It's nice when your partner tells you how important you are in life and after a while still think the same, is even nicer when you tell everyone how important you are and this has made Keith Urban, saying his loved Nicole Kidman has saved the life.

Ellen De Generes asked the singer if Nicole had saved the life prompting him to seek help when having problems with alcohol and drugs, Keith replied: "Yes, absolutely."

"I think the truth is that I was not aware of where I was in my life and how he was about to go down and I went down ... I was probably in place of denial that I was not aware of being aware it.”

Finally, the musician said, "It is beautiful "the way they helped and supported him when he was needed.

On the other hand, Keith said (like Nicole) on having his daughter like to sing: "She sings all the time"; "We have a piano at home. We sat around the piano and play! "

Nicole Kidman: "My daughter loves to sing and put on makeup"

Funny how the little girls want to be older and looking for mom's high heels, put makeup and the portfolio; this is something that amuses us look very nice but older believing. Actress Nicole Kidman says her small daughter Enjoy getting a little blush and bright but also enjoys sing.

It seems that Keith Urban is not the only one who sings in the home, small Sunday Rose just two years, daughter Nicole and Keith, enjoys singing according to his mother Us Magazine at the premiere of his new drama "Rabbit Hole"

“Sing on! "" She has a repertoire of about 30 songs”

Keith wanted to add a few words about how you feel with its small and their singing skills: "I am the typical father proud."

Do not think the girl just likes to show business, she also could be a stylist for what counts Nicole: "She loves makeup, not allowed to wear it outside the house, obviously, but appears with a little blush and lip gloss!”

Nicole Kidman joins Broadway play

Actress Nicole Kidman has joined the cast of a Broadway play.

Kidman has signed to star in a revival of Tennessee Williams's Sweet Bird of Youth, reports Gossip Cop.

The 43-year-old will portray an ageing alcoholic film star named Alexandra Del Lago.

Kidman performed on Broadway in 1998's theatrical run of The Blue Room, in which she appeared nude on stage.

Celebrities and Their Odd Phobias …

Phobias aren’t as abnormal as most people think. I’m severely arachnophobic, and cannot stand spiders. They don’t scare me, as such, they terrify me. And I have a friend who is so claustrophobic that anything less than a medium sized room will induce vomiting and panic attacks, almost straight away. Phobias always seemed to be something quite secret, though, so I was surprised to learn that these ten celebs have them too!

1. Johnny Depp
The fearless pirate isn’t as fearless as he first seemed… he suffers from arachnophobia, plasmophobia and coulrophobia. Which means he is scared of spiders, ghosts and clowns! “There’s something about the painted face and the fake smile. There seems to be a real darkness lurking under the surface, a potential for real evil,” Depp explained. Well, I’m with him on the spiders, and I do my best to avoid clowns!

2. Billy Bob Thornton
Angelina Jolie’s ex Thornton has a phobia of antiques… he refuses to stay in the room with furniture made before 1950. Which sounds very unusual, but apparently 250,000 people in America suffer from this same problem. “I’ve had friends tell me that maybe I was beaten to death by an antique chair in a former life,” Billy has said, by way of explanation… well, whatever causes it, it’s not as rare a phobia as I thought!

3. Alfred Hitchcock
Film maker and produced Hitchcock has another odd phobia… the fear of eggs. Especially runny ones… people who worked with Alfred claimed that cracking an egg made him gag, and he wouldn’t eat any food containing eggs. And suddenly my fear of spiders doesn’t seem that bad… His daughter explained her dad’s fear by saying, “He just said they were so horrible-looking… that you’d cut into them and that yellow stuff would run all over. He thought it was absolutely disgusting.”

4. Christina Ricci
Christina suffers from botanaphobia, which is a fear of house plants. Sufferers find plants dirty, and can’t bring themselves to water them… Christina admitted, “If I have to touch one, after already being repulsed by the fact that there is a plant indoors, it freaks me out.” So I guess she doesn’t have green fingers… I think I’d miss my house plants if I had to put them all outside!

5. Tyra Banks
While most of us would love to swim with our intelligent friends, Tyra won’t be jumping in the pool with dolphins anytime soon. “I have dreams that I’m in a pool and there are dolphins bumping me and I am frightened.” She revealed, and she has reportedly suffered from the phobia since she was just eight years old. A pretty rare phobia!

6. Matthew McConaughey
Matthew has famously admitted to having a fear of revolving doors, and of tunnels. It’s not being underground that bothers him, but the point where you go from being above ground to underneath… and he’s also revealed that he hasn’t worn deodorant in twenty years. I’m a little anxious about revolving doors myself, especially the vicious ones…

7. Nicole Kidman
Nicole suffers from lepidopterophobia, which is a fancy word for the fear of butterflies. “It’s so bizarre. I’m not scared of snakes or spiders,” Kidman revealed, and even tried to face her fear by going through the butterfly exhibit at the American Museum of Natural History, but couldn’t make it through. I share the same fear… I can’t go outside if I can see a butterfly. I love their colours, and their patterns, but their bodies scare me and I’m terrified if they land on me.

8. Oprah Winfrey
Oprah Winfrey has a weird phobia…she’s scared of chewing gum. There is a rational explanation, however. “My grandmother used to save it (used gum) in little rows in the cabinet. I’d be scared to touch it because it was so gross, so I have a thing about gum. One guest in my home sat at the dinner table, took out some gum from her mouth and put it on the plate. After she left, I threw the plate out.” I think I’d be pretty scared of gum after that, too.

9. Madonna
Madonna has something in common with my dog… they are both utterly petrified of thunder. Named brontophobia, it’s a surprisingly common phobia! It can cause panic attacks, trembling, crying, a rapid heartbeat and a feeling of dread, even if the sufferer knows they are at no risk. I’m not particularly good during thunder storms, especially if I’m alone, so I sympathise!

10. Natalie Wood
Actress Natalie Wood suffered from hydrophobia, a fear of water, for her entire life. She died in 1981, after falling out of a boat into the water, and drowning. Her death was recorded as accidental drowning, as Wood had drank a few glasses of wine and didn’t remove her heavy coat and sweater. It makes you think, though… maybe phobias do have a purpose?
Well, now I’ve made myself look like a scaredy-cat (I’m not scared of life, I promise, but I do flinch at my own shadow)… I’m fascinated by how normal phobias are! It would appear that most people are scared of something, and that makes me feel a lot better. Have you got a phobia, or do you know of a celeb I’ve missed off? I’d love to hear about it!

Nicole Kidman And Keith Urban Hit The Links

Taking a break from their parental and work duties, Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban enjoyed a day at the links in Maui, Hawaii on Sunday (May 2).

The lovely couple carted around the grounds of the gorgeous Wailea Golf Course, as they're currently in Hawaii while Nicole films her new movie "Just Go With It".

In related news, it was recently revealed that Keith will be teaming up with John Mayer for a show at The Gorge in Spokane, Washington on August 10th.

Of the planned gig, Keith tells, “I had the best time playing with John on CMT Crossroads. There’s a certain simpatico between us as guitar players that, I think, comes from sharing the same desire to express the unwritten. Playing together at The Gorge will be like adding a musical score to the most magnificent setting in a film.”

Meanwhile, Mayer adds, “CMT Crossroads was the first time I performed with Keith but the creative rapport was there right away. I’m looking forward to performing together again and I hope it’s one of many opportunities to work together in the future.”