Nicole Kidman might be a Hollywood A-lister, but when it comes to making big decisions—even about her career—she'll turn to her children and her husband for their input.

Speaking with television presenter and author Jessica Rowe at a Business Chicks lunch in Melbourne, Australia yesterday, the Oscar winner and mother-of-four revealed "family meetings" at the dinner table are one way she makes sure everyone has a say, even if sometimes it means compromising.

Nicole Kidman is so charmingly down to earth & honest. What an honour to hear her insights pic.twitter.com/7uMz7qrnOv

— Natalie Collard (@nrcollard)

"There will be times I say this is so important to my life happiness, I'd regret not doing it," the 49-year-old said, "but I'm willing to discard those things that don't give me that passion."

The result is a healthy balance between work and personal life.

Kidman—who has two adult children with Tom Cruise and two young daughters with Keith Urban—gave the example of Photograph 51, a stage show she performed in London for four months in 2015.

While it was a big commitment, she felt she absolutely had to do it as a tribute to her father, who died the year before, which she described as "the biggest loss ever in my life."

"The worst that can happen is everything falls apart and you put it back together," she said.

The play was a hit and was picked up by Broadway in New York City, but when she sat down to flag the idea of another move with her daughters, six-year-old Faith Margaret and eight-year-old Sunday Rose, they "shut it down".

Their father, Urban, backed them up.

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The girls' lives had already been turned on their head by the move to London and they just wanted to be back home in Nashville. As Kidman explained, she wanted them to feel they were empowered and to know their voices mattered.

"I wanted to give them the feeling they could have an impact," she told Rowe. "That's a good thing for a little girl."

Kidman has had plenty of experience managing a family spread around the world and has an adopted son Connor, 22, and daughter Isabella, 24, with former husband Tom Cruise.

Her biggest tip?

"Serve pasta and you get anything," she joked.

LISTEN: Why we are really excited to talk about Kidman's latest show Big Little Lies, on our Australian sister site Mamamia's podcast channel.

This post originally appeared on Mamamia, Spring.St's Australian sister site. You can read it here.