Nashville's Nicole Kidman Testifies Before Congress About Violence Against Women

Oscar-winning actress Nicole Kidman, who now makes her home in Nashville with husband Keith Urban, was on Capitol Hill this week to testify before the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on International Organizations, Human Rights and Oversight.

Kidman, who is a Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations, hoped to use her celebrity to help focus Washington lawmakers' attention on the issue of violence against women. The subcommittee was holding hearings Wednesday on the "International Violence Against Women Act" which is expected to be voted on by members of Congress within the next severAl Weeks.

According to ABC News, Kidman appeared alongside former U.S. Rep. Linda Smith and Mallika Dutt, founder and executive director of Breakthrough, an international organization focusing on the plight of violence against women.

"These champions need and deserve our support," Kidman told members of Congress. "Not with a box of Band Aids but with a comprehensive, well-funded approach that acknowledges that women's rights are human rights. To succeed, it requires poltiical will at the highest levels."

"After all, a life free of violence is a human right," she concluded in her opening statement.

U.S. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-California), in the last question of the day, asked Kidman about Hollywood's responsibility of "influencing and perpetuating violence against women."

"I get offered films often that depict violence against women," Kidman responded. "And if I feel that it's exploitative, or that would actually demean women, then I'm not interested, and I pass. I can't be responsible for the whole of Hollywood, but I can certainly be responsible for my own career."

photo by RD/Leon/Retna Ltd.