Nicole Kidman has spent decades being associated with the magical world of Practical Magic.

In the 1998 film, she and Sandra Bullock played Gillian and Sally Owens, sisters born into a family of women whose lives are shaped by spells, curses, intuition and generations of unusual traditions.

Nearly three decades later, Kidman is returning to that world in Practical Magic 2.

But during the sequel’s press tour, she revealed something that makes the boundary between the Owens family and her own real family feel unexpectedly thin.

The women in Kidman’s family, she says, have a ritual of their own.

And it involves writing down somebody’s name and putting it somewhere very specific when that person has upset them.

The goal?

To “freeze them out.”

The detail emerged during an interview featuring Kidman and Bullock that was conducted by Kidman’s niece, Lucia Hawley.

Hawley immediately recognized the ritual.

Apparently, Kidman was not the only woman in the family who had done it.

Their grandmother had too.

Kidman Says the Women in Her Family Lean Toward the ‘Magical Side’

The conversation naturally turned toward whether Kidman’s own family had anything in common with the Owens women.

Hawley suggested that the women in their family had always leaned toward “the more magical side.”

That description did not seem completely metaphorical.

Kidman began talking about family traditions and small rituals that had been passed around or repeated over generations.

Her mother, Janelle Ann Kidman, even had one detail that sounds as though a screenwriter might have invented it specifically for a witchy family story.

She was born on Friday the 13th.

But the most memorable revelation was not a birthday or a vague belief in intuition.

It was something Kidman said she actually does.

If somebody has seriously annoyed or upset her, she writes down that person’s name.

Then she puts it in the freezer.

The idea is simple.

You are symbolically “freezing” the person out of your life.

The ‘Spell’ Is Surprisingly Literal

There is something wonderfully practical about the ritual.

No elaborate ingredients.

No candles.

No mysterious incantation.

No midnight ceremony.

Just a name, a piece of paper and a freezer.

Kidman explained that the act functions as a way of putting distance between herself and someone who has caused trouble.

That is what makes it sound so perfectly suited to Practical Magic.

The magic in the original film is often intertwined with ordinary domestic life.

Spells happen in kitchens.

Family traditions pass between generations.

The supernatural sits right beside everyday routines.

Kidman’s real-life ritual has the same quality.

A household appliance suddenly becomes part of a symbolic act.

And apparently this was not something she invented on her own.

Her Niece Knew Exactly What She Was Talking About

Hawley’s reaction gave the story an even more interesting layer.

When Kidman described putting names in the freezer, her niece recognized the behavior from another generation of the family.

Their grandmother had apparently done something very similar.

Hawley remembered her keeping a list of names in the freezer.

That changes the story from a quirky celebrity habit into something closer to a family tradition.

The women in the Kidman family were not simply joking about being “magical” because Nicole happened to star in Practical Magic.

There was already a domestic ritual with its own logic and history.

And it had apparently been practiced by more than one generation.

The comparison to the Owens women almost writes itself.

In Practical Magic, magical knowledge moves through a family.

In Kidman’s real life, at least one strange little ritual seems to have done the same.

Sandra Bullock Had the Obvious Question

Bullock was sitting beside Kidman during the conversation, which made the reveal even more entertaining.

After hearing how the freezer ritual worked, she immediately wondered about her own status.

Had Kidman ever put Sandra Bullock’s name in there?

It was exactly the question viewers would probably want to ask.

The two actresses have been associated with each other since playing the Owens sisters in the original film, and they have now reunited for the sequel after nearly 30 years.

Anyone hearing about a magical-sounding ritual involving people who irritate Kidman would naturally wonder whether a costar had ever ended up on the list.

The exchange turned the family tradition into a playful moment between the two actresses.

And Kidman added another important rule.

Apparently, being frozen out is not necessarily permanent.

A person can be removed from the freezer later.

There is, in other words, a path back.

The Timing Makes the Revelation Almost Too Perfect

Kidman could have told this story at almost any point in her career.

Hearing it now, during the return of Practical Magic, gives it a completely different effect.

The original film followed Sally and Gillian Owens, two sisters born into a lineage of women associated with witchcraft.

Bullock’s Sally tries to distance herself from magic.

Kidman’s Gillian embraces a freer, more impulsive life.

But family ultimately pulls them back together.

The film was not an overwhelming critical success when it first opened in 1998, yet its reputation grew dramatically over time.

For many women who first saw it in the late 1990s, Practical Magic became the kind of movie they returned to repeatedly.

Its mixture of sisterhood, romance, grief, female friendship and supernatural imagery gave it a life far beyond its original theatrical run.

Now Bullock and Kidman are back as Sally and Gillian in Practical Magic 2.

That makes Kidman’s admission about her own family feel like an accidental piece of perfect marketing.

‘Practical Magic’ Was Always More About Women Than Spells

Part of the reason the freezer ritual resonates is that Practical Magic never depended solely on whether viewers literally believed in witchcraft.

Its deeper appeal came from the Owens women themselves.

Their family had traditions.

They protected one another.

They inherited habits and beliefs from older generations.

Magic was often a language for family bonds.

That is why the Kidman story fits so neatly.

Her real-life ritual is interesting not because it proves anything supernatural.

It is interesting because it is something women in her family apparently recognized across generations.

Grandmother did it.

Nicole does it.

Her niece immediately knew what she meant.

That intergenerational recognition feels far more like Practical Magic than any claim that Kidman simply “believes in magic.”

A Real Family Tradition Hidden Behind a Famous Movie Role

Celebrity interviews often produce harmless bits of trivia.

Favorite foods.

On-set stories.

Old auditions.

This one is different because it changes the way fans may look at Kidman’s most witchy role.

For decades, audiences have watched Gillian Owens belong to a family where women inherit unusual traditions from one another.

Now Kidman has revealed that the women in her own family have at least one strange little ritual too.

When someone gets on the wrong side of her, she can write down the name and put it in the freezer.

Her niece says their grandmother had a version of the same practice.

And if the person eventually earns forgiveness?

They can come back out.

It may not involve potions, broomsticks or supernatural powers.

But for anyone waiting to see Nicole Kidman return as Gillian Owens, it certainly sounds familiar.

The Owens women had their spells.

The Kidman women, apparently, have a freezer.