Hollywood legend says she survived her mother's attempted abortion

Kim Novak, an actress who starred in multiple movies during the Golden Age of Hollywood, recently revealed that her mother tried to abort her during the Great Depression... using knitting needles.

Key Takeaways:

• Novak is a legendary actress, most well-known for starring in Alfred Hitchcock's "Vertigo," considered one of the greatest films of all time.

• In 1966, she abruptly retired from acting and left Hollywood for Big Sur, and became a celebrated painter.

• Despite her success, she grew up in poverty during the Great Depression.

• Her mother was so terrified of having to care for another child, she attempted an abortion using knitting needles. When that failed, Novak's mother tried to suffocate her with a pillow when Novak was an infant.

The Context:

In a surprise appearance at the Venice Film Festival where she was honored with a Golden Lion Lifetime Achievement Award, actress Kim Novak premiered a documentary about her life. In "Kim Novak's Vertigo," she opened up about her childhood, her success in Hollywood, and her decision to leave it all behind.

Notoriously reclusive and private, Novak decided to open up at the age of 92, as she reflected on the reality that she may pass away soon.

“It’s not easy getting old,”  she says at the beginning of the film. “I’m feeling it’s close to the end... I’ve been feeling the need to free something."

Kim Novak's Vertigo new clip official from Venice Film Festival 2025

In the film, Novak discusses with frank honesty her distaste for the Hollywood machine, as well as her struggles with bipolar disorder, which she said made her perfect for the movie "Vertigo."

Studio heads controlled everything about her life and appearance, which she hated. “I always resented being made over. That was why I was so right for the role," she said of "Vertigo," adding of starlets like herself and Marilyn Monroe, “Hollywood swallows people whole. I didn’t want that to happen to me."

Despite being a celebrated actress, Novak gave it up to become a painter. Her artwork has since been exhibited in institutions like the Butler Institute of American Art.

“My survival mode was to paint,’” she said, adding, “I don’t have to be the pretty one now.”

The Details:

Though Novak's life is seen by many as a success story, it had difficult beginnings. She revealed that her mother, Blanche, was so terrified of her unexpected pregnancy that she twice tried to kill Novak.

"The Depression caused so much hardship. My mother got pregnant and she could not afford a child," she said. "She tried to abort me with knitting needles and it failed. So she tried to suffocate me with a pillow, and I always had breathing issues. I do remember fighting to breathe, to stay alive, and I won, I stayed alive, and made it through."

Her mother had already lost at least one child before birth: Novak's brother. Her heartbroken father kept his son's body in a jar, unable to let his son go. "The foetus, his only son, in the basement. He kept him," she said.

Yet Novak does not seem to fault her parents for their desperation, and remained close to both, even though she thought her father did not support her Hollywood ambitions.

I so often think of my childhood as not being a good healthy childhood, but it was, you know. There were beautiful things.

My father was a very strict man and difficult. He had so much passion, but it was, like, locked up. If a person doesn't ever get it out, I think that sometimes they feel like they've failed.

... He couldn't take that I was successful. I mean, I think, I have to assume that he was proud of me, but he never showed it.

Yet she said her mother encouraged her, and always relished in the joy of life.

"I can still hear her telling me, or really making me tell me by looking in the mirror that I am the captain of my own ship, that I can be in charge of myself and what I do and how I create my image to the world," she said.

The film also reveals the moment she found a note from her father, written on the first day of her Hollywood career, with advice and well-wishes for her.

"Wow," she said, clearly emotional. "He cared. And he understood. See I, sometimes, maybe I've given you the wrong impression about my dad because this is all such caring, loving advice, and it makes sense. I mean, to me, that's showing he loved me."

The Bottom Line:

While Novak likely does not consider herself an abortion survivor, it is clear that she was, surviving attempts on her life more than once. It appears that she was able to forgive her mother for her actions, which enabled her to have a good relationship with both her parents throughout her life.

Women deserve proper support and should never feel desperate or despondent enough to kill their own children.