Nicole Kidman has surprised her fans with a rare photo of her daughter Sunday.

Kidman posted the sweet snap of her cuddling with Sunday to celebrate her 12th birthday.

"Birthday hugs for our darling Sunday," Kidman captioned the moment on Instagram, which showed the actress hugging her child while shielding her face from the camera. "Happy Birthday baby girl."

Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban also share a nine-year-old daughter called Faith.

Kidman and Urban are publicly affectionate with each other but are protective of their children and keep them from the public eye.

The last time Kidman shared a photo of Sunday was back in November when they took a walk together.

Andie MacDowell commented on the birthday photo of Sunday, admiring Kidman's protectiveness of her children.

"It's sweet how you protect your children in a world where everybody seems to think they need to flaunt them," the actress, who is mum to son Justin Qualley, 34, and actress daughters Rainey Qualley, 30, and Margaret Qualley, 25, said.

"That's a mothers love. When I was raising my children we didn't have social media so I wasn't under the pressure to flash my children to the world. I rarely showed them. I wanted them to have their privacy. I think that's very respectable."