Country music star Keith Urban has opened up about a dark chapter in his 18-year-long marriage to actress Nicole Kidman. The star revealed a past conflict that nearly tore them apart. Urban held back tears as he took the mic and delivered a heartfelt speech in front of hundreds of other Hollywood stars. The Australian singer was performing at the AFI Live Achievement Awards which was filmed in April but aired this weekend.
Keith Urban admits he almost ruined his marriage to Nicole Kidman
“We got married in June 2006, and barely four months after we were married, addictions that I had done nothing about tore our marriage apart.” An emotional Urban made a heartfelt confession, saying he “almost ruined our marriage” after only a few months of marriage.
While paying tribute to his wife and performing at the 49th AFI Life Achievement Awards, Urban, who spent time in rehab shortly after their wedding, shared details about what happened and how Kidman’s efforts saved the crumbling marriage. He added, “It’s been four months of marriage and I’ve been in rehab for three months and I don’t know what’s going to happen to us.”
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Nicole first met Urban in 2005 and felt an instant attraction to him, although she admitted they didn’t stay in touch for long. However, he made sure to give her his number and it took her four months to call him back. The couple married in 2006 at St Patrick’s Estate on the beach in a suburb of Sydney, Australia and they have remained inseparable ever since.
Keith Urban reveals how Nicole Kidman saved his marriage
The Paperboy actress was married to Tom Cruise from 1990 to 2001, and the couple adopted two children, Isabella and Connor, who have remained out of the public eye until now. With Keith Urban, she has two teenage daughters, Sunday Rose and Faith Margaret. Giving a speech at the ceremony, Urban praised his wife, saying she has “the capacity to love like no one I’ve ever seen.”
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“Nick suppressed every negative voice — I’m sure he even suppressed some negative voices himself — and he chose love. And here we are tonight, 18 years later,” he said, before adding, “If you want to see what love really looks like, give this a watch.”
A teary-eyed Nicole looked at the love of her life and wiped a tear from her eye as she soaked in the warmth of his words. She added, “And here we are tonight, 18 years later.”
In an interview with Rolling Stone in 2021, Urban admitted that watching his father’s addiction had a profound effect on him. He shared that it took him “a very long time to recover” because he did not initially realize his own alcohol addiction, comparing it to his father’s drinking habit. Eventually, he made the right decision to recover from addiction, a decision he “should have made his father too.”
