Keith Urban-Nicole Kidman love story: Glorious romance and 15-year-long marriage that survived years of drug abuse
Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban have surely set some high relationship goals for all their fans. The couple has been married for 14 years and they are still going strong.
Actor and producer Kidman was listed among the world's highest-paid actresses in 2006, 2018 and 2019. Not just that, the 53-year-old has also bagged an Academy Award, two Primetime Emmy Awards and five Golden Globe Awards. She was even named as the 100 most influential people in the world in 2004 and 2018 by Times Magazine. Kidman made her acting debut in 1983 with 'Bush Christmas'. She later achieved recognition for her lead roles in 'Far and Away' (1992), 'Batman Forever' (1995), 'To Die For' (1995) and 'Eyes Wide Shut' (1999).
Similarly, Urban made his name in the world of music. He released his first self-entitled debut album, charting four singles in Australia before moving to the US. He started his band, The Ranch, which recorded one studio album on Capitol Nashville and made its name to the US Billboard Hot Country Songs chart.
The couple met in 2005 and have surely been inseparable since then.
2005: When they met
Urban and Kidman met during the 2005 USA Gala. In a 2017 interview with Ellen DeGeneres, Kidman revealed, "I remember thinking, I had such a crush on him, and he wasn't interested in me. It's true! He didn't call me for four months." While Urban said, "Somebody had given me her number and I had it in my pocket for a while. I kept looking at it thinking, If I call this number, she's going to answer. I don't know what [to] say." "I wasn’t in a very healthy place in my life," he continued. "I'd never have thought she’d see anything in a guy like me. But at some point, I plucked up the courage to call those numbers and she answered, and we started talking and we talked and talked and talked and talked and it was effortless."
On their 10th wedding anniversary, Urban shared picture of that fateful night when they met, and said, "Our very first photo together 2005, minutes after being introduced to each other. HAPPY ANNIVERSARY BABY. LOOOOOOOOVE YOU!!!!!!!!! xxxxxxxxx - KU"
2006: When they got married
After dating for some time, Kidman knew that he was the one. The actress told People magazine that the revelation hit her on the morning of her 38th birthday when Urban showed up at her door with flowers and took her away on a trip to Woodstock, New York. "I believed by that point he was the love of my life," Kidman said. "Maybe that’s because I am deeply romantic, or I’m an actress, or I have strong faith as well, but I just believed, ‘Oh, okay, here he is'," she said. The couple tied the knot on June 25, 2006, at a church in the northern Sydney suburb of Manly, Australia. Many big Hollywood A-listers, including, Russell Crowe, Moulin Rouge director Baz Luhrmann and Kidman's best friend Naomi Watts were among the 230+ guests in attendance, and Hugh Jackman and Crowded House vocalist Neil Finn performed.
The couple soon faced their first major challenge just months later. Urban, who has spoken openly about his past cocaine, MDMA and alcohol abuse and subsequent recovery journey, already had two rehab visits behind him when Kidman staged an intervention in 2006. He sought treatment in October 2006, spending around three months of their first year of marriage in an in-patient facility. "I caused the implosion of my fresh marriage," Urban admitted to Rolling Stone in 2016. “It survived, but it’s a miracle it did. I was spiritually awoken with her. I use the expression ‘I was born into her,’ and that’s how I feel. And for the first time in my life, I could shake off the shackles of addiction.”
In 2006, Urban wrote down his feelings for Kidman and their relationship in the song 'Got It Right This Time' from his album Love, Pain & the Whole Crazy Thing. The lyrics' meaning couldn't be clearer: "She believes in me like I've been trying to do, I'm seeing things I've never seen before / Ever since she came into my life, I've been a better man..." Opening up about the difficult time, Kidman told Vanity Fair in 2007, "I would probably say that two very lonely people managed to meet at a time when they could open themselves to each other. We were a mixture of frightened and brave.”
2008: When they welcomed their first child
Urban and Kidman welcomed their first child together on July 7, 2008, and they named her, Sunday Rose Kidman Urban. Sunday was the third child for Kidman as she previously adopted Isabella (26) and Conner (24). She shared a rare baby photo of their daughter on her 10th birthday in July 2018, writing, "You are our joy Sunday Rose."
2011: The couple welcomed their second child
Faith Margaret Kidman Urban was born in Nashville like her big sister, though the couple chose a gestational carrier for their second baby. "Our family is truly blessed, and just so thankful, to have been given the gift of baby Faith Margaret," the couple announced in a 2011 statement. Kidman who faced difficulties during the time when she was pregnant with Rose opened up in a Vogue 2015 interview and said, "I wish I could have met [Keith] much earlier and had way more children with him, but I didn't," the actress said of meeting in their late 30s. "I mean, if I could have had two more children with him, that would have been just glorious."
2019: Couple express true feelings for each other
"The greatest thing our family priest told us very early on in our marriage was, 'Always kiss hello and kiss goodbye. It just keeps you connected," Kidman told InStyle. On the other hand, Urban opened up about how he keeps his married life happy and what kind of special things he does for Nicole. In an interview with iNews, Urban noted that the lyrics in the 2018 song 'Gemini' are about his wife. “The song is actually about Nicole—and she loves it. It’s a fun song. My co-writer Julia Michaels asked me to describe Nicole and that’s what came out," Urban said.
2020: Keith, Nicole spice up the romance with a Christmas song
Everyone knows how much they love each other and they never shy away from showing that on social media. In December 2020, the iconic musician uploaded a video while singing a new Christmas song. In the video, Urban was seen singing a song about the holiday disappointments due to COVID-19. "It should be all green and gold, watching the snow coming down, Charlie Brown, everybody gathered around the tree," the singer sang. The Oscar-winning actress joins in on select lyrics when she feels like it, like the word “reindeer.”
The couple also donated $500,000 to relief efforts after rampant wildfires in Australia.
Meanwhile, in a separate interview, Keith also shared how Kidman has shown him to be "fearless in artistry" and "had a big impact on my music in the last five to six years particularly." This is not the only time Urban has praised Kidman for showing what true love means. In September 2020, Urban went on to explain that he was raised in a home where communication wasn’t encouraged, a practice that damaged many of his adult relationships—until he met his wife.
Urban said, "It took marrying Nic to learn all about that, learn about how to really communicate properly and speak and say things. I could write a good love song, but I was terrible at relationships because I didn’t really know."
2021: Nicole and Keith's lockdown adventures
The couple has been spending some quality time with their children and enjoying the lockdown by doing various things. However, Nicole has found a new way to keep Keith and the children happy. Talking about the same, Kidman revealed that Keith is a "low-maintenance guy" and loves to give him "pedicures."
"He's a pretty low-maintenance guy. Sometimes, though, I'll treat my whole family to a spa day and massage their feet and give them pedicures." Kidman said.