There was something special about Nicole Kidman from the very start, Keith Urban admits. The country superstar says that after he first met the actor in early 2005, he knew she was worth fighting for.
“She’s just the one, that was it,” Urban tells actor Dax Shepard on a recent episode of Shepard’s Armchair Expert podcast (quote via Today). “She’s the one that I was searching for my whole life, and everything not only changed, but had to change, in me if I was going to go that road.”
Urban struggled with alcohol and drugs for years before marrying Kidman in the summer of 2006, and it was an intervention by his now-wife that started his path to getting clean for good.
“It felt like an ultimate fork-in-the-road moment in my life,” the country star says of meeting Kidman. “It was literally like, ‘You either get this right now, or you are never, ever going to get it right. This is your one shot.’ Really, it felt so obvious.”
Kidman and Urban celebrated 14 years of marriage in June. Together, they have two daughters: 12-year-old Sunday Rose and 9-year-old Faith Margaret.
“It takes me giving more than I want to give to actually live this life I was trying to find,” Urban says of maintaining his sobriety. “I just was never giving enough, ever.”
Urban, Kidman and their daughters have been spending time in Australia recently while Kidman films a movie there; however, he’s back in Nashville for Wednesday night’s (Sept. 16) 2020 ACM Awards show. He’s hosting the event, which is happening in Music City for the first time, at the Grand Ole Opry House, the Ryman Auditorium and the Bluebird Cafe.
On Friday (Sept. 18), Urban will release a new album. The Speed of Now Part 1. The 16-track project features collaborations with rising country-rapper Breland, pop star Pink, Chic guitarist Nile Rogers and fellow country star Eric Church.