Keith Urban and his wife Nicole Kidman have split up after 19 years together, but the cracks may have started appearing before then.
A resurfaced comment made by Urban to journalists last year might have hinted at something else going on in the celebrity pair’s relationship.
The latest news on the couple’s pending divorce has just confirmed something that may have been in the post.
Keith Urban and Nicole Kidman were married for 19 years
Musician Urban and his movie star wife were the darlings of Hollywood for nearly two decades.
The pair - despite having disagreements over some of Kidman’s steamier scenes - appeared to be a pretty strong couple.
Even comments from one of her youthful co-stars couldn’t derail them.
Until now, that is.
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With the pair separated and set to divorce, which could prove to be an interesting legal battle if claims about a ‘cocaine clause’ in the agreement are to be believed, minds have been cast back to earlier encounters with the pair, and to whether the signs were there to read, despite not being immediately clear.
In the case of one journalist from The Times, the comment was simply: “I just don’t want to give you guys a headline about my wife.”
According to Times commissioning editor for culture and books Ed Potton: “The signs were there, flashing in neon, when I spoke to Keith Urban a year ago.
“Sitting in his sunlit garden in Nashville, the country singer was charm personified until the conversation turned (well, until I turned it) to Nicole Kidman, his much more famous spouse.”
Potton continued: “Urban chatted engagingly about the album he was plugging, But soon as Kidman’s name came up, however, the shield was raised.”
Why have Kidman and Urban split up after all this time?
The pair, who share two daughters, have reportedly been living apart for months before this news emerged, and Urban has spoken candidly in the past about problems he faced with addiction.
In a heartfelt speech at a June 2024 gala, he said: “We got married in 2006, and barely four months into our marriage, the addictions that I had done really nothing about blew our marriage to smithereens,
“Four months into a marriage, and I'm in rehab for three months with no idea what was going to happen to us.”
He added: “Nic pushed through every negative voice. I'm sure even some of her own, and she chose love."
However, the strain over roles that Kidman played - often ones that included sex scenes - took a toll on their relationship.
He even ended an interview earlier this year because of a question about his wife’s work, specifically with Zac Efron.
Papers filed in Nashville report that the pair eventually decided to split because of ‘marital difficulties and irreconcilable difficulties’.
A parenting plan document states: “The mother and father will behave with each other and each child so as to provide a loving, stable, consistent, and nurturing relationship with the child even though they are divorced,
“They will not speak badly of each other or the members of the family of the other parent.
“They will encourage each child to continue to love the other parent and be comfortable in both families.”