Keith Urban has opened up on the moment he nearly blew his marriage to Nicole Kidman apart.
Kidman, 57, was being honoured with the 49th AFI Lifetime Achievement Award in Hollywood when her husband walked on stage to pay an impassioned tribute to his wife.
WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Keith Urban on the moment his marriage to Nicole Kidman blew apart.
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While most of the evening was devoted to the Aussie actress’ long and stellar career in film and television, Urban’s tribute was deeply personal.
“We got married in June 2006 and barely four months into our marriage my addictions, that I’d done nothing about, blew our marriage to smithereens,” revealed the 56-year-old musician, who had a long battle with drug and alcohol addiction.
“I went into (rehab clinic) The Betty Ford Centre for three months — four months into a marriage,” he continued, as cameras panned to Kidman to show her tearing up.
“I had no idea what was going to happen to us.
“And if you want to see what love in action really looks like, give that a whirl.
“Nic pushed through every negative voice, I’m sure even some of her own, and she chose love.
“Here we are tonight, 18 years later.
“That’s the thing about Nic — she loves life.
“I’ve never actually met anyone who has such a passion for being alive.
“She knows the importance of expressing feelings as well.
“I wasn’t raised like this at all, so our girls are very lucky to be learning from you, baby.
“I’m learning too.”
“We met in January 2005; we were being honoured at this event called G’Day LA, which sounds a bit like a pickup line from Crocodile Dundee,” he joked.
“We chatted very briefly and I was trying to play it cool.
“But inside, I felt like I’d snuck inside the royal ball, simply because Nic had such a truly otherworldly aura about her, and I felt like I was meeting a real-life princess.
“Despite all of that, I did manage to get her phone number on a tiny piece of paper and I carried that number in my pocket for well over a week.”
Urban said he kept pulling the piece of paper out, looking at it, and putting it back in his pocket.
“I was scared,” he admitted.
“I was nervous to call her, and even though I was prone at the time to all sorts of delusional thinking, even I couldn’t stretch that to think this extraordinary woman would ever see anything in a guy like me.
“And that’s not me being humble, that’s literally how I saw myself and how I saw her.”
He did eventually pluck up the courage to call — and they talked like they had known each other forever.
“It turned out that this mystic creature was really just a wide-eyed, vivacious, giddy girl from the Sydney suburbs, and despite being born in Honolulu, she was utterly Aussie, through and through.”
Urban went on to describe Kidman as a “spiritual being having a human experience”.
“That’s Nic to a T,” he said.
“A Gemini with a duality to prove it.
“She’s raw, but she’s resilient.
“She’s serious and a complete goofball.
“But she also has a bit of a mantra, and that is: ‘Choose love’.
“I’ve watched her do this many times, navigating emotionally complex things that she’s gone through with so many people.
“She always chooses that phrase, she lives by it.
“She has a capacity to love like no-one I’ve ever met, and I know tonight’s all about her body of work so far, but next year will be 20 years that I’ve been madly in love with you.
“Congratulations, baby girl.
“I love you.”
When the footage of Urban’s speech was posted on YouTube, viewers went wild.
“I so enjoyed this homage to his wife and their relationship,” one viewer said.
“Well spoken.”
“This speech is full of love,” remarked another.
“Their love is so pure, genuine, rare and way beyond the Hollywood standards,” said a third.
“Made me cry.
“Such beautiful love between them and their daughters.
“Congrats, Nic. Well deserved.”