While Nicole Kidman gushed in April that Keith Urban was her “deep, deep love,” and that she was “so lucky” to have him as a husband, the country singer apparently didn’t reciprocate her intense feelings and has reportedly been living away from the family home in Nashville since the beginning of summer.
News broke Monday that the Oscar-winning actor, 58, and the country singer/musician, 57, have separated after 19 years of marriage, with a source telling People: “She has been fighting to save the marriage.”
This view of who initiated the split was echoed by TMZ, which first reported on news that Urban had moved out. Multiple sources told the outlet that Kidman has been taking care of their two daughters, ages 14 and 17, and “holding the family together through this difficult time since Keith has been gone.”
TMZ also said that the split was one-sided, with a source saying that Urban had “acquired his own residence in Nashville and has moved out of their family home.”
It’s not known if the couple are considering divorce, according to TMZ.
But this news marks a stunning turning events for one of Hollywood’s A-list couples. In June, Kidman posted a photo of herself cuddled up to Urban on Instagram to commemorate their wedding anniversary. “Happy Anniversary Baby,” she said with a heart emoji. On her Instagram in August, the “Big Little Lies” star also shared a carousel of images of a family vacation to a sunny, seaside location. While the photos appeared to show her with her daughters, they showed none of Urban.
Urban’s recent photos, meanwhile, show him performing on tour, with his next stop scheduled for Oct. 2, in Hershey, Pennsylvania.
By celebrity standards, Kidman’s reported separation from the “American Idol” host is pretty shocking, given the length of their marriage and the way they’ve always seemed pretty loving and affectionate in their public appearances and in how they talk about each other in interviews.
But as Cosmopolitan pointed out, Kidman and Urban have faced challenging times as a couple, especially at the beginning of their relationship, when they had to tackle his stays in rehab and rumors that he cheated.
They met in 2005 — about four years after Kidman’s first husband, Tom Cruise, also reportedly initiated a divorce after about a decade of being married to her.
“I would probably say that two very lonely people managed to meet at a time when they could open themselves to each other,” Kidman once told Vanity Fair. “We were a mixture of frightened and brave.”
Several months after Kidman and Urban tied the knot in October 2006, he checked into the Betty Ford Center in Palm Springs for drug and alcohol addiction. Unfortunately, during Urban’s rehab stay, model Amanda Wyatt made claims that he had cheated on Kidman multiple times with her leading up to their wedding.
“I feel sorry for Nicole. Keith cheated on her repeatedly with me, right up to just before they got married,” Amanda told The Daily Mail in December 2006. “He’s done it once, and he’ll probably do it again.” Neither Urban nor Kidman have ever commented on those claims.