Marriage, money, rumours and relapse: Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban’s heartbreaking split

Keith Urban is copping the blame for his shock split from Nicole Kidman, with insiders saying the Aussie actress was desperate to save their marriage of nearly 20 years.

The Oscar winning actor, 58, wanted to fight for the relationship and make things work; however, the country music star, 57 had walked away, according to People magazine.

“She didn’t want this. She has been fighting to save the marriage,” an anonymous source told the magazine.

Sources close to the couple said Kidman has been caring for their daughters, Sunday Rose, 17, and Faith Margaret, 14.

“She’s been holding the family together,” a source shared, adding that Kidman has been deeply committed to salvaging the marriage.

Australia’s showbiz golden couple have been living apart since early in the US summer, gossip website TMZ reported.

Urban is understood to have moved out of their shared Nashville home and into a separate residence nearby.

While the couple has not officially filed for divorce, the future of their relationship remains uncertain for the pair who married in 2006, five years after Kidman’s high profile marriage to Tom Cruise ended.

Her eldest two children, who she adopted, chose to live with Cruise after the 2001 split, which was said to be due to his Scientology beliefs.

Kidman has publicly acknowledged her fractured relationship with the two saying she is “very private about all that. I have to protect all those relationships”.

Urban and Kidman had famously vowed never to spend more than two weeks apart.

Long considered one of Hollywood’s most enduring couples, they were last photographed together on June 20 while attending a FIFA Club World Cup match in Nashville.

The pair did not hold hands and politely smiled at onlookers from a balcony. Kidman looked stony-faced with a rigid posture in the photos while Urban flashed a smile with one hand in his back pocket.

Just a month earlier, the pair looked very much in love at the Academy of Country Music Awards.

Urban publicly thanked “Nicole Mary” and their girls during his Golden Guitar Hall of Fame induction.

Cocaine clause

Kidman is one of Hollywood’s most bankable stars with a net worth estimated to be a staggering $382 million, putting her wealth considerably higher than Urban’s estimated $114m.

But this disparity could be evened out due to an unusual clause in the pair’s 2006 prenuptial agreement.

The clause stipulates that in the event of divorce, Kidman will have to pay Urban $600,000 for each year they were married as long as the Aussie musician steered clear of drugs and alcohol.

Standing by her man

Months after their 2006 wedding, Urban relapsed into drug and alcohol use, spending three months in rehab.

Urban publicly credited his wife with helping him overcome crippling addictions, admitting he was “very, very blessed” that Kidman pushed him to get help.

“That’s the point right there where she really should’ve just walked,” he told Oprah Winfrey in 2010.

“I’m just so glad she didn’t, and she made a decision to turn around and initiate ultimately this intervention, and it was done in such a way that the love in that room at that moment was just right. I was like, ‘Put the cuffs on, let’s go.’”

Speaking in 2018, he reflected on his journey to sobriety, saying he was “very lucky” to have a “loving wife” by his side.

Kidman, 58, had stood by him throughout, but insiders say this time it was Urban who walked away.

Family affair interview

Urban’s uncomfortable ending to an Australian radio interview in July now appears to have been a sign of what was really happening in his marriage.

Urban was in the middle of a discussion on Adelaide’s Mix 102.3 when he agreed to play a game called Wall of Truth.

The host asked Urban he felt about his wife acting in intimate scenes with other men.

“What does Keith Urban think when he sees his beautiful wife with beautiful younger men like Zac Efron, having these beautiful love scenes?” host Max Burford asked.

The call immediately went silent and was then abruptly ended, leaving the hosts bewildered.

“I think his team hung up on us because they didn’t want us to ask that question,” a producer said.

Urban’s publicist later denied claims the star or his team disconnected the call over the question, saying it was because time had run out.

Angry fans react

The news blind-sided fans, who only months ago saw Kidman posting a loved-up anniversary photo and the pair smiling together in public.

The musician is already copping some serious heat over the breakup with fans flooding the comments on one of Urban’s older Instagram posts to voice their support for Kidman and the couple’s two daughters.

“Go back to your wife and work things out! Marriage is hard! I have been married for 55 years! Nothing is worth breaking up your marriage! Your daughters will never feel the same about you!” one follower wrote.

“So sad to hear, nothing worse than a broken family, it affects the children so much, my advice would be strong and make it work. Nothing is easy in this life Keith, but you don’t give up on something if it is falling apart, you fix it,” wrote another.

“Fix it, please, for the girls’ sake,” said a third.

The post, which was posted 86 weeks ago in February 2024, is an old promo for his single Straight Line.

Others pointed out that Kidman stood by Urban during his struggles with addiction, which led to a stint in rehab just months after their June 2006 wedding.

“This is just heartbreaking . . . Nicole has stood by Keith through his addiction, two beautiful daughters. It was a fairy tale, love story. I am no longer a Keith Urban fan,” a fan added to the comments.

“She got you sober,” another wrote.

What’s next

Urban’s new reality show The Road is due to be released by Paramount in October.

The country music reality show filmed with Blake Shelton puts 12 aspiring musicians in competition for a recording contract and a cash prize.

His High and Alive World Tour 2025 has dates up until the end of October with more dates in March next year

Kidman has just wrapped the long-awaited sequel to 1998’s Practical Magic with Sandra Bullock, is starring in Amazon’s Scarpetta with Jamie Lee Curtis, and has HBO’s The Last Anniversary on the way.

She recently told the audience of Nicole Kidman: Where Art Meets Home in Nashville that she plans to expand film and television production in Tennessee, where she is due to film the second season of Scarpetta.

“Reese Witherspoon lives here too, and she’s one of my best besties. I can’t say that we will be bringing Big Little Lies here,” she said.

She described the city as one that “inspires so much creativity”.

“My favourite thing is the people. I love the Nashville people because they embraced me two decades ago and they keep making it possible for our family to have the most beautiful life here.”