With news that Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban have separated after 19 years of marriage, fans are combing through the couple’s history for any sign their relationship was on the rocks. The longtime pair, who share two daughters — Sunday, 17, and Faith, 14 — had become one of Hollywood’s most enduring love stories, weathering personal challenges in the spotlight and often speaking about their devotion to one another.
Behind the scenes, there were reportedly signs of strain, although Kidman wanted to keep the marriage intact. “She didn’t want this,” one source tells People. “She has been fighting to save the marriage.”
Over nearly two decades, both Urban and Kidman publicly described their relationship in glowing terms, often crediting each other with love, loyalty and inspiration. Here are eight quotes that capture their bond over the years.
“I was a goner — I mean, c’mon.”
Kidman was instantly taken with the Australian singer after they met in Los Angeles at the G’Day USA event in January 2005. Talking with the Wall Street Journal in 2020, she said her fate was sealed when he later whisked her away on his Harley-Davidson for a ride to Woodstock, N.Y., where he surprised her with a picnic in the woods. Kidman said she was a “goner.” Less than a year later, the two were married.
Urban’s easygoing nature — she called him her “mellow muso,” as in musician — was the perfect counterbalance. He’s the one guy she’d call in any crisis. “He’s pretty much the flip side of neurotic.”
“I’ve learned an enormous amount having a relationship with someone who is in recovery.”
Shortly after their June 2006 wedding, Urban entered rehab. “I’m more than willing to walk it with him,” Kidman told Vanity Fair the following year. “The two of us are very committed to our relationship.”
Though she acknowledged it had been “deeply painful” and that they were in a “very, very, very bad” place, she also emphasized their determination to push through it.
“And that’s enough said. Anything else is overindulgent and unnecessary right now. And I think it jinxes it, in a way, and that’s why I don’t go on about my enormous feelings for this man,” she said.
“She’s my spiritual other half.”
Urban was asked in a 2012 interview what drew him to Kidman. His answer was simple — “everything.”
“We ask ourselves if we would like to have met each other in our 20s, so we could have had more time together, but the trade-off may have been that we wouldn’t have had the same amount of life experience to bring together and really make something of substance,” he told the Australian Women’s Weekly.
“I’ve never had anybody on the planet that knows me as well as she does.”
Speaking to People in 2016, Urban described the easy, playful side of his marriage, saying that he and Kidman don’t take themselves too seriously. He called her his best friend and admitted no one knows him better. Reflecting on their relationship, Urban said he hadn’t always felt “worthy” of someone like her, but that what they found together was genuine love. “I literally just feel like the luckiest guy on the planet,” he shared.
As for how he planned to mark their 10-year anniversary, Urban teased that he was working on something special, promising it would be “intimate and romantic.”
“Definitely married up.”
While talking with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe in 2020, Urban lit up when asked what he’s learned from Kidman. He noted her instinctive connection to music: “She’s got great taste in music because it’s always visceral. It’s just like, ‘I don’t know who the artist is. I don’t know what genre it is. I don’t know. I just love this song.’ Boom. That’s all that matters to her.”
More than that, he said, her approach to life has shaped his career. Watching her pursue whatever sparks her interest without hesitation has pushed him to take creative risks. “What I’ve learned from her is to be more fearless in artistry and go for the curious place you want to go,” he explained. Kidman follows her curiosity. That mindset, Urban revealed, had “a big impact” on his music in recent years.
“I’m so lucky that I have Keith, who’s just my love, my deep, deep love.”
Kidman called out her strong support system, anchored by Urban, in a 2024 interview with People, saying it gives her “the ability to go and do whatever I have to do because I know where I can come back to.”
“Four months into our marriage, my addictions that I’d done really nothing about blew our marriage to smithereens. … Nic pushed through every negative voice — I’m sure even some of her own — and she chose love…”
In June 2024, Urban gave a heartfelt tribute to his wife as she received the 49th American Film Institute Life Achievement Award. Reflecting on their marriage, he talked about his three-month rehab stint, explaining he had no idea what the future held.
“If you want to see what love in action really looks like, give that a whirl,” he said.
Through it all, Kidman stayed steadfast, navigating doubt and fear, and chose love — a commitment that has carried them through, what was then 18 years together.
“I’ve actually never 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,” he added.
In what was their final public appearance together, Kidman and Urban look on during the FIFA Club World Cup 2025 on June 20 in Nashville. (Richard Pelham/Getty Images)
“I’ve never believed in rules.”
Urban spoke with Yahoo in May about his new tour and talked about how he balances being on the road with seeing his family. When asked if he and Kidman had any kind of “two-week rule,” meaning they don’t go more than two weeks without seeing each other, he said no.
“It’s gotta be a want, you know? And I don’t want to be away from my family for too long, so I don’t need a rule,” he said. “I’m really lucky that I get to tour the way I do, which is kind of three shows in a row, and then three to four days off. Then three shows in a row. It’s pretty rare to even be gone for two weeks. It’s fortuitous where Nashville is [located] in that it’s a fairly decent flying time to a lot of places.”