Keith Urban’s Path to Recovery: Nicole Kidman Speaks Out About Her Husband’s Sobriety

Country music sensation Keith Urban has been featured in recent headlines after his wife, Nicole Kidman, spoke out about his journey through recovery from addiction.

Married since 2006, Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban have remained one of Hollywood’s “power couples” for over a decade. Behind the scenes, Kidman supported Urban in his battle with addiction. Just months after the couple was married, Kidman and other friends staged an intervention that led to a 3-month stay in rehab; today, Urban celebrates over 8 years of sobriety.

Once speaking of his drug addiction, Urban stated that his substance use was a reaction to the struggles of his early career, and his quest to find a home amongst famed Nashville musicians. “It was my diversion, my way of numbing myself to the rejection and the loneliness and the confusion,” he said.

His addiction began in 1992, and continued throughout his rise to fame. He attended two treatment facilities and enjoyed short stints in sobriety, though it was not until his relapse ten years ago that he found the right path.

Since completing treatment in early 2007, Urban has revealed his experiences to the public in a series of candid interviews. His admiration for his wife intensified as he recounted the circumstances that plagued their young marriage.

“I caused the implosion of my fresh marriage,” he told Rolling Stone. “It survived, but it’s a miracle it did.”

Kidman and Urban are among the millions of American families that have been touched in some way by addiction. Urban stated that he grew up in home with an alcoholic father; now, with two children of his own, he works with a renewed hope to maintain his sobriety.

In a recent interview with Jess Cagle, Kidman stated that she would encourage suffering individuals and their families to get help. “There is absolutely help out there. You can’t save somebody, they’ve got to save themselves,” she said.

Treatment, as Kidman aptly notes, creates a world of possibility.

“It’s not easy, but there’s an extraordinary life if you do get there through help,” she said.