New details have emerged about what reportedly contributed to the breakdown of Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban’s marriage.
The beloved Aussie stars, who wed 19 years ago, were long considered one of the most solid and loved-up couples in Hollywood – so news of the split has left fans reeling.
Sources close to Kidman, 58, and Urban, 57, say their hectic work schedules – the country singer is on tour, and the actor has had back-to-back filming commitments – resulted in a “lack of intimacy” which ultimately fuelled the shock break-up.
“Keith never sees Nicole, either she is filming or he is on tour,” one source told the Daily Mail.
“There was a lot of love between the two and they might not divorce. They have been together for decades so there is a world which they can reconcile, but the way their pairing is now, they are not a couple.”
It’s also been reported that Urban was the one who initiated the split after feeling “unhappiness”, prompting him to “call her out”.
“The intimacy isn’t there, they are just going through the motions [of being married]. If this separation gets them back together, that would be amazing, but Keith had to call her out that he isn’t happy,” the source told the Mail, with another insider telling the Times it was “allegedly in the presence of friends”.
“She was blindsided, but we shall see how things go during the holiday season and his upcoming birthday [next month]. They have some work to do.”
The estranged couple are parents to Sunday Rose, 17, and Faith Margaret, 15, who are understood to be living with their mother at the family home in Nashville, while Urban has found alternative accommodation nearby.
“Their lives were moving in different directions, and once he quietly set up his own place, it felt like the writing was on the wall,” a source told People of the marital woes.
A source close to the pair also told the publication that their marital woes “really hasn’t been a secret” to their inner circle.
“People close to Keith felt like the split was kind of inevitable,” an insider said, adding that Kidman and Urban have “been living separately for a while now”.
It’s believed that Kidman has turned to her close family, with her sister becoming her “rock” in recent months as she tries to navigate through the split.
“Nicole’s sister has been a rock, and the entire Kidman family has come together to support one another,” the source said.
A huge factor in fans’ devastation and shock at the news is the fact that Urban and Kidman had previously appeared to be so openly loved-up over the years.
Back in 2014, Urban thanked his wife for sticking with him when he entered rehab for substance abuse issues just four months after their wedding, describing their marriage as the “miracle” that saved him.
“I was very, very blessed to have Nic call an intervention on me. I had a tight group of friends around me for the intervention,” he told Rolling Stone.
“I use the expression ‘I was born into her,’ and that’s how I feel. And for the first time in my life, I could shake off the shackles of addiction.”
In 2016, Urban told CBS News that “meeting her and getting married wasn’t life-changing, it was life-beginning. It was literally like, ‘Okay, now life starts.’”
The singer also gave an emotional speech in Kidman’s honour when she was given an AFI Life Achievement Award at an LA ceremony.
“She also has a bit of a mantra, and that is: Choose love,” he told the audience.
“Now 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. Choose love. She has the capacity to love like no one I’ve ever met.”
TMZ was first to break the sad news of their split on Tuesday morning, Australian time, citing multiple sources confirming that Kidman and Urban had been living apart for months.
“Sometimes relationships just run their course,” a source further told Page Six, adding that Kidman “did not want the separation and was trying to save things”.
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