It was the depths of the Covid pandemic and Nicole Kidman and her husband Keith Urban were hunkering down at their two-acre estate in Nashville, Tennessee.
While the protracted lockdowns were undoubtedly difficult for some couples, the Oscar-winning actress and the country singe embraced the opportunity to reinvigorate their marriage, and insider has told the Daily Mail.
In fact, the couple – who enjoyed ‘amazing’ physical chemistry – only grew closer during those cozy months on the family farm.
And ‘Nic’ wasn’t Urban’s only doting nickname for his wife – ‘sexy’ and ‘babe’ were also some of his go-to monikers for the red-headed bombshell.
That’s perhaps why, when it emerged Monday that Kidman, 58, and Urban, 57, had separated after 19 years of marriage, the Australian actress was reportedly so ‘blindsided’ by her husband’s newfound determination to call it quits.
Her heartbroken disbelief didn’t last long. On Tuesday, Kidman filed for divorce, citing ‘irreconcilable differences’ in court documents obtained by the Daily Mail.
Pictured in May 2025: Nicole Kidman, 58, and country singer Keith Urban, 57, have separated after 19 years of marriage and two children together
For his part, a source told the Daily Mail on Monday that Urban had become increasingly unhappy with the lack of intimacy in the marriage.
‘The intimacy isn’t there, they are just going through the motions [of being married]… Keith had to call her out that he isn’t happy,’ the source said.
But that may only be half the story.
In a bombshell revelation, a Nashville music industry source now tells the Daily Mail: ‘The rumor is that he’s with a younger woman in the business. It’s all everyone is talking about. Everyone wants to know who, but so far, that’s a mystery.’
Following Kidman’s highly publicized divorce from her first husband Tom Cruise in 2001, the Australian actress found love once again with New Zealand-born Urban.
They married in June 2006 and later welcomed two daughters – Sunday Rose, 17, and Faith Margaret, 14.
But just four months after tying the knot, Urban’s substance abuse struggles threatened to tear the family apart.
Kidman was forced to stage an intervention over Urban’s alcoholism, and the singer was sent to a rehab center in October 2006 – his second time in clinc after a previous stint in 1998.
Urban spent the next three months of their new marriage in rehab. And, according to a second source, it was a time that played a key role in forming their unconventional dynamic for the years to come.
‘She behaves not only like his wife but also like his mother,’ the second insider said.
‘He’s been in rehab twice and she told him if it happens again it’ll be the end of their marriage. She definitely wears the pants in the family. She takes charge, makes major decisions and Keith doesn’t seem to like it. But for the sake of peace and quiet he let her get her way. I’ve seen the break up coming for years.’
Jump forward to 2021 and with Covid lockdown restrictions lifting across America, Hollywood came back in full swing – and so did Kidman’s busy work schedule.
A source told the Daily Mail that Urban and Kidman had ‘amazing’ physical chemistry and spent all of Covid lockdown at their family home in Nashville (seen)
A second source revealed to the Daily Mail that Kidman was ‘worried [Urban was] going to fall off the wagon again’ after spending the first three months of the marriage at a rehab center for alcohol abuse
Approaching her seventh decade, she took on a series of steamy, age-defying roles such as her 2024 film Babygirl and, most recently, relocated to London this summer while filming the sequel to her 1998 movie Practical Magic.
Urban, meanwhile, focused on his music. These past months he has been occupied on his High and Alive World Tour, which is scheduled through October. He is due to perform in Pennsylvania on Thursday.
That second insider explained how Kidman is ‘especially concerned’ for her husband when he’s touring because ‘she’s worried he’s going to fall off the wagon again.’
For his part, Urban has often credited Kidman’s determination and devotion in helping him overcome his addiction.
While presenting his wife with the AFI Life Achievement Award in April last year, he even so much as admitted that his alcohol addiction nearly ‘blew our marriage to smithereens.’
‘I had no idea what was going to happen to us,’ he said.
‘Nic pushed through every negative voice, I’m sure even some of her own and she chose love.’
In the end, it seems that choosing love wasn’t always enough.
Pictured in April 2024: Keith Urban and Nicole Kidman with daughters Sunday Rose (second from left) and Faith Margaret (center left)
Pictured in January 2025: Kidman filed for divorce on Tuesday in their hometown of Nashville
While it’s understood that Urban was the one to initiate the separation this week, it appears Kidman was the one to put the final nail in the coffin.
Despite initial reports that the couple had actually been separated since June, court documents obtained by the Daily Mail listed their date of separation as September 30, the same date she filed for divorce.
According to TMZ reports, Urban has ‘acquired his own residence in Nashville and has moved out.’
Kidman and their children remain at the $4million family home they own in the city – the same home where just five years ago, in that long Covid lockdown, nothing could’ve torn this couple apart.
The Daily Mail has contacted representatives for Kidman and Urban for comment.