While it would appear from the outside that Keith Urban lives the good life with his wife and kids in their Nashville manion, the country music star’s road hasn’t always been so smooth.
“They know me now as being married to Nic. They’ve seen me on TV. And they just sort of think, ‘He’s the luckiest guy in the world.'”
Speaking to Rolling Stone Australia, the 48-year-old candidly spoke about the tumultuous life he led before he met his now-wife, admitting that “there’s just so much s— underneath all that that you didn’t see.”
“When I was onstage, I felt good, but if I was not onstage, I was very, very insecure,” he said referring to his time in the spotlight during the ‘90s.
The star, who admitted to dabbling with drugs a few times in his early career, recalls one particularly crushing breakup as the turning point that sent him spiraling.
The star, pictured here in 2001, has been sober for ten years.
“I was on the phone with this girl I was dating. She’s trying to break up with me. I’m saying, ‘What the hell? What’s going on? What’s happened?’ And eventually she said, ‘For F—‘s sake, can’t you see that the novelty of you has worn off?’”
“You might say, ‘Big deal.’ But I was feeling insecure, and the fact that me and my accent would be a novelty to somebody cut me to the core. Oh, my God. Really bad. It devastated me.”
“It was a turning point. After that, s— started to really go awry. I stepped up my drinking. I started doing more drugs. Yeah, man. The whole back end of the Nineties were just awful.”
“I felt like I didn’t have much of anything to offer.”
Flash forward to 2005 – the year the Aussie’s life changed forever when his met the love of his life at G’Day LA, an event honouring Australians.
It was a fairytale romance but the couple, who this week celebrated their 10-year anniversary, began their marriage on a less than solid foundation.
Keith had checked into rehab twice in the years prior to his nuptials, but when Nicole staged an intervention four months after they said “I do” in 2006, the star left home on a three month journey to sobriety.
The couple pictured in their hometown of Nashville, Tennessee in 2007.
“I caused the implosion of my fresh marriage,” he recalled.
“It survived, but it’s a miracle it did. I was spiritually awoken with her. 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.”
Head to Rolling Stone Australia to hear Keith’s full story.
Watch Keith talk about his first encounter with Nicole in the player below.
The couple are the proud parents to two beautiful daughters, Sunday Rose and Faith Margaret.
