Nicole Kidman files for divorce from Keith Urban after 19 years of
marriage
[October 01, 2025]
By JONATHAN MATTISE and ANDREW DALTON
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Nicole Kidman has filed for divorce from Keith
Urban after 19 years of marriage, bringing a surprising end to a long
and seemingly successful union that brought together two superstars from
the worlds of movies and music.
The 58-year-old Oscar-winning actor petitioned on Tuesday to end her
marriage to the 57-year-old Grammy winning country singer in a Nashville
court. The documents state the couple has undergone “marital
difficulties and irreconcilable differences.”
Kidman and Urban, two of the biggest stars to come out of Australia in
recent decades, have been red carpet fixtures throughout their
two-decade relationship, with Urban joining his wife at the Oscars and
Kidman attending music events like the Academy of Country Music Awards.
The filings include a marriage dissolution and childcare plan agreed on
by the couple and submitted for a judge's approval.
“The mother and father will behave with each other and each child so as
to provide a loving, stable, consistent and nurturing relationship with
the child even though they are divorced,” says the permanent parenting
plan, using language common in the state's divorces. “They will not
speak badly of each other or the members of the family of the other
parent. They will encourage each child to continue to love the other
parent and be comfortable in both families.”
The plan asks that Kidman be the primary residential parent to the
couple's two daughters, ages 17 and 14, having them for 306 days per
year with Urban taking them for the other 59.
The girls have lived in Nashville all their lives, and the documents
give no indication that will change.
The filing states that each parent earns more than $100,000 per month
and neither will need childcare or spousal support.
The marriage dissolution plan lays out a roughly equal division of joint
assets, with each keeping all the assets that are in their own name,
including the copyrights and royalties for their artistic work.
The detailed agreements suggests that the divorce had been in the works
for well over a month at the least. Urban signed the parenting plan on
Aug. 29, Kidman on Sept. 6.
It will take at least 90 days for the divorce to become final under
Tennessee law.
Representatives for Kidman and Urban did not respond to emailed requests
for comment on Tuesday.
[to top of second column]
|
Nicole Kidman, left, and Keith Urban arrive at the American Music
Awards on Nov. 19, 2017, in Los Angeles. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP,
File)
 Both raised in Australia, Kidman and
Urban met in 2005 at a Los Angeles event honoring Australians and
were married in Sydney the following year.
The marriage was the first for Urban and the second for Kidman, who
was married to Tom Cruise from 1990 to 2001. Kidman also has two
older children with Cruise.
The couple had publicly but lovingly described some marital
difficulties, but there were still few if any signs they were headed
for divorce. Media reports of their separation came just a day
before the divorce filing.
Last year at the premiere of the Netflix series “The Perfect
Couple,” Kidman told The Associated Press the term didn’t apply to
her and Urban.
“You’re heading for trouble if you consider yourselves the perfect
couple,” she said. “I’m not a believer in perfect.”
A few months earlier, Urban paid tribute to Kidman, and brought her
to tears, when she received the AFI Life Achievement Award.
Urban said she showed him “what love in action really looks like”
when his substance abuse problems emerged almost immediately after
they wed in 2006.
“Four months into our marriage, I’m in rehab for three months,”
Urban said. “Nic pushed through every negative voice, I’m sure even
some of her own, and she chose love. And here we are 18 years
later.”
Kidman’s film roles have included “Days of Thunder,” “Eyes Wide
Shut,” “Moulin Rouge” and “The Hours,” for which she won an Academy
Award for playing author Virginia Woolf. She has more recently
worked in television, including the series “Nine Perfect Strangers”
and “Big Little Lies,” for which she won Emmys as both actor and
producer.
Urban has been a major country star since the 1990s, with hits
including “Somebody Like You” and “Blue Ain’t Your Color.” He has
won four Grammy Awards and more than a dozen ACM Awards.
Their split was first reported by TMZ.
___
Dalton reported from Los Angeles.
All contents © copyright 2025 Associated Press. All rights reserved |
