Keith & Nicole THE END?
Love’s not enough as Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban struggle to save their 13-year marriage
In late June, Keith Urban and Nicole Kidman celebrated a marriage milestone with gushing posts on Instagram. The Big Little Lies star wished her “baby” a happy anniversary in the caption of a black-and-white photo that showed him gently kissing her forehead, while the country music singer shared a snapshot of himself hugging his laughing wife, sweetly captioning it, “Thirteen years of magic, music, romance, wild adventures, and the ongoing discovery of pure love. Happy Anniversary Babygirl. Xxxx.”
But 13 has proven to be an unlucky number for the couple. “Don’t let all the cozy, cuddly photo ops fool you,” warns an insider. “Nicole and Keith have some major issues and their marriage has been on shaky ground.” In fact, Life & Style has exclusively
learned that the Australian actress and the New Zealand–born musician are on the verge of a devastating split in the wake of a tension-filled family trip to Australia in mid-july. “Their marriage is like a roller coaster, and it’s been a living hell lately,” says the insider. “People would be shocked at the dysfunction — their marriage has gotten really weird at times. Now it seems like the end is finally near.”
GREEN-EYED MONSTER
On July 13, Nicole, 52, and Keith, 51, put on a united front, holding hands as they exited the Sydney Airport terminal after flying to Australia with daughters Sunday, 11, and Faith, 8. But just five days later, on July 18, Keith was already off again, leaving his wife behind. “They had a huge blowup over Keith’s insistence that he go back to
the States early,” explains the insider, noting the pair share homes in LA and Nashville. “Nicole accused him of rushing back to be around his young musician friends — specifically the female ones.”
Jealousy, it appears, has infected their relationship like a toxic poison. “Nicole and Keith fight over lots of things, but mostly her jealousy and fears that Keith will leave her for someone younger,” says the insider. “With all the stories about Keith’s flirty nature and his oodles of female groupies, who can blame her?”
So Nicole’s long made a major effort to be by her husband’s side whenever possible. The actress “has tried to attend all Keith’s big musical events and award shows and dragged him to all of her red carpets and award shows,” explains the insider. “She doesn’t see it as being overbearing at all. She thinks of it as protecting her marriage — insurance, if you will.”
Yet they’ve continued to struggle. “Keith and Nicole’s marriage was at its worst during the filming of [the second season of] Big Little Lies because they were barely spending any time together between her working and him traveling for his music career,” explains a source. “In some ways, it was like they were leading separate lives. The lack of communication led to trust issues and the trust issues led to fights. No one cheated or anything, but their minds would spiral about what the other person was up to…and the lies they might be telling to cover the truth up.”
That’s right — it goes both ways. “Nicole’s not the only jealous one in the marriage,” confirms the insider. “Keith hates Nicole’s close, sometimes too chummy friendships with her male co- stars, like
BLL’S Alexander Skarsgård.” And it’s no surprise she attended the June wedding of their costar, Zoë Kravitz — which was held at the Paris mansion of Nicole’s ex-fiancé, Zoë’s father Lenny Kravitz — solo, says the source: “There was a time when Nicole couldn’t even mention an ex without Keith flying into an absolute jealous rage!”
MORE PROBLEMS
Other women and men aren’t all that’s bickered over, though. While the Oscar winner and her Grammy-winning spouse are wildly wealthy with a com
bined net worth estimated at nearly $200 million, “they fight about money,” says the insider. “She thinks he spends too much — and the battles they have over it are epic.”
It’s after their biggest blowups that Nicole struggles the most. “Nicole usually binges on Botox following one of their fights, when she’s at her lowest and feeling insecure,” says the insider, adding that the stressed star previously claimed to have given up fillers. “Keith tells her that she doesn’t need it, but every time he gets mad and storms off, she’s back to getting injections again. Nicole is ruining her face.”
OUT OF OPTIONS
Nicole and Keith do love one another deeply and have worked to repair the damage. The insider previously told Life & Style the duo even “went on a counseling retreat last year, like a boot camp to get their marriage back on track. It helped.” But the results didn’t last. While Nicole and Keith still “attend couples therapy,” says the insider, their sessions are often filled with fingerpointing and uncomfortable silences.
Now friends fear they’re at a crossroads. “Nicole and Keith have had trial separations before, but nothing ever changes once they’re back together,” says the insider, noting that as the years go by, “it becomes more of a struggle to stay together. They just might not be able to do it anymore.”