Keith Urban is getting starkly honest about his past struggles with addiction as well as his gratitude towards his wife Nicole Kidman who he credits for helping him during his journey of sobriety. While doing an interview with The Times, Urban explained how his upbringing with an alcoholic father influenced him and his turn to substances when he experienced stress early in his career.
“I don’t talk a lot about it because I love my audience being able to just come and have a great time. I’ve nothing against drugs or alcohol. Everyone does what they want to do to have a great time,” Urban said. “I just realized I’m allergic to it. Someone said, ‘You have an allergy? What happens when you drink?’ And I said, ‘I break out in cuffs.'” Urban had two stints in rehab, one occurring in 1998 and another in 2006.
But Urban does not credit his road to sobriety all to himself. The country star released an album in 2009 titled Defying Gravity in which he praised his wife and Australian actress Nicole Kidman for helping him during the darkest periods of journey.
“There were nights where I was sure / I wouldn’t see the morning sun / And there were days that seemed so dark / I couldn’t wait for night to come,” he sings on a ballad titled “Thank You”.
“I thank you for my life / And I thank god for grace and mercy / And that you became my wife.”
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