Keith Urban has reportedly sparked concern with his wife, Nicole Kidman, after he compared an Ariana Grande song to “audible heroin.”
Despite his candidness about his past addiction and the intervention Kidman staged in 2006, the “heroin” comment allegedly upset the actress.
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Keith Urban Compares Ariana Grande’s Son To ‘Audible Heroin’
Last week, Urban performed an acoustic rendition of Grande’s hit “We Can’t Be Friends” at a small show. He later shared a video of the performance on his Instagram page with the caption, “This song is audible heroin.”
The 56-year-old country singer made the “heroin” comment again in an interview with People magazine, saying, “I don’t know what is going on with that song, but I cannot stop playing it. It’s like audible heroin. Literally, I have to have another hit.”
He added: “I play that thing over and over and over.” This odd analogy not only puzzled fans but also concerned his actress wife, Kidman, who is reportedly not pleased with the comparison.
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Nicole Kidman Is ‘Disappointed’ By Her Husband’s ‘Heroin’ Remark
According to a report, Kidman was upset by Urban using the term “heroin” in his remark due to his past struggle with addiction.
A source told Woman’s Day magazine that, while the “Aquaman” actress wouldn’t ask Urban to remove the post, she was “disappointed.”
They explained: “It brought back a very dark time for them when they almost split, but worse than that is she doesn’t want her kids to start thinking it’s cool or OK or something you can easily ‘fix,'”
The Hollywood power couple reportedly “went through hell because of Keith’s addictions.”
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Keith Urban On His Drug And Alcohol Addiction And How Nicole Kidman Staged An Intervention
Urban has had a public struggle with drug and alcohol addiction, having entered rehab multiple times. He last sought treatment at the Betty Ford Center in October 2006, just months after marrying Kidman.
Speaking to Rolling Stone in 2016, the “Messed Up As Me” singer acknowledged he would have understood if Kidman had left him following his 2006 rehab stint, given they had just married.
“I was very, very blessed to have Nic call an intervention on me,” Urband said, admitting his reckless behavior almost “caused the implosion of my fresh marriage.”
While reflecting on the intervention with Oprah Winfrey, Urban noted that he “went off the rails” and needed “help and a new direction.”
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Kidman, who was working in Rome during his downward spiral, flew back to the U.S. and gathered his friends for the intervention. “The love in that room at that moment was just right,” Urban told Winfrey per the DailyMail. “To see love in action in that way… I’d never experienced anything like that before.”
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Keith Urban Regrets He Wasn’t Sober ‘Many Years Earlier’
Keith Urban has been candid about his struggles with alcohol addiction and once expressed regret at the South By Southwest conference in 2018 that he hadn’t gotten sober sooner.
“I wish I’d gotten sober many years earlier than I did, but it is what it is,” he admitted. “I knew I wasn’t at my full potential, and that’s what was starting to get to me. I was enslaved… I was living a very, very small life.”
The Australian rocker also acknowledged he “sucked at relationships” before meeting Kidman, revealing that his song lyrics about love were often at odds with his reality.
“I would write these songs about love and relationships; I remember writing ‘Somebody Like You’ and playing it for my girlfriend at the time, and she just looked at me and said, ‘You’re a f–king hypocrite,’ and I couldn’t argue that,” Urban confessed.
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Keith Urban Recounts His First Meeting With Nicole Kidman
Urban and Kidman met in 2005 and were married a year later. They have two daughters, Sunday Rose and Faith Margaret.
During an emotional tribute to his wife at the 49th AFI Life Achievement Award Gala on April 27, Urban reminisced about their first meeting.
The country star recounted how “nervous” he was upon meeting the Oscar Award-winning actress at a G’Day LA event in January 2005.
“I was trying to play it cool, but inside, I felt like I’d snuck into the royal ball simply because Nic had such a truly otherworldly aura about her,” he recounted. “I felt a bit like I was meeting a real-life princess. Despite my nerves, I managed to get her phone number on a tiny piece of paper.”