Nicole Kidman would 'do anything' for husband Keith Urban: 'He's amazing'

Nicole Kidman was honored with an AFI Lifetime Achievement Award this week and, as always, she had her husband of 17 years by her side.

Kidman and husband Keith Urban were also joined at the event by their teenage daughters, Sunday Rose and Faith Margaret, who appeared to be making their red carpet debut alongside their parents.

Kidman and Urban are red carpet regulars. They last made a splash when the now 56-year-old was a best actress nominees at the 94th Academy Awards in 2022. She was being recognized for her work as Lucille Ball in "Being the Ricardos," also a best picture nominee.

Back then, Urban showed his support for Kidman in a tweet posted after nominations were announced. "You gave it everything," he wrote.

The first Academy Awards ceremony Kidman and Urban attended as a couple was in 2008.

Urban, a country music star, was also by Kidman's side at the Oscars in 2011, when she was nominated for best actress in “Rabbit Hole,” and again in 2017, when she was nominated for best actress in “Lion.”

In honor of the 2022 Academy Awards, learn more about Kidman and Urban’s marriage, still going strong. Speaking to TODAY in 2020, Kidman raved about Urban. “I’m married to a really good man,” she told Jenna Bush Hager.

Their relationship history might help explain why their red carpet photos are always so adoring.

Kidman had a 'crush' on Urban when they first met in 2005

During a 2017 appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Kidman recalled meeting Urban for the first time at an event in L.A. Kidman said she "crush" on him after they crossed paths at the 2005 G’Day USA Gala. (Kidman said she also once had a crush on Jimmy Fallon — but that's a different story).

“I remember thinking, I had such a crush on him, and he wasn’t interested in me,” she said at the time. “It’s true! He didn’t call me for four months.”

On Instagram, Urban shared a photo of him and his future wife "minutes after being introduced," he wrote.

Why the delay? Urban thought Kidman was 'out of his league'

When asked why he took so long to call her, Urban told Andrew Denton on the Australian show "Interview" in 2018 that he thought Kidman was too good for him.

“I thought she was way out of my league,” he said. “I might have a wild imagination of possibilities in life, obviously, but not in a million years did I think that somebody like that would be interested in me. At all."

The "Wild Hearts" singer noted that he met Kidman during a difficult time in his life. After a friend passed along Kidman's number, Urban felt frozen. "I kept looking at it thinking, ‘If I call this number, she’s going to answer. I don’t know what (to) say,’” he explained.

At the time, Urban said he lacked confidence. "I wasn’t in a very healthy place in my life. I’d never have thought she’d see anything in a guy like me," he said.

When he finally called, their connection was seamless. "We started talking and we talked and talked and talked and talked and it was effortless," he said.

The couple's wedding took place in 2006, and Kidman can recall the exact moment she knew she wanted to marry Urban

Urban and Kidman were married in a ceremony in Sydney in June 2006, per People.

Speaking to People in 2019, Kidman recalled the moment, six months into their relationship, when she knew she wanted to call Urban her husband on day.

It was her 38th birthday, and Urban stood outside her stoop at 5 a.m. holding gardenias. “That is when I went, ‘This is the man I hope I get to marry,'" she said.

Years later, Urban celebrated their 15th anniversary with an Instagram post. "My life started when you said ‘I do’ 5475 days ago today," he wrote.

Urban calls Kidman an "amazing mother" to their kids

Kidman and Urban share two children together: daughter Sunday, 13, and daughter Faith, 11. (Kidman is also mom to Isabella, 29, and Connor, 27, whom she adopted with ex-husband, Tom Cruise.)

Sunday and Faith joined their parents on the red carpet for the 49th AFI Lifetime Achievement Award Gala at Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles on April 27, 2024.

The quartet went with Kidman's sister, Antonia Kidman, and her husband, Craig Marran.

The "Days of Thunder" actor's nieces Sybella Hawley, Lucia Hawley and nephew Alexander Kidman Marran also attended the event.

During a 2014 TODAY appearance, Urban spoke about how Kidman manages to balance parenting and career obligations.

“The thing I marvel at the most is how she does that and takes care of our family. She’s an amazing wife and mother,” Urban said.

Urban gave Kidman the credit for keeping the family running, day-to-day.

“People ask me, ‘How do you do it?’ I say, ‘It’s Nic!’... she’s got all of us so incredibly taken care of. She’s amazing,’” Urban told TODAY.

Kidman, on her end, sometimes wished she could take on more. Speaking to People in 2019, Kidman revealed that she would have liked to have more children with Urban, had they met earlier.

“We go, ‘Oh gosh, I wonder if we met when we were 25, then we could’ve had 10 of them!’” Kidman told People. “But Keith says, ‘Stop the wanting mind.’ It’s far better to be completely in love and satiated with what you’ve been given, what we’ve been given.”

Urban said he was "blessed" to have Kidman by his side during his sobriety journey

In an interview with Rolling Stone in 2016, Urban opened up about his experiences with substance abuse and the role Kidman played in his recovery.

Four months after their 2006 wedding, Kidman staged an intervention for her husband. He had been to rehab twice before, according to Rolling Stone. After the intervention, Urban checked into the Betty Ford Clinic, and has now been sober for 15 years.

“I was very, very blessed to have Nic call an intervention on me. I had a tight group of friends around me for the intervention,” Urban told Rolling Stone. Reflecting on the intervention with Oprah on the Oprah Winfrey Show in 2010, Urban said, "(The intervention) was done in such a way that the love in that room at that moment was just right. I was like, ‘Put the cuffs on, let’s go.’”

Urban told Rolling Stone it was a "miracle" his marriage survived this period, but he emerged from the experience reborn and "spiritually awoken."

"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,” Urban said.

Reflecting on the experience in 2019, Kidman told People, “Real love happens not when everything is going well but when things are going badly."

After her father died, Kidman said Urban "carried (her) through"

Kidman’s father, Dr. Antony Kidman, died unexpectedly in 2014 while visiting his daughter, Antonia, in Singapore, according to Australian news broadcaster ABC.

Speaking to Ellen DeGeneres on The Ellen DeGeneres Show not long after, Kidman said she went through a "really tough time," and that Urban rose to the occasion.

"When you have your partner who just literally carries you through a tough time ... Oh, he’s been amazing to me,” Kidman told DeGeneres. “To have my husband to step up in that way it makes me cry. I’ll do anything for that man."

Urban "does not get involved" in Kidman's career

Kidman is an esteemed actor who recently earned her fifth Oscar nomination, and starred in and produced the compelling TV shows "Big Little Lies," "Nine Perfect Strangers," and "The Undoing."

In her career as an actor, Kidman occasionally has to shoot intimate scenes with her co-stars. According to Kidman, Urban doesn't mind that aspect of her job.

“My husband is an artist, so he understands all of it, and he also does not get involved,” Kidman told E! News.

“He sees the show at the very end when it’s a show, all edited together, and his fresh eyes. He doesn’t read any script, he really doesn’t know what’s going on on the set, he’s got his own career that he’s completely absorbed in," she added.

Kidman joined Urban on stage in Las Vegas

Urban posted a video on Instagram of the moment, which took place in May 2022.

This article was originally published on TODAY.com