The INSIDER Summary:
- Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban have been married for more than 10 years, and still look completely smitten.
- They've had a love story full of commitment, and have had to overcome challenges to get where they are today.
- The pair has some good advice for keeping their marriage strong.
For two A-listers, Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban have kept their 10-year marriage relatively out of the limelight. But when they attend events together, like Sunday's 2017 Emmy Awards, viewers are quickly reminded just how in love the couple is.
Because they've been together for so long, many may not remember how they got together in the first place. In reality, their love story has ups and downs that explain why the couple is still so committed to each other to this day.
2001: Kidman and Tom Cruise divorced.
Before she was married to Urban, Kidman had an 11-year marriage to Tom Cruise, who she married when she was just 23. Kidman told Red magazine that even she is still shocked she got married that young.
"I was so young when I got married," she told them. "I look back now and I'm like, 'What?'"
Cruise and Kidman adopted two children together —Isabella and Connor. They split in 2001, and divorce papers obtained by Entertainment Weekly showed that Kidman was blindsided by Cruise's decision to file for divorce. She claimed in court documents that she asked him to go to counseling with her to try and make it work, but he refused.
Although Kidman said that some of her most successful work came out of her divorce, including her 2012 Oscar win, she said that her success made her realize that she was lonely and wanted more from her life than professional success.
"I was holding a gold statue and I was the loneliest I'd ever been," she told Red.
2005: Kidman and Urban met for the first time.
The pair met at the 2005 G'Day USA gala, which honors Australians in Los Angeles. Kidman revealed that she didn't think Urban was smitten with her when they first met, though it's clear he's smitten now.
"I'm like, 'You didn't love me at first sight, you didn't notice me,' and he's like, 'Yes I did but I just didn't let on,'"she told Ellen in 2013. "But we kind of met and then about four months later he called me."
Kidman said Urban told her he had "things to he had to take care" of before he could ask her out, but once he did, everything fell into place for the couple.
2006: They got married and had immediate challenges.
Kidman said she knew she wanted to marry Urban after just a month of dating. They gave it some time though, eventually marrying in June 2006.
“I kind of like getting married and then getting to know each other; I know that it sounds incredibly strange, but to me, it’s a more natural process,” Kidman told Elle magazine in 2014.
But the couple hit a rough patch almost immediately — in October 2006 Urban checked into rehab for an alcohol addiction. Kidman canceled a press tour so she could support and visit him. Urban said later that facing this big challenge so early in their marriage actually brought the two closer.
"Definitely we both met each other exactly at the right time,"Urban told People magazine in 2007. "She said early on that she wanted to be brave with me. I feel there was something else at work, bringing us together and then just continuing to watch over us."
Though Kidman had kept her relationship troubles with Cruise under wraps, she said the couple's decision to go public with Urban's rehab journey was a conscious one.
"You can try and hide it, smoke and mirrors and all, but then how do I visit every weekend?" she told Vanity Fair in 2007. "It's been a huge lesson for me too."
2007 - present: Kidman and Urban shared some tips for a healthy marriage.
Their commitment to each other has payed off because today Urban and Kidman seem to have a healthy and stable marriage. They have two children together — Sunday Rose and Faith Margaret — and the couple has been pretty candid about how important they are to each other.
"Meeting her and getting married wasn't life-changing, it was life-beginning," Urban told CBS. "It was literally, like, 'OK, life starts.'"
But you don't get through more than 10 years of a happy marriage without a little work. They apparently write love letters to each other, almost never text or e-mail (except for the occasional sext), and said they try not to go without seeing each other for three days.
Though it's clear how in love they are just by seeing how they look at each other, hearing Urban and Kidman speak about their relationship is truly a testament to all the hard work that they put into their marriage.
"I have a wife who is just from another planet," Urban said. "She is so celestial. I say that I was born into her. That is the best way I can describe how I feel about her and us."