Keith Urban Recalls Being 'Nervous' to Call Nicole Kidman After They First Met: She's a 'Real-Life Princess'
The singer candidly spoke about his wife during his speech at her AFI tribute on April 27
Keith Urban is reminding everyone that he got it right when it comes to his longtime love for Nicole Kidman.
During the country croonerâs emotional speech honoring his wife at the star-studded 49th AFI Life Achievement Award Gala on Saturday, April 27, Urban recalled why he was too ânervousâ to make a move after they met.
âI 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,â said Urban, 56, remembering when he met Kidman, also 56, in January 2005 at a G'Day LA event in California.
Related: Nicole Kidman Feels 'So Lucky' for 18 Year-Marriage to Keith Urban: 'My Deep, Deep Love' (Exclusive)
âI felt a bit like I was meeting a real-life princess,â Urban added. âAnd despite all of that, I did manage to get her phone number on a tiny piece of paper.â
Urban carried her number in his pocket for a week, occasionally pulling it out to try to muster enough courage to call her.
âI was scared. I was nervous to call her,â he continued during his speech at Hollywoodâs Dolby Theatre. âI did, as you probably figured out, pluck up the courage to finally call her.â
The call went well, with the once-nervous Urban recalling how âthis mystic creatureâ turned out to be âjust a wide-eyed, giddy girl from the Sydney suburbsâ who is âutterly Aussie through and through,â even though she was born in Honolulu.
The AFI tribute to Kidman, which marked the first public red carpet event for her and Urban's teenage daughters, included other speeches from celebrity friends such as Reese Witherspoon, Naomi Watts and Zac Efron.
Related: Nicole Kidman's 4 Children: All About Bella, Connor, Sunday and Faith
âEveryoneâs speaking here tonight is going to talk about Nicâs talent, and I could easily do that myself,â Urban said. âI mean, she truly is one of the greats, as Russell Crowe said, and tonight proves that Iâm not just a biased husband.â
The proud husband went on to discuss how Kidman loved him even when he went to rehab for substance abuse shortly after they got married.
âI do want to take an opportunity to talk about Nic's heart and her spirit. We got married in June, 2006 and barely four months into our marriage, my addictions that Iâd done really nothing about, blew our marriage to smithereens,â Urban admitted. âAnd I went into the Betty Ford Center for three months. Four months into a marriage Iâm in rehab for three months. I had no idea what was going to happen to us.â
Related: Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban's Relationship Timeline
The story brought Kidman to tears as she listened in the audience, alongside her Big Little Lies costars â Meryl Streep and Witherspoon â and Morgan Freeman, who worked with her on Lioness.
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âIf you want to see what love in action really looks like, give that a whirl,â he said. âNic pushed through every negative voice, Iâm sure even some of her own. And she chose love. And here we are tonight, 18 years later.â
Not long after rehab, Urban released a song about Kidman called âGot It Right This Time,â featuring the heartfelt lyrics, âShe believes in me like Iâve been trying to do, Iâm seeing things Iâve never seen before. Ever since she came into my life, Iâve been a better man.â
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