London: Singer Keith Urban has praised his actress wife Nicole Kidman for helping him beat drug addiction a decade ago.
The 48-year-old “Kiss A Girl” singer was at the museum in Nashville, Tennessee on December 1 to launch the “Keith Urban So Far…” retrospective, which documents his career, reported Female First.
During a reception at the launch party, Urban paid tribute to all those who have helped him both professionally and personally, including his actress wife, who was on hand to support her singer husband.
Urban explained that it took a while to get his career on track, and his struggle to find success contributed to his battle with substance abuse.
He did not get clean until 2006, shortly after he wed Kidman, who arranged an intervention and a rehab stint at the Betty Ford Center.
“In so many ways, it was the most powerful act of love in reaching into the fire and pulling me out, because she believed in me, and she saw something in me in such a way that she risked everything, everything, to trust me and pull me out of the fire, and let me then do the right thing and move into the light,” he said of Kidman.
“I didn’t know (anything) about it until I met my wife. I didn’t know anything about love. I didn’t know anything about marriage. I didn’t know anything about self sacrifice. I didn’t know anything about taking care of a woman. Nothing. I took hostages. I didn’t have relationships. I took hostages.
He thanked Kidman for helping him see his real self.
“Nicole, God bless you for coming in and seeing something in me, that I may never have seen, but certainly if I ever had, I had long lost sight of that person. And you saw that and you gave me a chance, and I thank you enormously for that.”
Urban concluded, “There’s a great Hemingway quote that says, ‘The world breaks everyone, and afterwards some are strong at the broken place,’ and I feel that that is what my wife brought to me. I’m strong in the broken places, because she saw something in me, and I love you for that.