Kidman files for divorce from Urban after 19 years
NASHVILLE, Tenn.
Nicole Kidman has filed for divorce from Keith Urban after 19 years of marriage, bringing a surprising end to a long and seemingly successful union that brought together two superstars from the worlds of movies and music.
The 58-year-old Oscar-winning actor petitioned on Sept. 30 to end her marriage to the 57-year-old Grammy winning country singer in a Nashville court. The documents state the couple has undergone “marital difficulties and irreconcilable differences.”
Kidman and Urban, two of the biggest stars to come out of Australia in recent decades, have been red carpet fixtures throughout their two-decade relationship, with Urban joining his wife at the Oscars and Kidman attending music events like the Academy of Country Music Awards.
The filings include a marriage dissolution and childcare plan agreed on by the couple and submitted for a judge's approval.
The plan asks that Kidman be the primary residential parent to the couple's two daughters, ages 17 and 14, having them for 306 days per year with Urban taking them for the other 59.
The filing states that each parent earns more than $100,000 per month and neither will need childcare or spousal support.
The marriage dissolution plan lays out a roughly equal division of joint assets, with each keeping all the assets that are in their own name, including the copyrights and royalties for their artistic work.
The detailed agreements suggests that the divorce had been in the works for well over a month at the least. Urban signed the parenting plan on Aug. 29, Kidman on Sept. 6.
It will take at least 90 days for the divorce to become final under Tennessee law.
Both raised in Australia, Kidman and Urban met in 2005 at a Los Angeles event honoring Australians and were married in Sydney the following year.
The marriage was the first for Urban and the second for Kidman, who was married to Tom Cruise from 1990 to 2001. Kidman also has two older children with Cruise.
The couple had publicly but lovingly described some marital difficulties, but there were still few if any signs they were headed for divorce. Media reports of their separation came just a day before the divorce filing.
