Keith Urban has admitted he was “scared” to make the first move with his now-wife Nicole Kidman after their first encounter.
The country music singer recalled meeting the Australian actress at a G’Day LA event in 2005 as he honoured her at the AFI Life Achievement Award Gala on Saturday.
“I 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,” he said during a speech. “I felt a bit like I was meeting a real-life princess. And despite all of that, I did manage to get her phone number on a tiny piece of paper.”
Urban admitted he carried her number in his pocket for a week before he finally mustered the courage to give her a call.
“I was scared. I was nervous to call her,” he continued. “I did, as you probably figured out, pluck up the courage to finally call her.”
Elsewhere in his speech, the singer praised Kidman for sticking by him when he went to rehab for three months shortly after they got married.
“We got married in June 2006 and barely four months into our marriage, my addictions that I’d done really nothing about, blew our marriage to smithereens,” he candidly shared. “I had no idea what was going to happen to us.
“And if you want to see what love in action really looks like, give that a whirl. Nic pushed through every negative voice, I’m sure even some of her own. And she chose love. And here we are tonight, 18 years later.”
The couple were joined by their daughters Sunday Rose, 15, and Faith Margaret, 13, on the red carpet for the first time.
Kidman became the first Australian to receive the AFI honour in Los Angeles on Saturday. She was also honoured by friends and co-stars including Reese Witherspoon, Meryl Streep, Naomi Watts and Zac Efron.
