kem. I feel like I’ve been made a fool of…” — Keith Urban’s haunting words resurface as Nicole Kidman’s steamy Babygirl role sparks whispers that art wasn’t the only thing imitating life

The movie that was supposed to earn Nicole Kidman another wave of Oscar buzz may have ended up tearing her marriage apart instead.

When Babygirl premiered at film festivals last year, the buzz in Hollywood was not only about the movie’s raw and erotic scenes but also about the husband who stayed home. Keith Urban, who had been by Kidman’s side for nearly twenty years, skipped both the Venice and Toronto premieres completely. His absence spoke louder than any interview ever could.

In Babygirl, Kidman plays a powerful CEO who begins an affair with her much younger intern, played by Harris Dickinson, while stuck in a passionless marriage with Antonio Banderas. The story was bold, but it also felt uncomfortably close to real life. It portrayed a woman who was frustrated in her marriage and went searching for something she could no longer find at home. As a result, the line between acting and reality began to blur.

According to Page Six, several insiders claimed that Urban did not like the film and did not even like Nicole promoting it. One source explained that he felt embarrassed by the story and worried that people would laugh at him because of the movie’s erotic tone and its similarity to his own marriage.

That discomfort eventually grew into something much deeper.

By the time the Babygirl press tour began, Urban’s absence was impossible to ignore. The couple who used to walk red carpets together now appeared to be living separate lives. Kidman appeared alone, smiling for photographers in designer gowns, while Urban focused on his tour and kept his distance.

Then came the radio interview that made headlines. During an Australian broadcast in July, a host asked Urban how he felt about his wife filming love scenes with younger actors such as Zac Efron and Harris Dickinson. Before the question was even finished, the call disconnected. “I think his team hung up on us,” the producer said live on air. It was awkward, public, and hard to forget. Keith Urban, the man who could face thousands of fans without flinching, did not seem ready to face a question about his wife’s movie.

Sources close to the couple later insisted that Urban did not hang up, but by then, everyone had already noticed the tension.

By late summer, Kidman was attending events on her own, and Urban had stopped wearing his wedding ring during concerts, including one in Hershey, Pennsylvania. A few days later, Nicole filed for divorce in Nashville.

It was a painful ending for a couple who once seemed unstoppable. Kidman and Urban had always managed to find balance between their two worlds, with her thriving in Hollywood and him staying grounded in country music. She stood by him through addiction recovery and career struggles, and he supported her creative choices through decades of bold projects. However, Babygirl was different. It became the spark that revealed cracks that had been there all along.

A source close to the couple told Page Six that the decision to separate came from Urban. They said that sometimes relationships simply run their course. Another insider added that Nicole wanted to save the marriage but could not. The source explained that the intimacy was gone and that the pair were simply going through the motions.

That kind of heartbreak feels like something pulled straight out of a country song.

For Kidman, Babygirl was meant to be another fearless moment in her career. She has always chosen roles that challenge expectations, portraying women who want more, who hurt deeply, and who refuse to hide from their truth. She confronted domestic abuse in Big Little Lies and explored sexual obsession in Eyes Wide Shut, and this film was simply another step in that same fearless direction.

For Urban, though, it felt too personal. Watching his wife on screen in intimate scenes with a man young enough to be their son may have been something he could never move past.

Now, as Kidman focuses on new films and Urban pours his emotions into his music, their story feels heartbreakingly familiar. It is the kind of story that country music was built on, a love that once survived fame, distance, and addiction but could not withstand what life finally threw at it.

The movie was called Babygirl, but in the end, it became the final verse in a love song that had already begun to fade away.