Posted on 10/22/2006 5:27:14 PM PDT by SkyPilot
New Zealand-born country singer Keith Urban has checked himself into a rehabilitation treatment centre for alcohol abuse.
Less than four months ago, Urban's career was on a crest when he married actress Nicole Kidman in a star-studded ceremony in Sydney.
And yesterday a statement from his publicist said his new wife was by his side when he went into rehab on Thursday, at an undisclosed location.
"I deeply regret the hurt this has caused Nicole and the ones that love and support me," Urban said in the statement.
Urban, who turns 39 on Thursday, has publicly acknowledged a former addiction to cocaine, and has also been described as a recovering alcoholic.
"One can never let one's guard down on recovery, and I'm afraid that I have," the statement reads. "With the strength and unwavering support I am blessed to have from my wife, family and friends, I am determined and resolved to a positive outcome."
Urban's uncle, Paul Urbahn of Hikurangi, Northland, said he heard the news on the radio. "It was a bloody shock." Urbahn, who attended the couple's wedding with his wife Julie, said they had never heard anything first-hand about Urban's substance abuse problem.
"It's all second and third-hand, out of newspapers and women's magazines. It's their business, I've learned over the years that everything is played very close to the chest."
Urban was born in Whangarei to Bob and Marienne Urbahn. Two years later, the couple took Keith and his brother Shane to Brisbane. A few years later, the family moved to a farm near the Sunshine Coast town of Caboolture. Keith first picked up a musical instrument, a ukulele, when he was four. He quit school at 15 and signed his first record deal with EMI in 1990 after winning a talent competition. He moved to Nashville in 1992 and dropped the "h" from his name for commercial reasons.
Kidman and Urban married on June 25. They then moved to Nashville, where Urban records. Urban won a Grammy this year for best male country vocalist for "You'll Think of Me," and was named top male vocalist for the second successive year by the Academy of Country Music.
A Country Weekly magazine reader poll this year named him country music's sexiest man.
Urban's new CD, Love, Pain & the Whole Crazy Thing, will be released on November 7 as scheduled, but he will postpone all upcoming promotional appearances. Urban will also likely cancel a scheduled appearance on the Country Music Association awards next month, his publicist said.
I wish him the best in his recovery.
Darn, I was hoping it was for hair abuse.
He always looks like a mess.
The pressures of Show Business and having a very high pofile marriage perhaps?
...We all know how cruel the MSM can be, even to some of their own.
R-A-G-G M-O-P-P!
RAGG MOPP!
Never heard any of his tunes, but gotta hope he can kick his addictions. I'd quit my vices if Ms. Kidman asked me to! :)
Keith Urban Tonight I Wanna Cry Alone in this house again tonight I got the TV on, the sound turned down and a bottle of wine There's pictures of you and I on the walls around me The way that it was and could have been surrounds me I'll never get over you walkin' away [Chorus:] I've never been the kind to ever let my feelings show And I thought that bein' strong meant never losin' your self-control But I'm just drunk enough to let go of my pain To hell with my pride, let it fall like rain From my eyes Tonight I wanna cry...(etc.)
Besh wishes to Keith.
I did a NAPSTER search of his music just now, and he does have a song titled "God's Been Good To Me" and another one about grace.
Anyway, I wish him the best. Too bad some Freepers here just want to joke about the guy's hair.
I don't understand why checking into rehab isn't confidential?
After he realized that he married Nicole Kidman, he went on a bender...
It does make you wonder. Especially after she spent 10 years married to Tom Crazy.
I'm not a huge country fan, but Urban's one I really like. He's really a rock guitarist. I bought Mrs. Choose Ye the live DVD of Keith Urban, and it is a fantastic concert.
He had a cocaine addiction in the past and wrote about how he licked it. I hope he'll be able to do the same with booze.
Love his music. HATE the hair.
LOL!
I love his music too.Hope he beats this addiction.
My mom said someone with his money should
be able to afford some shampoo.
Wish someone would start a Sarah Evans thread.
I'm not a huge country fan, but Urban's one I really like. He's really a rock guitarist.
Well, of course, he is,(a rock guitarist) and that's the point. He isn't country, and that's why he's popular, but I digress...
I don't really mean to celebrate anyone's pain, but....the current suits in Nashville have done everything they can to separate themselves from country music, while pretending to be part of it. They have gone to great lengths to tell writers not to write stories, serious lyrics, you know, those songs about drinking and divorce and who knows what else - just to write those positive, upbeat, nothing, empty songs for a new generation of young people who supposedly haven't (and won't) experience those things. GUESS WHAT!!!! Human nature is what it is, and it's really funny to see the ones who pretend they're above what they perceive country to be, to fall into the very same trap.
LOL. Well I hear this a lot. I think he looks fine. I used to date guys that looked like that when I was in high school, so it doesn't bother me. His hair. His business. And contrary to what a lot of people say, Keith is always "clean".
This isn't an urban legend?
Probably because the media would have been all over it when he wasn't around to promote the album that's about to come out. Not to mention the upcoming awards show he won't be attending. It's being made public on his terms.
He looks just fine to me too!
Oh yes, he is mighty fine! God Bless him in his recovery.
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