Archive September 30, 2025

Keith Urban’s confession about Nicole Kidman marriage struggles resurfaces after split

Following Nicole Kidman’s and Keith Urban’s reported separation after 19 years together, Keith Urban’s past struggles with addiction and early marriage issues have come under spotlight once more.

A video of Keith Urban reflecting on his struggles with addiction and the early days of his marriage to Nicole Kidman has resurfaced following news of the couple’s separation.

On Monday, it was reported that the Oscar-winning actress, 58, and the country singer, 57, have ended their 19-year marriage. The couple, who share daughters Sunday Rose, 17, and Faith Margaret, 14, have reportedly spent increasing time apart due to busy filming and touring schedules.

Urban and Kidman both publicly acknowledged how their relationship had almost been ruined by their addictions during the resurfaced video that was shot during the AFI Life Achievement Award Gala Tribute in June 2024.

He said, “We married in 2006, and just four months into our marriage, the addictions that I had no choice but to deal with blew our marriage to pieces.” I’m in rehab for three months after we got married, and I have no idea what would happen.

READ MORE: Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban’s net worth as pair ‘split after 19 years of marriage’READ MORE: Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban ‘separate after 19 years as they live apart’

Urban attributed Kidman’s assistance in surviving that challenging time to Urban. Every negative voice was pushed in by Nic. She chose love, I’m sure of her own, and she did it. 18 years later, we are right here tonight. No one I’ve ever met has the ability to love like that.

Kidman’s emotional confession to her husband’s emotional confession caught her eye as she watched him wring a tear away during the speech.

The singer has openly acknowledged his long-term struggle with alcohol and drugs. He claimed to have had Nic intervened on me in 2016 and that he was “very, very blessed.” My new marriage sank because of my careless choices.

He later referred to the transformative impact of the Oprah Winfrey-led intervention. He said at the time, “The love in that room was just right.” To witness that kind of love in action That was unlike anything I’d ever gone through.

Urban acknowledged in 2021 that he had compared everything to his father because of his drinking. However, I finally made the wise choice that my father would have made in life.

Even after achieving sobriety, Urban has occasionally sparked tension with comments about his past. A recent remark comparing Ariana Grande’s single We Can’t Be Friends to “audible heroin” reportedly upset Kidman, with a source telling Woman’s Day that it “brought back a very dark time for them when they almost split.”

Friends say the couple has grown increasingly apart due to professional commitments in recent months and is the reason behind their split. “Keith never sees Nicole, either she is filming or he is on tour. There was a lot of love between the two and they might not divorce, but there is a world that they both live where neither of them are in it,” a source told TMZ.

The insider also claimed that since Urban moved out of their home, Kidman had been “holding the family together through this difficult time” and had been taking care of their two children. According to reports, the Oscar winner has been attempting to save their union.

Nicole met the country singer at the G’Day USA Gala the year before, and the former couple got married in 2006. In 2017, she later admitted to telling Ellen DeGeneres, “I had such a crush on him, and he wasn’t interested in me.”

” It’s true! For four months, he called me. Keith gushed about it in a 2016 interview with CBS News. It was a life-beginning, not a life-changing experience meeting her and getting married.

After becoming engaged in May 2006, they wed in the St. Patrick’s Estate in Sydney, Australia later that year. Shortly after marrying, Keith was checked into the Betty Ford Center to seek help for alcohol addiction.

Continue reading the article.

The Mirror has reached out to Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban’s representatives for comment.

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READ MORE: Maura Higgins says affordable £10 root spray ‘saves her life’ and covers grey hairs

Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 1,314

Here is how things stand on Tuesday, September 30 :

Fighting

  • Russia’s President Vladimir Putin said his forces are prevailing in what he described as a “righteous battle” in Ukraine. “Our fighters and commanders go on the attack, and the entire country, all of Russia, is waging this righteous battle and working hard,” he said.
  • President Putin signed a decree ordering the conscription of 135,000 men for military service, the official government newspaper Rossiyskaya Gazeta reports. Russian men aged 18 to 30 are to be drafted between October 1 and December 31.
  • Ukraine’s military said it shot down a Russian helicopter using a remote-controlled drone near the village of Kotlyarivka in the eastern Ukrainian region of Donetsk.
  • A Russian drone attack on Monday night killed a family of four – including two young children – in the northeastern Sumy region, Oleh Hryhorov, the head of the regional military administration, wrote on the Telegram platform.
  • Ukraine has recaptured more than 170 square kilometres (66 square miles) of territory near the eastern town of Dobropillia in recent counteroffensives, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, adding that Russian forces had lost nearly 3,200 soldiers in the operation.
  • Popular Ukrainian war blog DeepState said Ukrainian forces had given up the village of Poltavka, east of Dobropillia in Donetsk.
  • Russia’s Ministry of Defence said its air defence system intercepted four HIMARS rockets and three Neptune missiles fired by Ukrainian forces over the past 24 hours.
  • The ministry also said Russian forces struck Ukrainian aviation repair enterprises and several temporary Ukrainian military bases, and took control of the Shandriglovo and Zarichne settlements, both northeast of the city of Sloviansk, in the Donetsk region.
  • Moscow’s air defence forces intercepted and shot down 78 Ukrainian drones in the Russian regions of Bryansk, Belgorod, Voronezh, Moscow and Kursk from Sunday night to early Monday, Russia’s Defence Ministry said.
  • A fire ignited by a Ukrainian drone attack killed a child and his grandmother in a town outside Moscow, regional authorities said.
  • The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported 136 combat clashes with Russian troops over the past 24 hours up to Monday.
  • Ukrainian air defence forces reported shooting down and suppressing 23 drones in northern and eastern Ukraine and recorded nine drones hitting targets at eight locations.
  • The UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine has now been without offsite power for six days after recent attacks near the site that each of Russia and Ukraine blamed on the other.

Regional security

  • German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Europe “is not at war … but no longer at peace” with Russia. Russia’s war is “a war against our democracy and a war against our freedom”, Merz said, adding that Moscow intended to undermine unity in the European Union.
  • Germany is ready to protect the Baltic region and will respond to Russia’s threats in a united and responsible manner, German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said, describing Russia as the most significant and direct threat to NATO.
  • Lithuania’s Defence Minister Dovile Sakaliene said Russia’s recent violations of Lithuania’s airspace showed that NATO had to move from “air policing missions” to “genuine air defence”.
  • A drone defence system to be built on the EU’s eastern flank is also intended to develop offensive capabilities, the European Commission has proposed in a concept that became public on Monday.
  • Poland wants to see cooperation between the EU and Ukraine on developing drone technologies, Polish Defence Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz said.
  • Ukraine has proposed building a joint air defence shield with allies to protect against threats from Russia, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. “Ukraine proposes to Poland and all our partners to build a joint, fully reliable shield against Russian aerial threats,” he said in an address to the Warsaw Security Forum delivered via videolink.
  • Four NATO and EU countries bordering Russia plan to build concrete bunkers and anti-drone nets at vital energy facilities under a plan to protect their power grids following Russian drone incursions.
  • Russia’s state spending on national defence is set to fall slightly in 2026, according to draft budget materials submitted to parliament, but sources said it could be increased if needed. The documents show planned defence spending of 13 trillion roubles ($157bn) in 2026, down from this year’s post-Soviet high of 13.5 trillion roubles ($162bn).
  • New drone fragments were found in the eastern Romanian county of Tulcea, neighbouring Ukraine, the country’s Defence Minister Ionut Mosteanu said. “We just found another drone, another Russian drone that fell down on our territory in the Danube Delta. And this is a common thing for the last three and a half years,” the minister said.

Military aid

  • Russia said its military was analysing whether or not the US would sell Tomahawk cruise missiles to Ukraine for strikes deep into Russia, a step that Russian officials say could trigger a steep escalation. “It would be a game changer, it would significantly enhance the range that Ukraine can strike,” said Dalibor Rohac, a senior fellow at The American Enterprise Institute.
US Navy Tactical Tomahawk Block IV cruise missile escorted by F-14 Tomcat fighter jet in flight [File/AP]

Politics and diplomacy

  • President Putin signed a law to pull Russia out of the European Convention for the Prevention of Torture, a landmark agreement that aims to strengthen the rights of people deprived of their liberty, such as prisoners.
  • Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban said Ukraine was not a sovereign country, as he rejected accusations that Hungarian reconnaissance drones violated Ukrainian airspace. “Ukraine is not a sovereign country, Ukraine is financed by us, the West gives it funds, weapons,” Orban said.
  • Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said in a post on X that Orban was “intoxicated by Russian propaganda”.
  • Hungary said it was blocking access to 12 Ukrainian news sites after a similar move by Kyiv. Earlier this month, Ukraine blocked eight Hungarian-language portals, among them a popular pro-government news site, origo.hu, over pro-Russian content.
  • The Council of Europe awarded its 2025 human rights prize to Ukrainian journalist and rights activist Maksym Butkevych, who joined the Ukrainian army and was released last year after being captured by Russian forces.
  • Moldova’s pro-European governing party of President Maia Sandu – the Party of Action and Solidarity – won a resounding victory over its Russian-leaning rival – the Patriotic Bloc – in a key parliamentary election, results on Monday showed.

Economy

  • Russia-controlled Crimea has frozen fuel prices and imposed petrol rationing in response to shortages resulting from a spate of Ukrainian drone attacks on Russian oil refineries. Motorists in Crimea, which Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014, are to be limited to buying 30 litres (8 gallons) of fuel at a time, the Russian-occupied region’s governor Sergei Aksyonov said.
  • British Treasury chief Rachel Reeves said the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East and Trump’s tariff war have caused “harsh global headwinds”, and hard economic choices loom when she sets out the UK’s budget in November.

Sanctions

  • The International Paralympic Committee’s decision to lift the temporary suspension of Russia and Belarus from its games is a “bold step” but “many will argue it is premature” while Moscow continues to wage war, former IOC executive Terence Burn said.

Boyzone to reunite for huge one-off show with tribute to Stephen Gately

Boyzone are set to reunite for a huge one-off gig in 2026.

The group will take to the stage in London on Saturday June 6. The reunion is set to include all original members of the band who have not performed together in years.

Ronan Keating, Mikey Graham, Keith Duffy and Shane Lynch are also set to pray tribute to their late friend Stephen Gately during the show.

The announcement comes after the success of documentary Boyzone: No Matter What on Sky.

In a statement to The Sun: Boyzone said: “We’ve been truly blown away and humbled by the response to the documentary this year.

“The love we’ve felt from fans all over the world has inspired us to create the ultimate experience together, headlining our own stadium show. The four of us can’t wait to stand together again and enjoy One For The Road.”

The group first broke up in 2000, as their members went on to pursue solo careers, before reuniting in 2007. Boyzone performed their Thank You And Goodnight farewell tour between 2018 and 2019 and have not returned to the stage since.






Boyzone members (L-R) Keith Duffy, Stephen Gately, Ronan Keating, Mikey Graham and Shane Lynch


Boyzone are set to reunite next year for a huge one -off gig
(
Getty Images)

Earlier this year, Ronan Keating teased a comeback as he said the success of a Sky documentary mini-series about the band prompted the surviving members to discuss reuniting.

Speaking on the Scott Mills Breakfast Show on BBC Radio 2, Keating said: “The reaction was unbelievable, so we’ve obviously been talking about our story for the last 30 years, and we felt like that was kind of it, that maybe that was the end of the story.

“And well, we’ve all been chatting over the last few weeks, and I think 2026 might be a year for Boyzone to maybe try and do something.”

Following the interview, the band made a series of posts on their Instagram page with a picture of the band and the words “the journey continues”, and urged fans to sign up to a mailing list.

The group first broke up in 2000, as their members went on to pursue solo careers, before reuniting in 2007. Boyzone performed their Thank You And Goodnight farewell tour between 2018 and 2019 and have not returned to the stage since.

Asked by Mills how his bandmates were getting on, Keating said: “They’re really great… After the documentary, the reaction was crazy, it was unbelievable, honestly, even people that weren’t fans of Boyzone were contacting me saying, ‘I had no idea’.”






Stephen Gately, Louis Walsh and Andrew Cowles


Stephen Gately with Boyzone manager Louis Walsh and his partner Andrew Cowles
(
Getty Images)

Speaking about the documentary, he continued: “British Airways had it on the plane (to England) in the documentary section, and somebody was watching it next to me, and it was really awkward, I had to put a blanket over my head.”

Boyzone have had six UK number one singles and five UK number one albums, and are known for songs such as Love Me For A Reason, Words and No Matter What.

Gately died of natural causes at the age of 33 on October 10 2009 at his holiday home in Majorca. At an inquest into his death, officials told the court that the singer suffered a pulmonary oedema, or a build up of fluid in the lungs, which ultimately results in respiratory failure.

Boyzone to reunite for huge one-off show with tribute to Stephen Gately

In 2026, Boyzone are scheduled to play a massive one-time performance.

On Saturday, June 6, the group will take to the stage in London. All former band members who haven’t performed together in a while are expected to be a part of the reunion.

During the show, Ronan Keating, Mikey Graham, Keith Duffy, and Shane Lynch will all pray in honor of their late friend, Stephen Gately.

The documentary Boyzone: No Matter What was successful on Sky, and the announcement comes after that.

Boyzone stated in a statement to The Sun: “We’ve been truly blown away and humbled by the response to the documentary this year.

We created the ultimate experience together by performing our own stadium show in response to the fans’ love we’ve received from all over the world. The four of us look forward to returning to One For the Road to share a smile.

The group split up in 2000 as its members continued to pursue independent careers before reuniting in 2007. Boyzone did not play on stage since performing their 2018 and 2019 farewell tours on Thank You and Goodnight.

Boyzone members (L-R) Keith Duffy, Stephen Gately, Ronan Keating, Mikey Graham and Shane Lynch
Boyzone are scheduled to reunite for a massive one-off performance (Getty Images) next year.

Ronan Keating made a comeback earlier this year when he claimed the band’s surviving members were discussing reuniting after the success of a Sky documentary mini-series.

Keating said, “We’ve been talking about our story for the past 30 years, and we felt like that was kind of it, that maybe that was the end of the story.” She said, “The reaction was unbelievable.

We’ve all been conversing over the past few weeks, and I believe Boyzone might try to do something in 2026.

The band posted a picture of the band with the words “the journey continues” in a series of Instagram posts following the interview, and they also urged fans to sign up for a mailing list.

The group split up in 2000 as its members continued to pursue independent careers before reuniting in 2007. Boyzone did not play on stage since performing their 2018 and 2019 farewell tours on Thank You and Goodnight.

Mills asked Keating how his bandmates were getting along, and he responded, “They’re really great… After the documentary, the reaction was unbelievable, even people who weren’t Boyzone fans were contacting me and telling me, “I had no idea.”

Stephen Gately, Louis Walsh and Andrew Cowles
Louis Walsh, the manager of Boyzone, and Andrew Cowles, the partner (Getty Images) with Stephen Gately.

He continued, “British Airways had it on the plane (to England) in the documentary section, and it was really awkward, I had to cover myself with a blanket.”

Boyzone is renowned for songs like Love Me For A Reason, Words, and No Matter What, and has six UK number one singles and five UK number one albums.

Gately passed away on October 10, 2009, at the age of 33, at his home in Majorca. Officials at the inquest into the singer’s death told the jury that he had a pulmonary oedema, or a lungs’ buildup, that ultimately led to respiratory failure.

Why Heather Knight’s alter ego has returned

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“Being England captain becomes a big part of your identity. It’s an all-encompassing job. You’re always thinking about it, even if you’re on holiday.”

Heather Knight was speaking at the start of the 2024 summer, her ninth as England captain. It would be her last.

Warning: This piece contains language that some readers may find offensive.

An awful winter, including an early exit from the T20 World Cup and a clean-sweep humiliation in the Ashes, meant change was inevitable. Not even a skipper as successful, tenured and respected as Knight was safe.

If being replaced by Nat Sciver-Brunt meant one part of Knight’s identity was lost, there was another that had lain dormant, ready to be revived and unleashed.

“I used to have an alter ego when I first got into the team,” Knight tells BBC Sport. “Shitbag Shelley.

“That prankster, rebellious side got supressed when I was in a leadership position.

“The girls didn’t know I wasn’t captain anymore. When I sent a message out, I said ‘watch out, Shitbag Shelley is back’.”

For Knight (and possibly Shelley), the warning sent to her team-mates meant one decision had been taken.

Some leaders find it hard to return to the ranks. Knight had been captain for more of her England career than not. In that same interview from last summer, she expressed uncertainty over whether she could eventually play under another skipper.

When push came to shove, Knight found it “pretty easy” to continue playing for England, but a further setback was just around the corner. Three games into Knight’s new normal, a T20 against West Indies at Chelmsford in May, she suffered a hamstring injury that put her out for the rest of the summer.

“I was just getting my head around what not being captain looked like, embracing the extra freedom, then bang, injured,” says Knight.

A summer of rehab stretched out into Knight’s future. She was ruled out of The Hundred and in a race to be fit for the World Cup in India and Sri Lanka, starting on Tuesday. The hours, days and months of resting, stretching and check-ups also gave plenty of time to reflect on what had gone before.

Recency bias can paint an unfair picture of Knight’s time in charge. The ending turned sour, yet before that she guided England to World Cup glory in 2017 and drawn Ashes series against the mighty Australians in both 2017-18 and 2023.

Perhaps more importantly, Knight led English women’s cricket into the professional era and was never anything less than a superb role model in the growth of the game.

“The time the injury gave me helped me get over it a little bit better, move on and focus on what I need to do,” says Knight.

“I’m pretty proud of what I achieved in those nine years. It didn’t finish how I wanted, but that’s life sometimes. The powers that be wanted to have a fresh start and move on, and I’m completely accepting of that. I’m ready to close that chapter of my life.

“I feel like I have reflected and moved on. I’m hugely proud of that period of my career. I gave it everything and I’m pretty happy with the job I did.”

Being injured in summertime can give a cricketer a glimpse into normal life. While Knight still spent time mentoring London Spirit in The Hundred, she went to weddings she otherwise would have missed and travelled to watch the Lionesses’ victorious Euros campaign in Switzerland.

Inspired by Spirit and England team-mates Issy Wong and Charlie Dean, Knight has also taken up the guitar.

Hamstring on the mend, Knight and her guitar have made it to the World Cup. It is another tilt on the biggest prize in women’s cricket, three years on from a run to the final at a Covid-delayed tournament in New Zealand. For Knight, it is one more World Cup than she expected to reach.

“At the time I thought 2022 might be my last World Cup and I put a lot of pressure on myself to do really well,” Knight explains.

“That World Cup came at the end of a tough Ashes campaign, played in Covid restrictions. To be honest, my brain was a bit scrambled by that point.”

Realistically, this will be Knight’s last 50-over World Cup. She will be 35 in December, yet any thoughts of ending her playing career are only coming from others.

“Maybe I am at the age where I should be retiring, and that is a thing that comes from externally, rather than how I feel,” she says.

“People ask you more about it. ‘When are you hanging the boots up’ or ‘What’s your plan after you finish’. I still feel like I can make an impact and I’m playing really well, especially in T20 cricket. I probably had the best couple of years of my career in that format.”

For that reason, the T20 World Cup on home soil next summer is an obvious target, an opportunity to recreate the magic of the 2017 triumph at Lord’s. Australia are due to tour in 2027, but Knight says it is “silly” to look so far ahead to another crack at the Ashes.

“My hamstring might pop again and I’ll be saying ‘see you later’.”

Given what Knight has been through in the past year, it is a triumph to reach the World Cup, to be in line to play for England against South Africa in Guwahati on Friday.

Related topics

  • England Women’s Cricket Team
  • Cricket

Why Heather Knight’s alter ego has returned

Getty Images
  • 18 Comments

“Being England captain becomes a big part of your identity. It’s an all-encompassing job. You’re always thinking about it, even if you’re on holiday.”

Heather Knight was speaking at the start of the 2024 summer, her ninth as England captain. It would be her last.

Warning: This piece contains language that some readers may find offensive.

An awful winter, including an early exit from the T20 World Cup and a clean-sweep humiliation in the Ashes, meant change was inevitable. Not even a skipper as successful, tenured and respected as Knight was safe.

If being replaced by Nat Sciver-Brunt meant one part of Knight’s identity was lost, there was another that had lain dormant, ready to be revived and unleashed.

“I used to have an alter ego when I first got into the team,” Knight tells BBC Sport. “Shitbag Shelley.

“That prankster, rebellious side got supressed when I was in a leadership position.

“The girls didn’t know I wasn’t captain anymore. When I sent a message out, I said ‘watch out, Shitbag Shelley is back’.”

For Knight (and possibly Shelley), the warning sent to her team-mates meant one decision had been taken.

Some leaders find it hard to return to the ranks. Knight had been captain for more of her England career than not. In that same interview from last summer, she expressed uncertainty over whether she could eventually play under another skipper.

When push came to shove, Knight found it “pretty easy” to continue playing for England, but a further setback was just around the corner. Three games into Knight’s new normal, a T20 against West Indies at Chelmsford in May, she suffered a hamstring injury that put her out for the rest of the summer.

“I was just getting my head around what not being captain looked like, embracing the extra freedom, then bang, injured,” says Knight.

A summer of rehab stretched out into Knight’s future. She was ruled out of The Hundred and in a race to be fit for the World Cup in India and Sri Lanka, starting on Tuesday. The hours, days and months of resting, stretching and check-ups also gave plenty of time to reflect on what had gone before.

Recency bias can paint an unfair picture of Knight’s time in charge. The ending turned sour, yet before that she guided England to World Cup glory in 2017 and drawn Ashes series against the mighty Australians in both 2017-18 and 2023.

Perhaps more importantly, Knight led English women’s cricket into the professional era and was never anything less than a superb role model in the growth of the game.

“The time the injury gave me helped me get over it a little bit better, move on and focus on what I need to do,” says Knight.

“I’m pretty proud of what I achieved in those nine years. It didn’t finish how I wanted, but that’s life sometimes. The powers that be wanted to have a fresh start and move on, and I’m completely accepting of that. I’m ready to close that chapter of my life.

“I feel like I have reflected and moved on. I’m hugely proud of that period of my career. I gave it everything and I’m pretty happy with the job I did.”

Being injured in summertime can give a cricketer a glimpse into normal life. While Knight still spent time mentoring London Spirit in The Hundred, she went to weddings she otherwise would have missed and travelled to watch the Lionesses’ victorious Euros campaign in Switzerland.

Inspired by Spirit and England team-mates Issy Wong and Charlie Dean, Knight has also taken up the guitar.

Hamstring on the mend, Knight and her guitar have made it to the World Cup. It is another tilt on the biggest prize in women’s cricket, three years on from a run to the final at a Covid-delayed tournament in New Zealand. For Knight, it is one more World Cup than she expected to reach.

“At the time I thought 2022 might be my last World Cup and I put a lot of pressure on myself to do really well,” Knight explains.

“That World Cup came at the end of a tough Ashes campaign, played in Covid restrictions. To be honest, my brain was a bit scrambled by that point.”

Realistically, this will be Knight’s last 50-over World Cup. She will be 35 in December, yet any thoughts of ending her playing career are only coming from others.

“Maybe I am at the age where I should be retiring, and that is a thing that comes from externally, rather than how I feel,” she says.

“People ask you more about it. ‘When are you hanging the boots up’ or ‘What’s your plan after you finish’. I still feel like I can make an impact and I’m playing really well, especially in T20 cricket. I probably had the best couple of years of my career in that format.”

For that reason, the T20 World Cup on home soil next summer is an obvious target, an opportunity to recreate the magic of the 2017 triumph at Lord’s. Australia are due to tour in 2027, but Knight says it is “silly” to look so far ahead to another crack at the Ashes.

“My hamstring might pop again and I’ll be saying ‘see you later’.”

Given what Knight has been through in the past year, it is a triumph to reach the World Cup, to be in line to play for England against South Africa in Guwahati on Friday.

Related topics

  • England Women’s Cricket Team
  • Cricket