It was a night of a thousand stars, but one had a true twinkle in her eye.
Nicole Kidman attended the Oscars on Sunday alone and proudly so.
At the Vanity Fair afterparty, dazzling in a beaded gold Chanel gown, she even effortlessly upstaged the fourth richest man in the world, Jeff Bezos – laughing as she swanned behind him. She was radiant and happy. She was poised, powerful and loving life. Variety magazine had made her their Oscars-edition cover star, with a feature entitled: ‘Under her spell: The year of Nicole.’
On the eve of the ceremony, the 58-year-old Chanel ambassador was the belle of the French fashion house’s pre-Oscars ball, accompanied by daughters Sunday Rose, 17, and 15-year-old Faith.
Asked by Variety about her plans for that night, Kidman said she and the girls would be ‘sort of just tucking ourselves in, go home, have a bath and go to bed.’ She then added, with a wicked smile: ‘I may go out to a party or two… I should go out.’
Five thousand miles away, Kidman’s ex-husband was also in the spotlight – but looking rather more melancholy.
Keith Urban played the O2 Arena in London on Saturday night as the headline act in Country to Country – Britain’s biggest country music festival. And unlike his ex-wife, Urban was not exuding joy.
Asked by Variety magazine on Saturday for her plans for the night of the awards, Kidman said she and her daughters would be ‘sort of just tucking ourselves in, go home, have a bath and go to bed’
Kidman was ‘blindsided’ by her husband’s decision, a source told the Daily Mail at the time
‘We’re here to friggin’ forget about our lives outside of this arena,’ he told the crowd.
And well he may want to.
Urban, also 58, threw a grenade into his marriage of 19 years in September, when he told Kidman that he wanted out.
Kidman was ‘blindsided’ by her husband’s decision, a source told the Daily Mail at the time, and stunned that the singer, who is often away from home with his music, blamed her career for the split. Allies of the Australian actress told the Daily Mail she, ‘didn’t want this and has been fighting to save the marriage.’
Urban, meanwhile, appeared to sail through fall as a single man – reportedly with no shortage of young women to keep him company.
Urban’s apparent closeness to fellow country singer Karley Scott Collins, 25, drew comment, but both he and Kidman were silent on whether there were other parties involved. For her part, Collins denied any impropriety.
Yet what earlier composure Urban displayed now appears to be cracking, with Australian magazine, New Idea, recently reporting that he is ‘lost’ without his family.
And source now tells the Daily Mail that the former couple are not even speaking.
The source claims Urban is going through a ‘midlife crisis’, and has ‘turned into a totally different person’ in the last few months.
‘Nicole and Keith don’t really communicate,’ our source said. ‘Things got really bad at the end of their relationship and haven’t rebounded.
‘Keith seems to really want to live the single life, almost like a midlife crisis since the split. He’s turned into a totally different person. It’s like she doesn’t know him at all anymore.’
Urban, 58, threw a grenade into his marriage of 19 years in September, when he told Kidman that he wanted out
Yet what earlier composure Urban displayed now appears to be cracking, with Australian magazine, New Idea, recently reporting that he is ‘lost’ without his family (pictured together in 2024)
On Sunday – while Kidman was basking in the glow of the Oscars, and Urban was mourning his loss in London – New Idea, published further claims that Urban was devastated at a recent interview his daughter Sunday Rose had given.
The teenager, who in October modeled for Dior during Paris fashion week, and last month was in New York for the Calvin Klein catwalk, thanked her mother in the Elle Australia article for her creative influences and work ethic, but made no reference to her famous father.
‘It’s like he doesn’t exist,’ an insider complained to the magazine, adding that Urban was ‘just numb’ about the brush off.
‘Keith doesn’t know what to say, but he’s trying to put on a brave front. He knows he has to be patient; however, this latest snub – so publicly, there in black and white – has stumped him.’
Sources speaking to the Daily Mail strongly rejected any idea that Kidman has turned her daughters against their father.
Instead, they argue that the girls are old enough to see the situation with their own eyes and, what’s more, they are spending the lion’s share of their time with their mother.
As per a custody agreement, Kidman gets 306 days of the year with the children and he gets them for just 59, including Thanksgiving. The Daily Mail previously reported, however, that Urban had initially asked for ‘equal time’ with their daughters, leaving Kidman ‘anxious and distressed that he wasn’t going to budge.’
His mandated time now with the girls is from 10am on a Saturday to 6pm on a Sunday every other weekend.
‘Nicole hasn’t turned the kids on him, they’ve made their own choices about their dad,’ the source told the Daily Mail. ‘She isn’t like that. Keith hasn’t tried much to make things better in their eyes. The girls have always been very close with their mother. They are her everything.’
Their father’s behavior since the September split, the source added, had been noted.
‘Keith has been drawn to younger women now that he’s single and at least in the beginning when they first split, was going out a lot more and enjoying the lifestyle. He didn’t take the split well,’ the source said.
‘Nicole isn’t necessarily focused on finding a man or dating. It wouldn’t be surprising to see her with someone not famous, though.’
As per a custody agreement, Kidman gets 306 days of the year with the children and he gets them for just 59, including Thanksgiving. (Pictured: Kidman and her daughters Sunday Rose and Faith at Paris Fashion Week in October 2025)
‘Nicole hasn’t turned the kids on him, they’ve made their own choices about their dad,’ the source told the Daily Mail. (Pictured: Sunday with Kidman last year)
‘Nicole hasn’t turned the kids on him, they’ve made their own choices about their dad,’ the source told the Daily Mail. (Pictured: Faith with Kidman in March)
Urban’s friends, meanwhile, have told the Daily Mail that he is trying to be philosophical and hoping that time heals.
The singer is said to understand Kidman’s wish to hold her daughters close, given the painful consequences of her first divorce. Kidman and Tom Cruise divorced in 2001 after a decade of marriage, with joint custody of their two adopted children Isabella, now 33, and 31-year-old Connor.
Isabella and Connor both decided to remain with their father, on account of their shared Scientology beliefs – something which is said to pain Kidman to this day.
Urban, a source said, appreciates her concern.
‘The girls are definitely Team Nicole – they’re in her corner, they’re hurt and angry on her behalf,’ a source said. ‘There’s some resentment against Keith. If they are blaming someone, it’s him not her.
‘They’re really close to her. Nicole decided that she had a second chance at motherhood and has always taken it so seriously after everything that happened with Tom Cruise and those kids. She has been a fantastic mother, and the girls know it. So of course, they’re going to be close to her and protective of her.
‘Keith knows they’re mad at him, and it’s hurtful. He’s really worried about his relationship with them both. He’s hurt, but he feels like he can patch things up. He doesn’t blame Nicole and it doesn’t seem like she’s alienating them from him.
‘But he knows he has a lot of work to do, to repair things with them. But he’s determined to do it.’
Kidman, meanwhile, is taking the high road.
And she is on a roll.
Her new Amazon Prime series Scarpetta, based on a much-loved Patricia Cornwell medical examiner series and co-starring Jamie Lee Curtis, was launched earlier this month, and a second season has already been commissioned.
Later this year she will reunite with Sandra Bullock for Practical Magic 2, and she is currently filming the third season of critically acclaimed CIA drama Lioness, from master creator Taylor Sheridan.
She is traveling the world – Christmas with her family in Sydney; recent trips to Antarctica; flights booked for the Galapagos and Peru, to hike to Machu Picchu.
Kidman told Variety, for this week’s coveted edition, that last year she ‘was quiet,’ adding: ‘I had other things going on. I was in my shell.’
But now, she said, she is firing on all cylinders. Life, she said, is looking good.
‘I rally against limitations,’ she told the magazine. ‘I can explore all these things – and I’m like that in my personal life. This year and my next few years are for the adventures. I’m at a certain time in my life. I’m going to do the things I’ve always dreamt of doing that are not anything to do with work. Just to do with exploration.’
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