Keith Urban Opens Up About His 19-Year Sobriety Journey

Keith Urban recently shared intimate details about his path to sobriety during an appearance on Apple Music’s “The Zane Lowe Show,” revealing how an inner voice guided him toward recovery nearly two decades ago. The 57-year-old country superstar, who celebrates 19 years of sobriety this year, described the moment he knew his battle with drugs and alcohol had reached its final crossroads.

“All through the years of drinking and doing drugs and all the rest of it, I always had this very specific voice inside of me that goes, ‘One day, you’re gonna come to a crossroads or a fork in the road, and it’ll be the final one,'” Urban shared with Lowe. “‘You’re either gonna choose to get out of this s— or you’re never gonna get out of it. That day is gonna come and it won’t be like well, if you mess it up this time, maybe next time. There won’t be a next time. And you’ll know when it comes.'”

That prophetic moment arrived in 2006, just four months after Urban married Nicole Kidman. When his wife organized an intervention, Urban immediately recognized it as the decisive moment his inner voice had been preparing him for. “I knew that was it,” he told Lowe. “I’m like, ‘Oh, this is that fork in the road.'”

Nicole Kidman’s Life-Saving Intervention

The timing of Kidman’s intervention proved crucial to Urban’s recovery journey. The couple had recently wed in June 2006 when Kidman made the difficult decision to confront her husband’s addiction. Urban credits his wife with saving not just their marriage, but his life.

“She’s just the one, that was it,” Urban previously shared on Dax Shepard’s “Armchair Expert” podcast. “She’s the one that I was searching for my whole life, and everything not only changed, but had to change in me if I was going to go that road.”

The intervention presented Urban with a clear ultimatum that helped cement his decision. “It was literally like, ‘You either get this right now, or you are never, ever going to get it right. This is your one shot,'” he explained.

Despite achieving breakthrough success with his self-titled debut album in 1999, Urban continued struggling with addiction throughout his rise to stardom. His problems began after moving from Australia to Nashville, where he felt like an outsider in the country music scene.

Helping Others Find Their Path

Urban’s recovery journey extends beyond personal healing. He actively supports other artists facing similar struggles. Country singer Brantley Gilbert credits Urban with saving his life during a critical moment in 2011. When Gilbert was ready to leave rehab against medical advice, counselors arranged for him to meet Urban.

“If it weren’t for him, I don’t know if I’d be sober or be in the business anymore. I’d probably be dead,” Gilbert told the Tennessean in 2017. Their conversation helped Gilbert realize he could perform and create music without substances, leading to his own successful recovery.

Urban’s latest album, titled “High,” reflects his transformed relationship with the concept of getting elevated. “What makes you ‘high’ can mean whatever you want it to mean,” he explained in a press release. For Urban, that high now comes from family, music, and especially live performances—his “safe place” that remains unchanged from his struggling years.