Most of the time, Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban couldn’t present themselves as more in love.
And yet, they’re the first to admit that in the early days of their marriage, things were very rocky indeed.
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Now, it can be revealed that the couple’s eye-watering prenuptial agreement was, in legal terms, made null and void in the first year of their marriage due to a secret clause written in by her lawyers.
And if recent widespread allegations that their relationship is struggling are true, Nicole, 53, could stand to take a large chunk of their fortune.
According to reports around the time of the couple’s star-studded 2006 Sydney wedding, their legal agreement stipulated that for every year they were married, Keith – who at the time was significantly less famous than Nicole – was entitled to $930,000.
However, it came with a very big “but” – namely, if Keith, 52, relapsed into his widely known drug and alcohol addiction, the contract between the pair would become null and void.
Further complicating matters, Nicole’s ex Tom Cruise insisted her lawyers demand that if Keith touched either substance, he must go to rehab in a bid to protect Isabella and Connor, the two children Tom and Nicole shared.
Given that Keith infamously found himself in rehab just months into their marriage, it appears he broke both clauses.
At the time, a source told Us Weekly: “Nicole will not entertain plans for kids until she
is sure Keith is back on track and clean again. They are both very much in love and have often talked about starting a family, but that has all been pushed aside while he deals with his problem.
“She already has two much-loved children and while she’s mothering Keith she’s hardly going to be in a position to have more.”
Fast-forward 14 years almost to the day, the couple live in Nashville with their two daughters Sunday, 11, and 9-year-old Faith.
While Keith has rocketed to A-list fame thanks to gigs on American Idol and the Aussie version of The Voice, Nicole’s net worth of $360 million still far eclipses his of $110 million.
It’s a nerve-racking comparison for Keith, given they have been plagued with rumours of marital discord.
“There’s been a lot over the years – pictures of him getting too close to young singers backstage, her literally kissing her Big Little Lies co-star Alexander [Skarsgård] on the mouth at the Emmys a few years back,” says a source.
“But this year a lot of people are saying there is serious tension between them. He doesn’t want her to reunite with Alex for a new movie, and she didn’t accompany him to both the Country Music awards last year and the Grammys this year.
“If there are genuine talks of divorce between them, this is going to be hugely complicated to work through,” the source adds.
“I guess on paper she doesn’t owe him a cent, but once you have kids that changes things. Plus, Nicole isn’t a nasty person and she’ll always want to make sure the father of her girls gets a fair deal … unless he really screwed up somehow.”
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