Keith Urban Thanks Nicole Kidman, Fans
After three months, country singer Keith Urban has finished his stint in rehab at the Betty Ford Center and said he is now ready to get back to making music.
Urban posted a video message on his Web site that he recorded Jan. 18 in which he thanked all his fans, family and friends for their support during his stay. Urban, who married actress Nicole Kidman in June, said she was instrumental to his success.
"My wife stayed extraordinarily strong and loving, and my friends and family were there," he said. "It's just been — it's been really overwhelming."
Urban, 39, said that he decided to enter rehab for alcohol abuse not because of one "cataclysmic event," but the accumulation of small things that where making his like unmanageable. He entered rehab for cocaine addiction in 1998.
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He entered rehab in October, only four months after marrying Kidman. Despite the bad timing — Urban said he missed his birthday, Thanksgiving, all the Holidays and his record was just released — he decided to enter for what he thought would be 30 days.
"It was a time that had a lot of consequences, that particular three months," he said. "That first 30 days, I learned what they say in there that abstinence is the ticket in to the movie, it's not the movie. So learning about abstinence was one thing but there was all this other area of my life to start learning about. Thirty days became 60, 60 became 90."
Urban said with each week that passed, he learned to surrender, especially with his career. He said he spent a lot of time playing around on the guitar, but also said that the e-mails and letters he received helped the time go by. But now Urban said he is ready to show his fans how much he appreciates their outpouring of support.
"It feels really good to go through it and be where I am right now is starting on that road to getting back to doing what I love, which is playing music," he said. "I am looking forward to coming to your town and thanking you personally."