Keith Urban Opens Up About Being Sober For 19 Years
on Jun 02, 2025
Keith Urban Has Had A Remarkable Journey To Sobriety
Country superstar Keith Urban has had quite the journey to where he is today in his sobriety.
The “Somebody Like You” singer recently opened up about choosing sobriety almost 20 years ago, and never looking back.
“All through the years of drinking and doing drugs, the rest of it, I always had this very specific voice inside of me that goes, one day, you’re going to come to a crossroads, or a fork in the road” Keith explained. “And it’ll be the final one. You’re either going to choose to get out of this s*** or you’re never going to get out of it.”
The singer shared how eventually that time came, and his wife Nicole Kidman called an intervention, he knew he had to get sober once and for all.
“I knew that was it. I’m like ‘oh’ this is that fork in the road, here it is,” Keith explained.
Keith Urban’s Struggle With Drugs And Alcohol
Keith checked himself into rehab for the first time in 1998 for his alcohol and cocaine addiction.
At the time, he had some initial success in Nashville, appearing in Alan Jackson’s music video for “Mercury Blues,” co-writing a song for Toby Keith’s 1995 Christmas album, and playing guitar on a couple Garth Brooks tracks.
Eventually, in 2006, the country star checked himself in once and for all at the Betty Ford Center in California.
“I deeply regret the hurt this has caused Nicole and the ones who love and support me. One can never let one’s guard down on recovery, and I’m afraid that I have,” Keith said at the time.
The singer later wrote a heartfelt thank you letter to Nicole for helping him get sober, in the form of a song titled “Thank You,” which was included on his 2009 album Defying Gravity.
He sings, “And I thank you for my heart / I thank you for my life / And I thank god for grace and mercy / And that you became my wife.”
During an interview with The Times in 2022, Urban addressed his addiction issues again, explaining that being sober forced him to live an entire new way of life.
“I had to find a different way to be in the world,” he said at the time. “I’m glad it didn’t change anything about my music. I wrote plenty of hit songs while drunk. I wrote plenty sober. I feel lucky it hasn’t defined my creativity.”
Urban On Breaking His Family History Of Addiction
While Keith admits his unhealthy habits did not alter his ability to create music, he has been vocal about ending toxic family cycles of addiction.
In September 2024, Urban released “Break The Chain” off his album High, an honest song about stopping the pattern of dysfunction that was passed down from his own father.
“I don’t know if my dad, who passed away a long time ago, would be okay with the song or not, but he would love that it’s truthful, and the intent of it is a forward motion of trying to do things different,” Urban said of the song.
Keith said it took discipline to change the trajectory for his family and get out of the cycle of abuse.
“My dad was an alcoholic, so I grew up in an alcoholic house and it took me a long time to believe I was wired the same.”
Listen to “Break The Chain” below.
