Country music bad boy Keith Urban has admitted his marriage to Nicole Kidman was about to collapse when he sought treatment last year for alcoholism.

The 39-year-old singer, who is a former crack cocaine addict with a reputation as a womaniser, checked into the Betty Ford Centre last October for a three-month rehabilitation programme

He says that several years before his June 2006 marriage to Nicole, he underwent treatment for cocaine abuse, but he never properly dealt with the root causes of his troubles.

And after he finished making his latest album, he discovered he had “this big monkey on my back”.

In an exclusive interview last week, he said: “When I was making the record, I was able to stay focused on that, and so I was in a relatively good place. When the record was finished, though, it all hit the fan.

“My wife was away. She hadn’t really been away before, and it came as a shock to me to be alone and not prepared for it: alone with this (addiction) that I had, this big monkey on my back.

“I think everybody was a little unsure what to do, other than my wife, who really took the reins. The way my wife did it and the place in which I was ready to surrender came together in such an alignment that it allows me to sit here today and be where I am.

“Not going in would have cost me my career at the very least, and my marriage would have been gone, anyway. That real cleansing and surrendering everything is what was really needed for me.

“I realised:’This is the crossroads of my life. If I want a life, this is the time to take charge’.”

“It sounds strange, but I’m glad it happened. There’s no doubt that what it’s done for our marriage has been truly divine. It has brought my wife and me to a place that may never have happened for us.

“It was just time to take care of my life.”

Urban’s astonishing admission follows weeks of speculation about his marriage.

The actress is known to have misgivings about her husband’s hellraising reputation.

During their stormy engagement, he assured her he was ready to settle down.

But friends remain worried about their very different lifestyles. Nicole is a glamorous leading lady from a middleclass Australian family, while Urban grew up on a farm and revels in his scruffy ‘Urban cowboy’ image.

Their romance followed her divorce from Tom Cruise, and other failed relationships, and she is said to be terrified that Urban is incapable of serious commitment.

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