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These past months have been a bittersweet time for Keith Urban. While celebrating his new exhibit "Keith Urban So Far" at the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville, the 48-year-old revealed on Wednesday that his father Robert Urban is currently receiving treatment in hospice care.
Keith's new exhibit "Keith Urban So Far" features clothes sewn by his father Photo: Getty Images
"He's probably only got a few weeks, if that", the American Idol judge told The Tennessean. "I've just been dealing with that the last couple of days. This has all come at a very strange time where it's typical of a career that has extreme highs and extreme lows all often at the exact same time. So [the exhibit] is bittersweet a little bit because [my dad] is the catalyst for all of this. My dad is the catalyst for me living in America."
The exhibit, features memorabilia from the musician's early life and career, including family photos, damaged guitars and stage clothes that his father sewed for him when he was younger. “My dad particularly always thought it was important that I dressed like a performer,” Keith said. “A lot of these country music talent quests I did in Australia, they often had categories for best dressed male or best dressed female, and I often won. Sometimes it was the only thing I won.”
Although his father wasn't physically there to support him, Keith shared how Robert fostered a love of country music in him as a child during a trip to the record store in Australia to pick up Don Williams' album before hearing one of the singles.
“I said, ‘How do you know it’s going to be good?’” Keith said as he reflected to the crowd. “He said, ‘It’s Don Williams.' It hit me in such a way that I thought, ‘I want to make those kinds of records, that people know are going to be solid and they go out and get it.’ I want to thank Dad for starting me on this journey.”
Nicole said Keith "carried" her through her father's passing Photo: Getty Images
This isn't the only heartache for Keith and wife Nicole Kidman. Last September, the couple dealt with the sudden passing of his father-in-law Dr. Anthony Kidman. During an appearance on the Ellen DeGeneres Show, Nicole talked about how big of a support system her husband was during her time of grieving.
"He has been so good to me for nine years, but for the last month, which has been a really tough time for me … he's been amazing," Nicole shared with the talk show host in October 2014. "To have my husband just step up that way … it makes me cry. We all go through hard times in our lives, but to be literally carried by your partner, and physically, at times, because I was so devastated. I'll do anything for that man."