Country music star Keith Urban, 57, recently stepped onto the stage for his first show since news of his split from Nicole Kidman, 58, became public. It seems he wasn’t in the mood for any romantic tunes. He notably left out a love song inspired by his estranged wife from his setlist on Thursday, October 2. The performance took place at the Giant Center in Hershey, Pennsylvania.
The song in question, "The Fighter," is a duet with fellow country superstar Carrie Underwood. Urban removed it from his concert lineup just after reports surfaced earlier this week about his separation from Kidman. The track, released in 2016, features heartfelt lyrics that now carry a different weight: "What if I fall? / I will never let you fall / What if I cry? / I will never make you cry / What if I get scared? / I will hold you tighter / When they try to get to you, baby, I’ll be the fighter."
Back in a March 2017 chat with The Boot, Urban once shared the personal story behind the song. "It was a very quick song to write, because I literally thought of Nic, and me and our relationship at the beginning, and some of the things we had said got put into that song," he explained at the time. This makes its recent removal all the more poignant.
Urban is currently on his High and Alive World Tour, where "The Fighter" was a regular feature. Interestingly, he had already started tweaking the song’s lyrics at a recent show. Instead of singing about Kidman, he had playfully changed the words to highlight his guitarist, Maggie Baugh, 25. Videos shared on social media showed Urban singing, "When they try to get to you, Maggie, I’ll be your guitarist." However, Baugh was not on stage with him for Thursday’s show.
The news about the couple’s separation hit the headlines on Monday, September 29, confirmed by Us Weekly. They had been married for 19 years. The very next day, Kidman, known for her role in Babygirl, filed for divorce. She cited "irreconcilable differences" as the reason, stating that the separation date matched her filing date.
Kidman is asking to be named the "primary residential parent" for their two daughters: Sunday, 17, and Faith, 14. It’s worth remembering that Kidman also shares two other children, Bella, 32, and Connor, 30, with her former husband, Tom Cruise.
Along with her divorce filing, Kidman also presented a marital dissolution agreement, signed by both her and Urban. This detailed agreement included a parenting plan and a child support plan, plus a "parenting seminar order." According to the parenting plan, their minor children will spend 306 days each year with their mother and 59 days with their father. This includes alternating weekends. The ex-couple also agreed to make all significant decisions regarding Sunday and Faith together. However, the plan clearly states that if they can’t agree on a major decision for either child, Kidman will have the final say.