Keith Urban’s decision to quietly move out of the family home has been identified as the key factor in the collapse of his marriage to Nicole Kidman.

After The Daily Mail confirmed on Monday that the longtime couple have separated, sources now reveal that the Oscar winner, 58, and the country singer, 57, had been living apart before the split became public.

‘Their lives were moving in different directions, and once he quietly set up his own place, it felt like the writing was on the wall,’ one insider told People.

While Kidman had been making efforts to repair the relationship, the physical separation made reconciliation increasingly unlikely.

‘It really hasn’t been a secret in their circles that Keith and Nicole have been living separately for a while now,’ the source explained, noting that those closest to the couple saw the end coming.

According to a second insider, Kidman resisted the idea of divorce and had been determined to salvage the marriage.

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Keith Urban’s quiet move out of his family’s home has emerged as the decisive moment in the breakdown of his marriage to Nicole Kidman

‘She didn’t want this,’ the source said of the Big Little Lies star’s position. ‘She has been fighting to save the marriage.’

In the aftermath, Kidman is relying on her younger sister Antonia Kidman, who has stepped in as a key source of support.

‘Nicole’s sister has been a rock, and the entire Kidman family has come together to support one another,’ the insider added.

Kidman and Urban, who who wed in 2006, share daughters Sunday Rose, 17, and Faith Margaret, 14.

Another source close to the Australian actress says that, since the split, she has been taking care of the children and holding the family together through this difficult time while Urban has been away.

The country star has been on his High and Alive World Tour since May. He is due to perform in Hershey, Pennsylvania on Thursday.

Kidman and the children, meanwhile, are staying in Nashville, where the couple own a $4million compound.

On Monday, TMZ reported that Urban has ‘acquired his own residence in Nashville and has moved out of their family home.’

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Sources revealed that the Oscar winner, 58, and the country singer, 57, were living apart before the split became public

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‘Their lives were moving in different directions, and once he quietly set up his own place, it felt like the writing was on the wall,’ one insider told People

The Australian actress and Urban were last seen together publicly in June this year, when they were pictured attending a FIFA World Cup match in Nashville, Tennessee.

Back in July, Urban dropped a hint that all was not well between the pair when he dramatically hung up during a phone interview with a radio station after a crude question about Kidman’s raunchy recent scenes, such as in her movies Babygirl and A Family Affair.

For her part, and while promoting her Netflix series The Perfect Couple in September last year, Kidman admitted there was no such thing as a ‘perfect’ marriage.

‘There’s no perfect anything,’ she said, ‘anything that’s presented as perfect… forget it.’

Kidman was previously married to actor Tom Cruise for 11 years from 1990 to 2001. They adopted two children together.

Last year, Kidman said she was ‘so lucky’ to have met the singer.

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Kidman and Urban share daughters Sunday Rose, 17, and Faith Margaret, 14

‘I’m so lucky that I have Keith who’s just my love, my deep, deep love,’ she told People magazine.

‘I’m so lucky that I have Keith… that gives me the ability to go and do whatever I have to do because I know where I can come back,’ she added.

The news of their split comes just weeks after Kidman marked nearly two decades of marriage with Urban by sharing a heartfelt tribute to the country star on their 19th wedding anniversary.

To mark the special occasion, the Big Little Lies star posted a sweet black and white photo of them sharing a sweet moment backstage at one of his shows.

In the image, the Oscar winner can be seen with one arm draped lovingly over her husband’s shoulders as he held her hand.

The happy couple both closed their eyes as Kidman rested her forehead against Urban’s head.

‘Happy Anniversary Baby ❤️ @KeithUrban,’ she captioned the post, which received more than 25,023 likes in less than an hour.

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The Australian actress and Urban were last seen together publicly in June this year, when they were pictured attending a FIFA World Cup match in Nashville, Tennessee

Within minute, the Somebody Like You hitmaker commented a single red heart emoji.

The pair wed back in 2006 during a traditional Catholic ceremony at the Cardinal Cerretti Chapel in her hometown of Sydney.

Kidman and Urban married five years after her split from actor Cruise.

She welcomed Sunday in July 2008 and Faith via surrogate two years later.

In 2022, the singer insisted that he and his wife are ‘as normal as you get’ on an episode of Jessica Rowe’s podcast series The Big Talk Show.

He also spoke about the very first time they met at the G’Day LA event in 2005, saying he thought the stunning Hollywood star was ‘well out of his league.’

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In 2022, the singer insisted that he and his wife are ‘as normal as you get’ on an episode of Jessica Rowe’s podcast series The Big Talk Show

‘We’re just a couple who work things out, go through things together, life, and support each other the best way we can and try and raise our family,’ Urban explained.

‘Underneath it all, we’re as normal as you can get I reckon,’ he claimed, before reflecting he was ‘not in a great place’ when they first met.

‘[She] seemed well out of my league at that time in my life,’ he said.

‘I was not in a great place at my life, struggling with a lot of things, not in a million years would someone like that see anything in me… The fact that became what it is meant to be is astounding.’

He also sweetly described his wife as ‘ethereal, angelic, other worldly, very mystical and then completely down to earth at the same time and very funny.’