Some lines just ain’t worth crossing, especially when you’re asking Keith Urban about Nicole Kidman and Zac Efron rolling around on screen.
This week, the whole thing went sideways when Keith called into Australia’s “Hayley & Max in the Morning” radio show. The hosts teed him up for what they called a “deeply personal question.” Always a great sign, right? They didn’t even try to sugarcoat it. Instead, they dove straight into what every normal husband would probably rather not discuss over coffee: his megastar wife doing steamy love scenes with men half her age.
Max asked point-blank how Keith felt about watching his “beautiful wife” get close with “beautiful younger men like Zac Efron.” Specifically, he name-dropped A Family Affair, Nicole’s new Netflix flick where she plays Efron’s love interest. And right then, the call got about as frosty as Kidman’s perfectly arched eyebrow when she’s done with your nonsense.
One second, Keith Urban was on the line, polite as ever. The next? Radio silence. According to the show’s producer, Urban and his team “disconnected from Zoom.” Cue the awkward on-air backpedaling and the co-hosts blaming themselves for crossing a line too far.
A source told PEOPLE that Keith himself didn’t hit the hang-up button. “Keith did not hang up, period,” they said. He doesn’t run his own Zoom interviews, and he’s not the type to storm out when the questions get dicey. But anyone who knows Urban knows he’s fiercely protective when it comes to Nicole and their family. You’d think a room full of so-called professional radio people would’ve figured that out by now.
For You
Let’s be honest, Keith’s been fielding dumb questions about Nicole’s on-screen love scenes for nearly two decades. They got married in 2006, and if there’s one thing this couple’s proven over and over, it’s that their bond runs circles around Hollywood clichés. She’s a global icon. He’s a country powerhouse with that “aw shucks” grin that masks a backbone of steel. Together, they’re worth more than whatever shock-value headline a cheap morning show is trying to squeeze out.
If you need proof, just check out their last few months. While this goofy question was crashing an interview, Keith and Nicole were celebrating their 19th wedding anniversary like a couple of teenagers who never fell out of love. She posted a photo on Instagram captioned, “Happy Anniversary Baby @KeithUrban,” and they were wrapped around each other like there was nobody else in the world.
And it’s not like Keith’s just riding her coattails. The man’s in the middle of his massive High and Alive World Tour, playing stadiums and selling out tickets into October. Meanwhile, Nicole’s turning heads on every red carpet she sets foot on and still delivering award-worthy performances without apology. Sure, she’s cozying up to Zac Efron for the cameras, but back home, it’s Keith Urban she’s sharing sushi with, not Troy Bolton.
In the end, Keith didn’t need to clap back. He let the awkward silence say it all. You don’t get nearly two decades deep into a marriage that public, that scrutinized, without learning when to walk away from the noise. Sometimes the best answer is no answer at all, especially when it comes to defending the person you’d burn the world down for.
So yeah, maybe the radio co-hosts scored their cheap moment. But they also got a masterclass in how not to ask a grown-ass man about his wife. Urban shut it down without a single word, and in country music, that’s about as badass as it gets.
