Keith Urban still has feelings for Nicole Kidman!

Keith Urban’s Subtle Message To Nicole Kidman Sparks Buzz After New Divorce Twist Emerges

Speculation has continued to swirl about the sad family rift between Keith Urban, Nicole Kidman and their two daughters, which appears to have only widened in recent weeks following Nicole’s clear statement at the Met Gala earlier this month.

The Oscar-winning actress, 58, who also served as a chair of the prestigious Hollywood bash, looked back to her radiant best as she walked the red carpet. But it was the presence of her eldest daughter, Sunday Rose, 17, who made her debut at the event, that prompted further reports that Keith has been left all but estranged from his family.

The display of togetherness between mother and daughter appeared to hint at a deeper loyalty behind-the-scenes, and for a family so notoriously close, Keith’s apparent snub from his eldest daughter was a twist that nobody had expected following his split from Nicole last summer.

At the time, a source told us how the pictures had only served as a further blow to what has already become a ‘gut wrenching’ situation for Keith as he continues to feel iced out from the family life he once treasured.

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The insider said, ‘It’s a gut-wrenching adjustment to try and stay positive when the cold reality is that they’re not currently a part of his life. Never in a million years did he envisage any scenario this brutal, and it hurts all the more to see the girls being parading around with Nicole and clearly loving life more than they ever did when he was on the scene.’

However, two weeks on from the Met Gala and Keith appears to be taking a very different approach after he seemingly sent out a secret message to Nicole when he walked the red carpet at the ACM Awards in Las Vegas on Sunday.

Keith, 58, appeared to make a quiet but telling statement when he subtly showed off tattoos dedicated to his ex-wife to waiting paparazzi. Among them was the ‘Mary’ inked across his fingers, Nicole’s middle name, alongside her initials ‘NMK’ on his right wrist.

Not only did the country star appear to roll up the sleeves of his grey blazer, but he also posed for photographers with his arm at an angle that clearly showed off the romantic inkings.

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The gesture has been interpreted as a sign that, despite their divorce being finalised in January, Keith – who also has ‘Baby Girl’ tattooed on his neck and ‘Nicole’ on his bicep’ – still harbours feelings for Nicole.

The former golden couple officially announced their separation in September, citing irreconcilable differences after nearly two decades together.

And while he is believed to have been the one to initiate the divorce, in the months since, Keith is widely reported to have been struggling privately after he and Nicole agreed on a childcare arrangement, which has led to him seeing very little of his daughters, Sunday and her younger sister Faith Margaret, 15.

Keith also previously admitted how lonely life on the road could become while filming his CBS and Paramount series The Road. Speaking candidly during the show, he described the emotional toll touring had taken on him while spending long stretches away from his family.

‘When you wake up on a tour bus at 3.30 in the morning and you’re sick as a dog, you’re in the middle of nowhere and you’ve got to play your fifth show later that night, and you haven’t slept, and you miss your friends, and you’re missing your family, and you’re completely lonely and miserable and sick – and you say to yourself, ‘Why am I doing this?’’ he said at the time.

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And we were recently told those struggles have only intensified following the breakdown of his marriage and the custody arrangement that followed.

Their divorce settlement reportedly granted Nicole primary residential custody, with the actress caring for the girls the majority of the year while Keith receives limited parenting time around his touring schedule, equating to just 59 days per year.

Fans have expressed their surprise at so little access time, but we were told how Keith had agreed to the arrangement in the hope of keeping the divorce as amicable as possible, despite concerns from people close to him that he was sacrificing too much in the process.

A source said, ‘He signed the paperwork [giving him very limited access to the girls] because it felt like the right thing to do, even though a lot of people were puzzled that he surrendered without any type of fight.

‘He’s done everything in his power to make this as easy on her as possible, just look at the settlement he signed, and she seems to be doing the opposite.’

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This isn’t the first time Keith is said to have struggled emotionally watching Nicole and the girls publicly embrace their new lives together while he remains largely absent from family moments.

In December, Nicole shared photos from Faith’s birthday celebrations after spending Christmas in Australia with both daughters. Fans quickly noticed Keith did not appear in any of the family snapshots, fuelling speculation that the relationship between the singer and his daughters had become strained.

At the time, an insider told us that the poignant photographs had felt like a ‘gut punch’ to Keith; a situation that can only have been worsened after Sunday described Nicole as her ‘biggest inspiration’ during an interview with Elle Australia in March.

In April, the model also unfollowed her dad on social media, before refollowing him just hours later.

The heartbreaking divide comes after months of rumours surrounding the collapse of their marriage. Shortly after the divorce filing, Keith was linked to several younger women connected to his tour, including fellow country singers Maggie Baugh and Karley Scott Collins, both 26, although both women have publicly denied the reports.

However, it was recently reported that the continued speculation over Keith’s involvement with much younger women has been a factor in his daughters’ reportedly distancing themselves from him.

‘[The girls] are completely team Nicole and, right now, Keith is the bad guy. He loves those girls, but they are so angry at him, and they’re blaming him,’ a source recently said.

Meanwhile, Nicole appears to have worn her heart on her sleeve, previously admitting she was ‘hanging in there’ while adjusting to single life.

So it comes as little surprise that this latest gesture may also be a sign that Keith is, quite literally, wearing his own heart on his sleeve too, in the hope that Nicole will both see and understand what could be a signal that he is ready to, if not make up, then certainly to plan a happier future for their family.