6 Years Ago: Keith Urban Gets on the Path to Recovery

On this day (Oct. 19) in 2006, Keith Urban shocked his friends and fans when he checked into the Betty Ford Center in California for drug and alcohol abuse.

Urban's admittance came at what may have seemed the most unlikely of times -- only four months after his wedding to movie star Nicole Kidman, and just as his 'Love, Pain & the Whole Crazy Thing' album was released. But for Urban, the time couldn't have been more perfect.

"I was going to lose it all," the country star confessed to People magazine after his 90-day stint. "It was like, 'If I don't choose this moment to do the right thing and do something that's going to give me life, all of the things I'm scared of losing, I'm going to lose anyway.' I knew very well right then that this is actually going to be the best, strongest road to get me back to the two things I love, which are my home life and my career, and finding the balance in those two."

The singer-songwriter says it was his wife, along with a few friends, who ultimately staged an intervention that set him on the path to recovery.

"It was really a profound moment in so many ways. Then, the way in which Nic handled that moment was just perfect," he tells Oprah Winfrey. "Everything was just designed, I believe, for that moment to fuse us together."

This was not Urban's first attempt at sobriety. He had entered rehab two other times prior to his stay at the Betty Ford Center, but he says this stay was the most meaningful, thanks to his adoring spouse.

"Nicole listened to her heart and did what she felt was the right thing to do," he explains. "To see that kind of love in action, that's very moving and deeply inspiring and just makes me want to be a better man."

Urban seems to have conquered his addiction issues for good. He and his wife have two daughters, Sunday Rose and Faith Margaret.

See Keith Urban + More Country Stars Then and Now

Unforgettable Keith Urban Moments