The old school rules that kept Nicole Kidman’s marriage alive

Nicole Kidman is happier than ever with husband Keith Urban after 12 years of marriage – and she has some very old fashioned rules she credits for keeping the spark in their relationship.

The actress, 51, has revealed she’s never text her musician husband once since they tied the knot – and prefers either “voice to voice or skin to skin” contact.

Shunning modern technologies like instant messages, texts and emails, the couple instead use FaceTime or even book last minute flights if they find they’re missing each other.

“We’ve never texted,” Nicole told Parade. “That is so not our relationship, which is interesting right? We call. We’ve done this since the very beginning.

“The reason it started at the beginning was because I didn’t know how to text [laughs] and it just kind of worked for us. So now we don’t. We just do voice to voice or skin to skin, as we always say.”

The Hollywood star revealed she doesn’t like how texts can be misread by someone, or may mean involving another person in the relationship – something she believes should be private.

Asked if she has any other secrets to her long and happy marriage, Nicole credited their honesty and not having secrets from each other. She also said she’d choose to spend time with her husband and kids over anyone else, and always prioritises a night with him – wherever she might be in the world.

The couple married in a stunning ceremony in the beachside Sydney suburb of Manly in 2006. Nicole marked their anniversary on Tuesday with a sweet video of them sharing their first kiss as husband and wife on social media.

She wrote: “Remembering 12 years ago today at a church in Manly, Australia. Still feels like it was yesterday. I’m a lucky woman. Happy Anniversary Baby.”

Meanwhile Keith didn’t forget the big day either, and taking to his own Instagram page, he shared a photo of Nicole dancing behind him as he played the piano. He captioned the sweet snap: “12 years of celestial synergized soul dancing. Happy anniversary Babygirl!!! I love you SO much. – KU.”

The couple have two children together, Sunday Rose and Faith Margaret, while Nicole has two more children from her previous marriage to Tom Cruise.

Nicole recently broke her silence on suffering devastating miscarriages during her marriage to Cruise, in an interview with Tatler magazine – while describing the “enormous amount of pain” the losses caused.

Read more: Nicole Kidman opens up about ‘enormous pain’ of miscarriage

She said: “I know the yearning. That yearning. It’s a huge, aching yearning. And the loss! The loss of a miscarriage is not talked about enough. That’s massive grief to certain women.”

The Big Little Lies star was just 23 when she lost her first child by Cruise, not long after their wedding in 1990, because of an ectopic pregnancy, which occurs when an embryo starts to develop in a fallopian tube instead of in the womb.

Nicole finally fell pregnant again but tragically suffered a miscarriage around the same time that Cruise filed for divorce in 2001, after an 11-year marriage.

Nicole revealed the heartbreak of losing a child led the couple to adopt their children Isabella and Connor, now 25 and 23-years-old respectively.

What is your secret to a happy marriage? Do you like Nicole’s?