Oscar-winning actress Nicole Kidman is expecting a child with her husband, country singer Keith Urban.

The Australian star’s publicist, Wendy Day, announced the pregnancy following weeks of tabloid speculation.

"Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban confirmed today that they are expecting a baby.”

"The couple are thrilled."

Currently in her hometown of Sydney, following filming of the Baz Luhrmann movie Australia, the actress told paparazzi she was “very excited”, but declined to reveal the sex of the baby.

The 40-year-old actress will reportedly pull out of her upcoming movie roles. She was due to start filming opposite Ralph Fiennes later this month, for the film The Reader, a drama set in post-war Germany.

Last year, Kidman revealed she had suffered a miscarriage and an ectopic pregnancy during her decade-long marriage to Hollywood actor Tom Cruise.

The pair have two adopted children - Isabella, 14, and Connor, 12, - who live with Cruise, his new wife, actress Katie Holmes, and their baby daughter, Suri.

Kidman met New Zealand-born Urban in 2005 and the pair married in Sydney the following year. Four months later, Urban checked himself into a rehabilitation clinic to undergo treatment for alcohol abuse. The high-profile country musician had previously overcome an addiction to cocaine.

Last month, Kidman insisted they had put those troubles behind them. "I’m not that interested in working right now,” she said. “I think that a lot of my wish to work was about wanting to get lost, not wanting to be in the world. I have a reason to be in the world now and that reason is Keith.”

Kidman rose to fame playing a kidnap victim opposite Sam Neil and Billy Zane in the 1989 film Dead Calm. Having since starred in The Portrait of a Lady, The Others, and The Hours, for which she won an Oscar, she is considered one of Hollywood’s leading actresses.

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