Kidman, Urban celebrate birth of baby girl

Australian actress Nicole Kidman has given birth to a girl, her husband Keith Urban told fans on his website and a spokesman confirmed his report.

"Earlier this morning, Nic gave birth to our beautiful baby girl, Sunday Rose Kidman Urban," said Urban, the New Zealand-born Grammy- and Aria-winning country music singer.

"We want to thank everybody that has kept us in their thoughts and prayers. We feel very blessed and grateful that we can share this joy with you today."

Spokesman Paul Freundlich said: "Keith was by Nicole's side, and mother and baby are very well."

A statement issued later in the day by Kidman's New York-based publicist said the infant, the couple's first child together, was delivered in the United States and weighed 2.93kg at birth.

Oscar-winner Kidman, who was born in Hawaii but raised in Australia, has two adopted children - 15-year-old Isabella and 13-year-old Connor - from her marriage to actor Tom Cruise.

Kidman, 41, recently revealed she cried the first time she saw her baby on an ultrasound scan.

The Moulin Rouge star, who celebrated her second wedding anniversary with Keith on June 25, said: "When I first saw the baby on the ultrasound, I started crying. I didn't think I'd get to experience that in my lifetime. I like the unpredictable nature of it.

"To feel life growing with you is something very, very special, and I'm going to embrace that completely. The whole experience is so primal. But I'm glad I've learned to let things flow.

"I'm now so much more capable of receiving love and giving it in a far different way. So to be given the blessing of a child at this stage of my life, you just say, 'Wow, this was meant to be'."

Urban, 40, added he was also excited about becoming a father, saying "The unknown excites me a lot. What kind of feelings will fatherhood bring? I'm sure I can't even imagine, but I am really looking forward to finding out."

Kidman and Urban, both Australian citizens, met in January 2005 at an awards dinner held by the Australian government in Los Angeles honouring the two of them.

She won an Oscar as best actress for her role as the novelist Virginia Woolf in 2002 drama The Hours.

Her next film, Baz Luhrmann's big-budget epic Australia, in which she plays an English aristocrat, is due for release later this year.

-With Reuters and Bang! Showbiz.

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- © Fairfax NZ News