Keith Urban's beloved father, Robert, died on Saturday, Dec. 5, at the age of 73, just days after the country star revealed that his dad had entered hospice care.
"I've been deeply touched by the outpouring of love and support that Nic and I, and our family, have received since my Dad’s passing on Saturday night," Urban, 48, said in a statement to Us Weekly. "His long battle with cancer is now over and he is finally at peace."
"My dad’s love of country music and America set me on my life's journey, and shaped so much of who I am today," the New Zealand native continued. "Thank you to everyone who has kept us all in your thoughts and prayers."
The American Idol judge revealed at the opening of his new exhibit at the Country Music Hall of Fame on Wednesday, Dec. 2, that his father had been placed in hospice care.
"He’s probably only got a few weeks, if that. I've just been dealing with that the last couple of days," the "Little Bit of Everything" singer told The Tennessean. "This has all come at a very strange time where it's typical of a career that has extreme highs and extreme lows all often at the exact same time. So [the exhibit] is bittersweet a little bit because [my dad] is the catalyst for all of this. My dad is the catalyst for me living in America."
It is the second heavy blow in a short space of time for Urban's family. Last year, his wife Nicole Kidman's father, Dr. Antony Kidman, died at the age of 76 after falling at a Singapore hotel.
