Fame Addiction - Characteristic #63: Ostentatious Consumption

You think he would have learned when he drove around in the Bentley? Over the weekend, while the happy couple seems to have fallen off the face of the earth, it was announced that Nicole Kidman and her husband Keith Urban purchased a $7.6 million dollar home in the section of L.A. called Brentwood. There was also a rumor, and that is all it is at this time because those hired by Kidman to preserve her image, have not confirmed it, that the Kidman’s have purchased a $3 million dollar home not far from Keith's former home in Nashville.

How interesting that the Kidman’s are putting down roots and buying very expensive homes in closed off areas of the two cities where they work the most out of. Also interesting that this news was released at the same time that People magazine did a story on which celebrity couples make the most money.

People magazine claims that Keith made more than Nicole in 2007. Whoever made more doesn't matter; what matters is the amount was well over $60 million dollars. $60 million dollars? Sorry, but it amazes me that these two can get two cents for anything that they put out in 2007. The sadder thing is, that with this knowledge, it just cements more and more how out of touch both of these two is with the reality that is day to day living. Yes, if you can earn millions of dollars, go for it! That’s a true American pursuit but, and this is a big but, do not flaunt that money by bragging and living a pretentious lifestyle.

I understand the house in Brentwood. Kidman and her one true love lived there for over a decade. Her best friend, a more talented actress, has a home there. It is where Kidman stayed when Keith was in institutional time out.

Oh and if it matters, her acquired prop children are close by. Brentwood was always exclusive and private. We are not going to see the home at all. This may be the home Kidman lives in for the rest of her life out of sight. Having a home in L.A. also means that people will not be able to be bribed to leak news about Kidman, for example, that her husband was eating alone when he was supposed to be with her; or, that they always had the same kind of suite; and, if they were having an argument during the early morning hours. Now the neighbors are blessed with the motorcycle blazing off and the ghostly white mistress of the house sitting by the koi ponds at three in the morning because she can't sleep.

Nashville isn't L.A. There are large homes there but they are for the most part outside of Nashville. When Keith was building his first solo home in Nashville, the one that was recently sold, not the one he owned with his former supermodel fiancée, he said that he wanted some place that he would be able to write music, a place that wasn't “Alan Jackson big”. The home that many thought that a certain tabloid darling had bought is rumored now to be the home that Kidman bought so Keith could have a place to live when he makes his twice yearly visits to Music City. I just bet you are asking why I think Kidman was behind the purchase? It is obvious that Kidman has no clue about Keith’s real audience; real people who are not impressed by ostentatious displays of wealth.

Country music is about people who may only be able to go to one or two shows a year; people for whom the current economic situation is grave. Yep, if you can afford a three million dollar home go ahead and live there, but to just have a home that you can visit twice a year while others are losing their homes to foreclosure is tacky; it’s obscene. But what do we expect from a woman who uses her private jet like it is a taxi? What do we expect from a woman who costs money for the business she is in, yet demands contracts and is paid for those roles based on a long ago semi-successful run? My dear Nicole, if you put yourself on top of the hill you are simply setting yourself to be toppled off that hill. Keith is obviously addicted to the moneyed lifestyle and that can be cured. How? By not contributing to it. What was wrong with the farm that they were building? Did they have to have a home because they need to be seen in Nashville? Yes, everyone knows that Kidman hates Nashville. We also know that Keith loves the city. Of course living pretentiously makes him less the man that would be found at a local club chatting with the locals and more of the man that supposedly needs a bodyguard. And that is what Kidman has always wanted with Keith, a way to keep him from the public. A way to create a mystery about them so they can create an aura that some will want to explore, thus it contributes to the fame. It is sick, and sad, and oh so obvious.

We will get to see Keith pushing the baby carriage around a park. We will see Keith and Nicole eating out in those quaint Nashville restaurants they have been to before and we will not see them in their home, in their pool, on the tennis court or walking the grounds of the estate, because that would ruin the effect wouldn't it? This has worked for years for Kidman, living life in private and presenting a front to the public. It simply looks sad and wasteful and obviously covers up what is lacking in the Kidman household.

I guess Australia was home until it wasn't useful anymore. The same will be said of Nashville for Kidman. My wish is that Keith realizes that you don't have to live in a huge mansion to create a home. Houses can take up a lot of space; homes are in your heart.

Finally, I am stealing this from a post from one of the original skeptics on a Keith site, about the Nashville house, when do you think they evicted Jed, Granny and Elly Mae?

N.B.: While we were preparing to publish this blog, Kidman's rep supposedly denied the purchase of the Brentwood property. Haha!

A follow up:

Yes, oh yes, they denied that she bought the house. Of course they would. Do you think they want people to know where it is? Do you think they want people to know they are dumping Oz as soon as the kid is hatched and splitting to a place that Kidman prefers? Because her kids are there or because her one true love is close by? Do you think that they want you to know how much was spent on the house? Just like they didn't want you to know that she was engaged. Or that they were getting married in Australia. Or that Keith was in fact institutionalized at Betty Ford. Nope, all good things come to those who wait. So a broker buys the house and eventually they live there; no foul, no harm, and another chapter in “I Am Just One Crazy Fameho” by Nicole Mary Kidman Cruise Urban. And the best friend is a better actress and even Kidman knows that.