SO much for fairytales. Just months after his romantic wedding to Hollywood actress Nicole Kidman, and weeks away from his much-anticipated album release, Keith Urban's life should be floating somewhere in the realm of happily ever after.
But instead of celebrating his 39th birthday on Thursday with family and friends, the country rocker will be seeking treatment at Cumberland Heights, a rehabilitation centre in his adopted home town of Nashville.
Urban is no stranger to the facility - that is where he sought treatment for cocaine addiction in 1998. However this time his demon is alcohol.
The Grammy-award winning singer's latest stint in rehab has shattered people's illusions of success equating happiness.
The illusion is that because you are a star then everything is OK or should be OK, but Marilyn Monroe and Elvis Presley died very unhappy people despite all their success, psychologist Carl Nielsen said.
From the outside, Urban should be happy but happiness doesn't come from the outside, it doesn't come from how many cars you have or what type of person you are married to. It doesn't have anything to do with that.
Dr Nielsen said people often turned to drugs and alcohol to mask whatever issues were eating at them and to fill a void in their lives.
But because Urban checked himself in for help, he is acknowledging he has an issue and is taking the right steps in dealing with it.
It is like he's saying, 'I want to stop suffering, I've had enough'.
Some people die very unhappy because they haven't sought help, Dr Nielsen said.
Urban isn't the first celebrity - nor will he be the last - to seek help for his addictions.
Singer Robbie Williams has had a very public battle with alcohol and drug addiction since 1995, while actor Mel Gibson was ordered to attend Alcoholics Anonymous meetings five days a week after launching into an anti-Semitic tirade when arrested for drink driving.
Williams once said: I believe that if you're f...
ed up -- and I'm still f...
ed up, but just not on drugs - then it's a bit similar to being in an elevator.
There will be floors where you can get off and recover. There are sobriety portholes.
Urban has not shied away from speaking about his addictions, once describing the moment he realised he needed help: when he found himself on his hands and knees searching for crack cocaine.
I had this house in Nashville where I used to do drugs, he said.
It was a really cheap, rundown place.
I remember one night crawling around on my hands and knees, looking for these little rocks at five in the morning, and I was drenched in sweat. It was the worst.
Three weeks later Urban checked himself into Cumberland Heights.
No one apart from Urban and those closest to him know what caused his latest relapse. However public relations expert Gerry McCusker said celebrities were often weighed down by unrealistic expectations.
What we all forget is that we may think of them as being on pedestals and that they are a god, but celebrities are human and to err is human, Mr McCusker said.
The burden of responsibility to continually come up and perform at that level is hugely demanding. Just because you are a gifted or talented artist, your skill is not enough.
Your reputation and brilliance becomes like a rod for your own back and the weight of your own reputation can become a rod.
Mr McCusker said unlike Gibson - who entered rehab as a reactive response to try to save face - Urban recognised there was a problem and took immediate action to resolve it.
By taking a proactive step and managing his own reputation, Urban has ensured he can get back from this, Mr McCusker said.
He said Urban's very personal statement about his predicament on his website would also endear him to fans.
Urban wrote: One can never let one's guard down on recovery and I'm afraid that I have.
I deeply regret the hurt this has caused Nicole and the ones that love and support me.
It's a sobering reality for the newlywed couple, who could not have anticipated the early test for their marriage when they pledged to love one another in sickness and in health in the Sydney suburb of Manly just four months ago.
Westpac home loans. Apply now. Some cards promise the Earth.
American Express actually delivers.
News RSS