Agence France Presse
SYDNEY - Country music star Keith Urban, the husband of Oscar-winning actress Nicole Kidman, crashed his motorbike as he tried to elude a photographer tailing him to an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting, he said Tuesday.
Urban said he crashed his bike near his home in Sydney on Monday as he sped to escape a paparazzi photographer he claimed was following him to his meeting, aimed at keeping him off alcohol.
"While out riding to an AA meeting, a time when my privacy is especially important to me, I felt myself being pursued," the 39-year-old said in a statement issued by his US publicist Paul Freundlich.
"I sped up, and in an effort to elude an oncoming car which was making an illegal U-turn, saw no choice but to drop my bike.
"In actual fact, my pursuer came to my assistance, without taking photos, and helped me from the road. I returned home, got my car, and continued on my way," he said of the accident.
Urban was shaken but uninjured after the crash, which news reports said occurred when he hit a gutter in the plush suburb of Darling Point, where he and Kidman share a mansion overlooking Sydney's famed Harbour Bridge and Opera House.
A photographer who was at the scene of the accident however denied he had been following Urban and claimed he arrived shortly after the crash, according to News Ltd newspapers.
New South Wales police said they had received no report of the accident but media reports said the accident left a 10-meter (yard) skid mark on the road.
The New Zealand-born Urban, who grew up in Australia, checked into an alcohol and drug rehabilitation center in California nearly one year ago, just months after his fairy tale wedding to Hollywood screen icon Kidman.
Since leaving the center, he has regularly attended AA meetings that are part of the rehabilitation program.
Kidman and Urban split their time between the United States and Australia, where the actress is currently filming director Baz Luhrmann's new epic movie, "Australia," which co-stars Hugh Jackman and is set for release next year.
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