Keith Urban's 'Beautiful' Home Life

Nov. 4, 2011— -- Country star Keith Urban waged a very public battle with drugs and alcohol, but these days, he said, staying sober isn't a struggle.

"It was a struggle to live the life I was living before," he told Robin Roberts in an exclusive interview for the "In the Spotlight" special."That's what the actual real struggle is."

Today, Urban's life is grounded by his wife, actress Nicole Kidman, who he describes as an "extremely pure spirit. A really, really extraordinarily rare, I think, pure spirit. I'll spend the rest of my life trying to find the right words because, you know, words are limiting."

This songwriter says, "I'm glad [words are] only part of it. I'm glad music plays a role too, because music is ... the larger language, you know, that goes beyond the limitations of words."

Urban will be performing live on the CMA Awards Wednesday, Nov. 9, on ABC. He is set to undergo throat surgery at the end of the month to remove a polyp on his vocal chords. The surgery is minor, but will require rescheduling some of his appearances and postponing his "All for the Hall" benefit concert.

During his recuperation period, Urban will, no doubt, focus on his family life in Nashville with Kidman and their two daughters.

The best part of parenthood, he says, is "all of it!"

His favorite moments include "our daughter coming and jumping up and down on the bed to wake me up, opening the door of our daughter's bedroom in the morning to get her up out of bed sometimes, and she's singing 'Pumped Up Kicks.'"

But what makes the job "really beautiful," he said, is his partner.

"I mean, Nic is just a phenomenal mother," he said.

Urban hopes to raise his girls with the unwavering support his own parents, Bob and Marienne, gave him. From the moment he first wrapped his little fingers around a ukulele, they backed their son's dream of being a musician, driving him all over Australia as he performed in country music competitions.

"I was really blessed to not have those parents who said I got to get a real job," he laughed. "You know, that was a really good thing, to have that."

"The overriding thing for me is that ... life is very short," he said. "At the end of the day, I want to look back and I don't want to have missed anything."