Oscar-winning actress Nicole Kidman and her country and western singer husband Keith Urban are expecting their first baby, her publicist said as quoted by media reports Tuesday.

"Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban confirmed today that they are expecting a baby," Kidman's publicist said in a brief statement. "The couple are thrilled."

The baby will be the actress's first natural-born child.

Kidman, 40, was pregnant once before with her ex-husband Tom Cruise. She revealed after their split that she suffered an ectopic pregnancy and a miscarriage during the marriage.

Kidman and Cruise adopted two children, Isabella, 14, and 12-year-old Connor.

Rumors of Kidman's pregnancy have circulated for a few weeks, with reports she told her family over Christmas holidays in Australia that she was expecting.

Kidman married Urban in Sydney in 2006.

The early months of the marriage were described as difficult as Grammy-winning Urban spent two months in a rehab center in the United States. He acknowledged an addiction to cocaine in the past and credited Kidman with seeing him through his crisis. 

Kidman's most recently-released film is the extravagant fantasy "The Golden Compass."

Although the film was attacked by some critics, the actress's performance as the glamorous villain Coulter won wide praise.

For most of 2007, Kidman was in Australia filming Baz Luhrmann's big budget epic "Australia" with Hugh Jackman. She plays an English aristocrat who inherits a massive cattle station in outback Australia prior to World War II.

(Xinhua/Agencies January 8, 2008)