Nicole: I'm marrying my country boy

Nicole Kidman has announced her engagement to the country music singer Keith Urban.

The Australian actress confirmed their plans to marry after they were seen together at a charity gala in New York.

Asked about her boyfriend's attendance at the event, she replied: 'He's actually my fiancé. I wouldn't be bringing my boyfriend.'

Miss Kidman, 38, broke the news after hosting the event for the United Nations Development Fund for Women.

She ended months of speculation about the couple, who were first spotted together in July last year.

Miss Kidman, who has two adopted children with ex-husband Tom Cruise, was said to have ended the romance in January. It was claimed at the time she feared Urban, a former alcoholic and crack cocaine addict with a reputation for womanising, had not changed his ways.

The couple had spent Christmas together at the singer's £2.5million Nashville estate and there were rumours that they would wed over New Year. Now it seems their marriage plans are back on course.

Urban, also 38, was born in New Zealand and raised on a farm in Australia before finding fame in the U.S.