Why Keith Urban's Ex-Girlfriend Called Him an 'A--hole' for Writing 'Somebody Like You' Lyrics: 'She Wasn't Wrong'

Keith Urban was doing some wishful thinking when he wrote his romantic chart-topper “Somebody Like You” — much to the chagrin of his then-girlfriend.

Urban, 57, said in a Jan. 20 interview on the Q with Tom Power podcast that he was “struggling a lot” when he wrote the 2002 hit, and wrote it not from his own perspective, but from that of the person he hoped to be, which upset his partner.

“I was in a bad way personally, struggling a lot and I was in a relationship that was not… I wasn’t in a good way, and I thought at the time, ‘My girlfriend seems to really love me. I wish I could love myself the way she seems to,’” he recalled. “So the song was actually, ‘I want to love somebody like you do, I want to love me like you do.’”

The country star said he recorded a demo of the song and, “not realizing what I’m doing,” played the song for her. She was not impressed.

Related: Keith Urban Honors Wife Nicole Kidman for Her Support amid Past 'Addictions' and Rehab: 'She Chose Love'

“She hears it as a love song and it finished and she just looks at me, she goes, ‘You’re a f-----g hypocrite,’ and then walked out of the room,” he said. “She’s like, ‘You don’t want to love anyone, you’re just an a--hole.’ And she wasn’t wrong. It wasn’t the guy I was, it was the guy I wished I could be.”

Urban — who released his 12th album, High, in September — continued by explaining that he often wrote songs with happy, optimistic lyrics as a way of coping during times that he was actually unhappy.

“I came to the realization that they’re probably more whistling in the dark songs,” he said. “I wasn’t optimistic. I wasn’t happy, joyous and excited. I wanted to be that, so I would write songs to make me feel like that.”

The Grammy winner eventually did find his happy ever after with actress Nicole Kidman, whom he married in 2006. The two are parents to daughters Sunday Rose, 16, and Faith Margaret, 14.

Related: Nicole Kidman Shares the Secret to Her Successful Marriage to Keith Urban: 'Double-Headed Shower'

Urban seems to also have found a more romantic side, as Kidman told PEOPLE in December that the rocker is quite good at planning date night.

“I like being asked out, which he still does,” she said. “Seven nights ago we went to dinner in New York. We love Japanese food, but I’m open [to everything]. I like not knowing where he’s going to take me. Surprise me, baby!”

In June, Urban celebrated the Babygirl star, 57, with a touching speech in her honor at the 49th AFI Life Achievement Award Gala.

“We got married in June 2006 and barely four months into our marriage, my addictions … that I’d done really nothing about, blew our marriage to smithereens,” he said. “Four months into a marriage, I'm in rehab for three months. I had no idea what was going to happen to us … and if you want to see what love in action really looks like, give that a whirl. Nic pushed through every negative voice, I'm sure even some of her own and she chose love. And here we are tonight, 18 years later.”

Read the original article on People