I like to think Nicole Kidman is just like the rest of us. And that once American Idol starts back up in January, she’ll be on her couch with her kids cheering on the best contestants.

And she will. But the only difference is, she’s got an in with a judge.

When I talked with Keith Urban on Wednesday (Dec. 10), he told me that when season 14 premieres Jan. 7, his wife will be watching with their two daughters and giving him their points of view.

“I love them watching because I like the way they respond to people. It’s very interesting. They watch like everybody else does, and they either respond to someone, or they don’t,” Urban said of Kidman and their daughters Sunday, 6, and Faith, 4.

His wife’s opinion of the Idol hopefuls matters to him, especially because she’s not as involved in the process as he is.

“I’m interested in that because we can get sort of myopic with it sometimes, being in the middle of it all,” he said. “And it’s great to get a totally fresh perspective. I often ask Nic what she thinks of various people and who she liked and why -- particularly why.”

Urban went on to talk about how the three girls in his life are the center of his universe and that if Sunday or Faith decided to pursue a career in music, he would respond with a kind of cautious optimism.

“First and foremost, everybody’s got a calling, and we just have to figure out what that is,” he said. “If you have that calling inside you -- that this is what you’re here to do -- nobody’s gonna take you off that path.

“I experienced huge amounts of rejection when I got to Nashville, but none of it threw me off my path. It would be the same with our girls. They also have to know there’s work involved. You gotta work, and you gotta be ready for it.”