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Hugh Jackman and his ex-wife of 27-years, Deborra-Lee Furness, are the proud parents of two children together.
The couple instantly connected after first meeting in 1995 on the set of Australian tv series, Correlli, starring Deborah-Lee Furness and a then-freshly graduated Hugh Jackman who’d landed the co-starring role straight out of acting school.
Speaking to People in a 2017 interview, Jackman spoke candidly about their first meeting, relaying how their professional relationship soon turned romantic when he began to develop feelings for his “leading lady.”
After attempting to put aside his feelings for the sake of his professional expectations, he finally revealed his true feelings for Furness just six weeks into filming.
“I didn’t talk to Deb for a week,” he says. “Then I was like, ‘This is not a good plan.’ ”
“I invited 20 people [over for dinner]. She came over and I said, ‘Deb, give me a hand with the dessert.’ My dad was a great cook, and he taught me how to make crêpes suzette. It’s a good hour to make crêpes suzette.”
After convincing Deborra-Lee to assist him, she questioned him about why he’d been ignoring her, to which he responded: “I said, ‘I got a crush on you. I’ll get over it, I’m sorry.’ She goes, ‘Oh? Because I’ve got a crush on you too.’ I never in a million years thought she reciprocated.”
Four months later, the couple were engaged and married nearly a year later on April 11, 1996.
Hugh Jackman & Deborra-Lee Furness Fertility Struggles
Due to their age difference – Jackman was 27, and Furness was 40 when they married – the couple started trying for children straight away. But after experiencing multiple pregnancy losses, the pair decided to adopt.
The couple had always wanted to adopt children, but had initially planned to have their own biological children first. When their IVF attempts were sadly, unsuccessful, they began looking into adoption as an immediate course of action.
In a 2013 interview, Jackman recalled the heartbreak of their IVF journey, revealing that each loss felt like a “massive letdown.”
“While you’re going through IVF and get pregnant, every day [the feeling is], ‘We’re still holding! We’re still holding…!’” Jackman said. “You know how precarious it is and how much she’s been through to get there. And [miscarriage] is a massive letdown. It’s really difficult—and much harder for the woman.”
Because current laws in Australia made it impossible for couples going through IVF to begin the adoption process concurrently, the couple began exploring options in the US.
“Deb and I are believers in I suppose you could call it destiny. We feel things happened the way they are meant to,” Jackman said of his and Furness’ journey to parenthood. “Obviously, biologically wasn’t the way we were meant to have children.”
Oscar Maximillian Jackman
After struggling with IVF, the couple eventually adopted their first child, son Oscar, in 2000.
“I remember saying to [Furness], ‘We were always going to adopt — let’s just adopt now,’ ” Jackman told People in 2017. “Our motivation behind adopting was, ‘Where is the need?'”
“And we just knew from talking with people in that space, when we were looking around, that the biggest need is in mixed-race kids.”
Adopting Oscar was a healing moment for the pair, with Jackman sharing how it meant “all the heartache just melted away.”
Oscar, now 24, was raised with a conscious understanding of his roots, with his parents making concerted efforts to honour his heritage growing up.
“When my son was younger, he found out he was part Bosnian, so we went and got this Croatian/Bosnian cookbook and he was very proud to carry that around when he was 7 years old,” Furness shared in 2020.
Ava Eliot Jackman
Jackman and Furness added to their family in 2005, adopting baby Ava Eliot, who was born on July 10 of that year.
Sharing his experience as a father-of-two shortly after Ava’s birth, Jackman revealed that while it feels “a little more relaxed,” the second time around, it’s still a big shift.
“And it’s a different dynamic having a girl, but both are wonderful and I’m so blessed to have a beautiful boy and girl,” he said.
Adding, “I hold her and think, ‘I don’t want you to face anything bad ever in your life.'”
Speaking openly about the experience of being a parent, as well as the struggles they overcame to become parents, Jackman spoke to Australian Women’s Weekly about the positive impact.
“Parents know you can’t prepare for that moment. Nothing can prepare you… You can’t even explain how incredible it is and that avalanche of emotion that comes and how it opens up your heart, how it frustrates you, how it angers you, how everything is just all the sudden how alive you are as a parent,” said the actor.
“It’s been one of the most amazing and difficult journeys. Parenthood is so rewarding, but sometimes so hard,” he told The Weekly. “I don’t know how this happens, but nothing stirs your emotions more than your kids… They make you face who you really are.
“I suppose if parenthood has taught me anything, it’s taught me humility.”
The Importance Of Co-Parenting
After announcing their divorce on September 15, 2023 after 27-years of marriage, it was clear that Hugh Jackman and Deborra-Lee Furness‘ children would always remain the centre of their universe.
“We have been blessed to share almost three decades together as husband and wife in a wonderful, loving marriage. Our journey now is shifting and we have decided to separate to pursue our individual growth.
“Our family has been and always will be our highest priority. We undertake this next chapter with gratitude, love, and kindness. We greatly appreciate your understanding in respecting our privacy as our family navigates this transition in all of our lives.”
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