How Hugh Jackman and Deborra-Lee Furness became a power couple in Hollywood
The split of Aussie showbiz’s biggest power couple has left fans stunned but Hugh Jackman and Deborra-Lee Furness have built an empire of their own in Hollywood.
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When Hugh Jackman and Deborra-Lee Furness struck a power pose on the red carpet of the Met Gala, few knew it would be one of the last public appearances of the showbiz royalty as husband and wife.
Jackman, 54, with his gruff beard grown out for his return as Wolverine, and Furness, 67, shoulders back and chin up in a semi-sheer, figure-hugging Tom Ford gown.
For 27 years, one of Australia’s power couples oozed relationship-goal vibes as they moved glamorously from Aussie TV to Hollywood blockbusters with energy between to raise a family.
Stepping out at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in May just two weeks after celebrating their 27th wedding anniversary, neither betrayed a hint that their storeyed partnership would soon be coming to an end.
The power couple has been influential in Hollywood, walking every major red carpet together, including the Oscars, Emmys, Golden Globes and G’Day USA, and called some of the world’s biggest stars their friends.
When Oprah Winfrey brought her star-studded show to Australia in 2011, Jackman famously ziplined on to the stage from the Sydney Opera House.
Jackman injuried his eye in the process, with the pair sharing a glass of wine after the incident.
Jackman appeared on the final of the second taping of Oprah’s show, alongside Aussie A-list friends, such as Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban, Russell Crowe and Olivia Newton-John.
Jackman’s friendship with Kidman spans many years, and it was further cemented after the pair starred together in the 2008 film, Australia. It was directed by Baz Luhrmann, who Jackman and Furness have an ongoing friendship with the director and his wife, Catherine Martin.
Jackman has a long standing friendship with Australian actor and director Russell Crowe. He also starred with Anne Hathaway and Amanda Seyfried in Les Miserables.
In a recent Instagram post, Jackman paid tribute to Crowe, saying he “owed” him his career and said he has helped him in “countless ways” throughout his career, calling him a “good man and a great friend”.
In the interview Jackman shared, Crowe said, “I also suggested [Hugh] for [Wolverine], too,” after revealing he turned down the role.
“Because they showed me art and stuff like that, and it’s like it doesn’t look like me. But I tell you who it looks like, I said it looks like Hugh Jackman.”
Jackman, who went on to played the famous Wolverine character, is also well-known for his light-hearted social media “superhero” battle with Ryan Reynolds of Deadpool fame.
Their friendship extends beyond the internet though, with Jackman recently attending Reynolds’ Wrexham Football Club match.
Both Jackman and Furness were seen rubbing shoulders with John Travolta, after Jackman and Travolta starred in Swordfish together.
The couple also became close friends with James Bond actor Daniel Craig, after the two men performed together in the Broadway musical A Steady Rain.
Jackman was also close to the late Brian Walsh, honouring the Foxtel Executive Director into the Logies Hall of Fame at this year’s ceremony with his wife.
Jackman is also friends with fellow Aussie A-lister Eric Bana, and have been seen together at events.
Ahead of Bana’s its American premiere of his film The Dry, Jackman and IFC Films hosted an advanced screening for the movie where he praised him.
“First of all, you didn’t make a mistake anywhere across the board. It was an astonishing achievement. Eric, we’ve been mates for 25 years, but I just want to say that I thought you were phenomenal in this movie,” Jackman said.
“You have this kind of stoicism and a brokenness. You held this entire film together – you’re never really off-screen. Your performance is astonishing.”
Here are some of the other highlights of the Jackman-Furness era.
ON SET ROMANCE
The pair met in 1995 on the set of the ABC TV series, Corelli. Furness was already a high-profile actor with 20-odd movies under her belt. Jackman was the upstart on the 10-episode series.
As Jackman told PEOPLE in a 2017 interview, “she was a big star” when he stepped into his “first job since acting school”.
“It was a massive break for me. I was really scared … I get picked up, and Deb is in the front seat of the car. I’ll never forget,” Jackman remembered. “She took off her seatbelt and she turned around and put out her hand and took off her sunglasses and said, ‘Hi, I’m Deborra-lee Furness, nice to meet you.’ I remember thinking, ‘I like this girl.’”
They married the next year.
FURNESS FILMOGRAPHY
While Jackman arguably went on to become the bigger Hollywood and Broadway star, Furness the bigger draw when they met having had a 13-year head start.
She rose to fame in the 1970s and 1980s with roles in television series like Prisoner, The Flying Doctors and Neighbours, and movies like Shame, The Humpty Dumpty Man, Celia, and The Last of the Finest.
She became a regular on Aussie screens with recurring and guest appearances across both drama series, like GP and Correlli, and variety shows like Hey Hey It’s Saturday and Tonight Live with Steve Vizard.
ADOPTION ADVOCACY
Somewhere between the stage and screen, Jackman and Furness found time to raise a family.
After the couple suffered two miscarriages, they adopted their son, Oscar, in 2000, and their daughter, Ava, in 2005.
In 2008, Furness launched Adoption Awareness Week to highlight difficulties for families trying to adopt in Australia and overseas, with the mantra “every child has a right to a family”.
In 2014, she was named NSW Australian of the Year for her work advocating for national adoption law reform. In 2022, she was named an Officer of the order of Australia for her service to children as an adoption advocate.
LASTING LEGACY
When artist Paul Newton met Jackman and Furness at an art show in 2017, he immediately eyed the “power couple” for a double portrait.
After Furness was named Officer of the order of Australia five years later, Newton felt it was “the perfect time” to paint the couple at their New York home.
Jackman was performing The Music Man on Broadway at the time, which Newton said highlighted his incredible energy, warmth and presence on stage.
“In this portrait, I wasn’t as interested in portraying two individuals, as I was in capturing their relationship. They struck me as being very much a team,” Newton told The Art Gallery of NSW.
“I’ve tried to convey their mutual respect and affection in the pose they’ve adopted, which is theatrical, but also intimate, suggesting the balance between them.”
The portrait was a finalist in the 2022 Archibald Prize.
PHILANTHROPY
While Hugh Jackman and Deborra-Lee Furness are regulars at Hollywood and the world’s biggest events, they’re also extremely philanthropic, and have attended many charity events in Australia and across the world.
The couple have contributed to many charities over the years and are patrons of the Fight Cancer Foundation in Australia. They also created the Jackman Furness Foundation to support the Performing Arts in Australia in 2014.
Jackman was also made a Companion of the Order of Australia (AC) in the 2019 Queen’s Birthday honours for “eminent service to the performing arts as an acclaimed actor and performer, and to the global community, particularly as an advocate for poverty eradication”.
He has been a prominent supporter of the Global Poverty Project and its Live Below The Line campaign and was one of the first supporters of the Global Citizen project.
He accepted the award from the Queen saying: “As the youngest son of parents who made the decision to immigrate to Australia the year before I was born, this honour is especially emotional and humbling to me.”
He and Furness are Goodwill Ambassaoders for World Vision. On a trip to Ethiopia with World Vision in 2009, they visited Dukale, a coffee farmer.
He inspired Jackman to launch Laughing Man Worldwide in 2011, an organisation that imports fair trade coffee from Dukale’s farm in Ethiopia to be served in its New York City cafes.
All revenue goes back to education, community development and new business development.
In 2009 the Tony winner announced via Twitter that he would split a $100,000 pledge between CharityWater, which provides clean and safe drinking water to people in developing nations, and Operation of Hope, an organisation of doctors who volunteer to perform free facial reconstructive surgeries for children in developing countries.
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Originally published as How Hugh Jackman and Deborra-Lee Furness became a power couple in Hollywood
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