Hugh Jackman’s new life revealed after divorce from Deborra-Lee Furness
Hugh Jackman has moved on to a new life with a range of projects under way with a new rumoured romance, after he and Deborra-Lee Furness announced their split.
Entertainment
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From divorce blues to a career purple patch: it’s been quite the year for the boy from Oz, Hugh Jackman.
With one of 2024’s biggest box office successes in the bank, a full slate of film and live performances coming up, and rumours of a potential new love, the 56-year-old Aussie’s star is shining brighter than ever.
And just as his Wolverine character recovers from injury in super-quick time, Jackman’s bounce back from the sad end of his 27-year marriage to Deborra-Lee Furness has some wondering if he shares some qualities with his X-men alter ego.
His film Deadpool & Wolverine was a runaway success and grossed $A2 billion at the box office – a global record for an R-rated film – prompting reports that Marvel is already contemplating a sequel.
Audiences seem to lap up the bond between Jackman and his co-star Ryan Reynolds both on-screen and off, with the publicity trail for Deadpool & Wolverine offering plenty of opportunities for bromantic hijinks.
They’ve also been discussed as contenders to host next year’s Oscars, something Reynolds said he “really genuinely would love to do with Hugh”.
The pair have been friends since they connected on X-Men Origins: Wolverine in 2007, and earlier this month Reynolds confirmed to Variety that they would be collaborating again.
“I’m spending the year writing,” Reynolds said.
“I’m writing a movie for myself, Hugh (Jackman) and Shawn (Levy) to [direct] that is not Marvel.”
Reynolds and Levy are mainstays on Jackman’s fast moving Instagram grid, as is Reynolds’ wife Blake Lively.
In July, Reynolds and Jackman sat with Lively’s gal pal Taylor Swift at a Kansas City Chiefs game to cheer on Swift’s boyfriend Travis Kelce.
Jackman hilariously recounted the experience in an interview to People, lamenting his and Reynold’s relegation to the background.
“If you ever really want to feel not great about your career,” Jackman said, “go to a game with Taylor Swift and Blake Lively. Then you’ll be ‘Blake Lively, Taylor Swift and others’ at the game.”
But with a plethora of new projects on the go, expect to see a lot more of Jackman in the spotlight.
He and Kate Hudson are currently working on Song Sung Blue about a husband and wife Neil Diamond tribute act.
Jackman also recently wrapped filming Three Bags Full: A Sheep Detective Movie – an action comedy also starring Emma Thompson, slated for release in 2026.
He has been cast as the title character in two upcoming films, The Death of Robin Hood and Apostle Paul, both of which will commence shooting soon.
Meanwhile his song and dance show, Hugh Jackman Live from New York with Love, will run at the famed Radio City Music Hall from January to October 2025.
And he’s just announced he will perform his greatest stage hits at a concert on July 6 in London’s Hyde Park.
It all comes amid rumours of a flourishing new romance between Jackman and his Broadway co-star Sutton Foster – the first since his split from Furness in September 2023.
“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,” Jackman and Furness said in a joint statement at the time of their split.
“Our family has been and always will be our highest priority. We undertake this next chapter with gratitude, love, and kindness.”
Jackman starred with Foster, 49, in the classic Broadway hit The Music Man from late 2021 to early 2023, with the pair reportedly having sizzling on-stage chemistry.
Jackman even revealed in a New York Times article he had caught Covid from Foster given the passionate embraces they shared on-stage during the latter stages of the pandemic.
“I’m pretty sure on every CDC [Centre for Disease Control] guideline, making out with someone with Covid is not recommended,” Jackman said of the incident which caused 11 performances to be cancelled.
Rumours intensified after Foster filed for divorce from her husband of 10 years, screenwriter Ted Griffin, in October.
Like Furness and Jackman, Griffin and Foster welcomed their daughter Emily, 7, through adoption.
Neither Foster nor Jackman have confirmed their relationship.
But tongues wagged after Foster shared a cryptic post to her Instagram page in September.
She took a selfie in her Broadway dressing room, after scrawling “Dare to be happy” in lipstick on the mirror.
FURNESS EMBRACING THE FUTURE
For Deborra-Lee Furness, who will celebrate her 69th birthday this month, her latest chapter started at the premiere of her film Force of Nature: The Dry 2 in January.
It was a long time coming: the release of the movie, which also starred Eric Bana, had been delayed by the SAG-AFTRA strikes.
Speaking at the film’s Sydney premiere, Furness told the Daily Telegraph she was embracing the future.
“It is kind of exciting,” Furness said.
“You know what, change, transition, evolution is a little frightening and we are all a bit scared of it, but I think it is probably our greatest gift.”
Furness also tangentially referred to her break-up with Jackman at The Dry’s New York premiere.
“(I learned) that I’m strong and resilient,” Furness told People.
“And that I – we – are all a constant evolution.”
Furness is now working on a “pandemicomedy” TV series with fellow Aussie export Anthony LaPaglia in New York – the city she and Jackman both continue to call home.
She also continues to juggle her acting career with her role for the Australian non-profit Adopt Change which she founded after she and Jackman adopted their two children Oscar, 24, and Ava, 19.
She keeps a relatively low profile on social media, only sporadically updating her 63,000 followers, but her social life is humming.
During this year’s Australian Open, Furness was spotted with Eric Bana and Simon Baker at the men’s final, and with former soap star Alyce Platt at the women’s final.
She and Richard Wilkins were observed to be having a ball together at the Aussie premiere of The Dry 2 in January, while in March she took America’s Next Top Model judge Nigel Barker as her platonic date to a New York gallery event.
The spritely Furness is also often seen zipping around Manhattan on her stand up electric scooter.
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