Many women concluded, to their immense comfort, that only love could explain Hugh Jackman and Deborra-Lee Furness’ marriage

In a world teeming with trophy wives, the end of Hugh Jackman and Deborra-Lee Furness’ marriage has caused despair for many people, especially older women.

Hugh Jackman and Deborra-Lee Furness. Picture: Getty

I hear the snap of women’s hearts breaking all over the internet. “Bawling my goddam EYES out,” wrote a reporter on the Pedestrian website.

You see: Hugh Jackman, the Australian star of Hollywood and Broadway, has broken up with his wife of 27 years, Deborra-Lee Furness.

But another number better explains the despair of so many women. It’s 13 – the number of years which separate Jackman from his older wife, now 67.

I make no comment about what either of them saw in the other, or why they see something different today as they “pursue our individual growth”, as they said in their joint statement.

Hugh Jackman and Deborra-Lee Furness are separating after 27 years of marriage. Picture: Getty

I’m talking only about why their marriage mattered to so many people, especially older women.

For a man to marry a woman so much older – and for love – has been unusual throughout human history.

I don’t say that’s good or bad. You just don’t expect I, given men seem genetically wired to reproduce with the youngest and healthiest women they can find. It’s even more unusual when that man is as handsome and successful as Jackman, living among the temptations of showbiz.

Maybe that explains the wild rumour which Jackman and Furness have repeatedly denied – that he’s actually gay.

For a man to marry a woman so much older – and for love – has been unusual throughout human history. Picture: Getty

It certainly explains why interviewers have told Furness she’s considered “lucky” to have married Jackman. (“Lucky! Like I won a chook raffle.”)

But many women concluded, to their immense comfort, that only love could explain it.

A love, what’s more, that age could not dim. A love that gave hope to all woman as they themselves aged, in world teeming with trophy wives. Second wives. Younger ones.

I wouldn’t mention this had Jackman and Furness not repeatedly presented themselves as our modern Anthony and Cleopatra, with Jackman regularly posting love messages to his wife on social media.

In April, for instance, he posted on Instagram a picture of them hugging, writing: “Today is our 27th wedding anniversary. 27 YEARS!!… Your laughter, your spirit, generosity, humour, cheekiness, courage and loyalty is an incredible gift to me. I love you with all my heart.”

Yet, claim “insiders”, their marriage was then already all but over, damaged by the Covid lockdowns, with Furness unusually absent from rehearsals early last year for Jackman’s Broadway show “The Music Man.”

Were woman sold an ageless love that didn’t exist? How bitter their disillusion now – and how niggling, perhaps, some private fear.