Why Deborra-Lee Furness’ explosive act spells big trouble for Hugh

Deborra-Lee Furness threw open the doors on her broken marriage today – and Hugh Jackman has reason to be nervous there’s more to come.

Australian actors Hugh Jackman and Deborra-Lee Furness have both maintained a dignified silence about their split, since announcing in September 2023 they’d gone their separate ways after 27 years of marriage.

Which makes Furness’ blistering public statement today, issued to tabloid outlet the Daily Mail, such a surprise. In it, Furness, 69, speaks of experiencing a “traumatic journey of betrayal” that “cut deep”.

She said the “breakdown” of the couple’s marriage had been “a profound wound”, but also suggested she was better off single.

“It can hurt, but in the long run, returning to yourself and living within your own integrity, values and boundaries is liberation and freedom,” she said.

It’s a marked contrast to the former couple’s joint statement announcing the split, which couched the reality of their separation in therapy-speak about “navigating this transition” with “gratitude, love and kindness”.

The former couple this week agreed to the terms of their divorce … Picture: Angela Weiss / AFP

… while Jackman has well and truly moved on with new partner Sutton Foster. Picture: Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty

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After “almost three decades together as husband and wife in a wonderful, loving marriage … our journey now is shifting,” the pair stated, before finishing with a promise that’s today been proven untrue: “This is the sole statement either of us will make.”

So why now? Why has Furness, clearly upset by what sounds like a dramatic split behind closed doors, waited until now to go public?
Two big developments this week may reveal her thinking.

The first is that the former couple finally filed for divorce on May 23, Furness submitting paperwork in New York after she and Jackman had privately reached a divorce agreement which is said to have involved “a handsome spousal support payment”.

“There was some back and forth regarding this financial agreement but, in the end, (Deborra) got what she believed she deserved. Both are coming out of this financially secure,” the Daily Mail quoted a source as saying.

The second may relate to the woman Jackman, 56, has moved on with: His former Broadway co-star, Sutton Foster.

The pair, who had known each other for years, co-starred in The Music Man on Broadway from 2021 to 2023.

Jackman and new partner Foster co-starred in The Music Man together on Broadway. Picture: Theo Wargo/Getty

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Jackman was linked to Foster, 50, soon after his split from Furness was announced, and the pair were spotted kissing in public for the first time in January of this year, confirming a relationship they’d struggled to keep behind closed doors as public speculation grew.

This week came a relationship update that had to have stung: A report in New Idea that Foster is “slowly migrating” her belongings into Jackman’s New York penthouse.

He and Furness bought the Manhattan penthouse together in 2022 for $30 million.

“Deb is shattered knowing Sutton is making the penthouse her own – the place she poured her soul into,” the mag quoted a source as saying.

With her spousal payments secured and her ex-husband well and truly moving on with his new girlfriend, perhaps Furness decided the timing was right to let the public know her true feelings about their divorce, separate from that initial carefully crafted joint statement insisting their “journey” was “shifting” amicably.

And given Furness has today shown she’s willing to go against one term the couple jointly agreed to in the split – that their initial confirmation was “the sole statement either of us will make” – Jackman might be feeling nervous that today’s incendiary statement is merely the opening of the floodgates.