While Hugh Jackman and Deborra-Lee Furness announced their split Friday after 27 years of marriage, fans of the famous couple know that the actors repeatedly defended their union against speculation about “The Wolverine” star’s sexuality.
The pair met in 1995 on the set of the Australian TV show “Correlli” and married in 1996 at a church outside Melbourne, Australia.
The “Logan” star, 54, and Furness 67, adopted two children during their marriage: Oscar, now 23, and Ava, now 18.
But rumors about Jackman began swirling in 2003 when he portrayed the openly gay singer-songwriter Peter Allen in the play “The Boy from Oz.”
Pictures of Hugh kissing his male co-star Jarrod Emick on stage fueled the theory. However, both stars have a long oral history declaring that was not the case.
November 2011
Furness spoke to Page Six in November 2011 about the whispers that her marriage was a sham.
“The line I heard was, ‘Wolverine? Who would have thought?’ Hugh and I don’t pay much heed,” she said. “It’s kind of tragic that these people have nothing better to do than gossip about people they don’t know.”
February 2013
Jackman confessed to The Hollywood Reporter in February 2013 that the whispers about his sexuality affected his wife.
“Just recently, it bugs her,” he claimed. “She goes: ‘It’s big. It’s everywhere!’”
Later in 2013
The couple both addressed rumors in a joint interview with 60 Minutes Australia later in 2013.
“If I was [gay], I would be,” Jackman stated.
“I don’t think – it’s to me not the most interesting thing about a person anyway, but ah — I do get frustrated for Deb, ’cause I see Deb go ‘Ah, this is crazy,’” he admitted again, this time with his wife right beside him.
However, Hugh did say that he viewed the gay rumors as some sign he was doing something right.
“On some level it’s a compliment, you know, because it only happens when you’ve got to a certain point in your career,” he added.
Meanwhile, Furness said the accusations were “just wrong.”
“It’s like, it’s a lie,” she said, sitting alongside her husband.
“It’s just – the bottom line, so it’s just offensive. If he was gay, fine, he would say he’s gay. It has gotten so out of whack that they – it’s stupid, yeah, it’s annoying, because it’s not true,” she doubled down.
August 2013
Jackman was forced discuss the topic of this sexuality again in August 2013 during an interview with Good Housekeeping.
“I don’t really pay attention,” he said about the false rumors. “If someone’s going to spend their time saying, ‘You’re really not 6′ 2′; you’re 5′ 10,’ I’ll tell them once, ‘I am 6′ 2’. Then, whatever you want to believe, it’s up to you. We really only get mad when there’s an element of truth, right?”
“If anyone meets my wife, they’re like, ‘You’re all right, Hugh, but your wife is awesome.’ Everyone who meets her loves her. So it’s just wrong. It almost makes me sad for the people [saying those things]. They’re obviously in a bad place,” he continued. “I don’t want her perturbed; I worry for her. She’s a justice freak…When she hears the gossip, she finds it hard to shut up about it. It’s frustrating that she doesn’t have a voice in the situation.”
September 2020
Furness had a more humorous outlook on the rumors about her husband’s sexuality durning a Q&A on Anh’s Brush With Fame in September 2020.
“He’s been gay so many years,” she giggled in the video. “I was gay, too. You know when I did ‘Shame’? I was gay. They were shocked when I got married,” she added, referencing her role in the R-rated 1987 drama.
“It’s just wrong,” Furness added for the umpteenth time. “It’s like someone saying to Elton John, ‘He’s straight.’ I’m sure he’d be pissed.”
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