Hugh Jackman and Deborra-Lee Furness are one of those unwavering Hollywood couples who have stood the test of time and still seem blissfully in love after decades together.
Could it be the actor and actress’ Australian roots that have allowed these two to stay grounded enough to hold onto a marriage that is now in it’s 27th year? Whilst we don’t know if that could be the case, the one thing we can be sure of is that some Hollywood relationships can be a success, and Hugh and Deborra are proof of that.
On the 27th wedding anniversary of the Australian power couple, we’re taking a look back on how the love formed, and the challenges they’ve faced and fought through, to be today celebrating such a significant relationship milestone.
Pictured left in 2000, and right in 2022, Hugh and Deb have continued to defy the challenges that come with being a couple in the public eye.
(Images: Instagram/Getty)How they met
As many Hollywood romances begin, Hugh and Deb first met as co-stars. The year was 1995, and it was on the set of Australian TV series Correlli, that 26-year-old Hugh began to develop feelings for the actress 13 years his senior.
It was Hugh’s first big role and he refrained from confessing his feelings as he wasn’t the only one on set interested in Deb.
“She was the star and I had this major crush on her,” he admitted during an appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show. “Everyone did. The whole crew had a crush on her and I was so embarrassed by that, I didn’t talk to her for about a week.”
But it just took a few drinks for the burly actor to confess his feelings, and Deb reciprocated. The rest, as they say, is history!
The two’s early successes as a couple could be down to the fact that the relationship began before Hugh got his big acting break.
“She and I met before [I got famous],” the Wolverine star told Ellen.
“I’m kind of really grateful that I met before anything kind of happened, because everything that’s happened in my career and on-screen, off-screen, we’ve always done it together.”
The wedding
Hugh was so confident in his love for Deb that he proposed just four months into their courtship—with a ring that he designed himself.
The couple wasted no time making it official after the engagement, tying the knot in Melbourne on April 11th, 1996.
Not much is known about the nuptials, as they two weren’t as high profile at the time.
What has been established from photos that Hugh shared on their 25th wedding anniversary, is that blushing bride went for an unconventional look for her big day, donning satin trousers instead of the traditional dress.
Becoming parents
Following marriage, the two were eager to start a family almost immediately, due to Deborra-Lee being the age of 40 when they tied the knot.
The talented husband and wife duo now share two kids together, both of whom they adopted, but it wasn’t an easy journey to becoming parents.
Deb suffered through several miscarriages and failed rounds of IVF, before they made the decision to adopt.
“We did IVF and Deb had a couple of miscarriages. I’ll never forget it, the miscarriage thing… It happens to one in three pregnancies. But it’s very, very rarely talked about. It’s almost secretive,” Hugh explained of their heartbreaking fertility journey during an appearance on Katie Couric’s talk show Katie in 2012.
The couple are guarded about their children, choosing to raise them away from the spotlight.
(Image: Getty)Hugh and Deborra initially started to look at adopting within Australia but were forced to move their search to America as a result of complicated local adoption laws.
On May 15th 2000, two became three. Then on July 10th 2005, the couple completed their family unit of four.
The acting duo have close and loving relationships with their 17-year-old daughter, Ava Eliot Jackman, and 22-year-old son, Oscar Maximilian Jackman.
“I don’t think of them as adopted – they’re our children. We feel things happened the way they are meant to. Obviously, biologically wasn’t the way we were meant to have children,” the Wolverine star told the Herald Sun of his family unit.
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