Hugh Jackman and Deborra Lee Furness are one of those couples who love to talk about how they met and will tell you how much they mean to each other. A lot of people throw shade at Hugh for marrying an older woman who isn’t Hollywood perfect, and he’s been the subject of gay rumors, but to me that just means that he’s dedicated to his wife and isn’t a superficial bastard. Plus he’s such a natural, accomplished entertainer and he can sing and dance with the best of them. That doesn’t make him gay, that just makes him excellent at his job.
Anyway, in a new appearance on Ellen, Hugh talked about meeting his wife, a story which he’s told many times and which you can tell he still loves telling. He was gushing about her this time because their 20th anniversary is coming up, but he usually doesn’t need an excuse.
“She and I met before [I got famous]. It was my first job and it was…obviously, she’s the greatest thing that ever happened to me, and it gets better and better,” Hugh, 47, said of Deborra, 60. “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.” He then told the story of how they first got together on the set of the Australian TV series Correlli. “She was the star I had this major crush on her. 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. When I realized, I didn’t talk to her. About a week later, I go, ‘This I silly.’ I had a dinner party and I invited her over and about 20 other people, and she said, ‘What’s the matter? Have I annoyed you? You’re not talking to me anymore. What have I done wrong?’ All the sudden I was—I’d had a couple ——and I said, ‘Look, I got a crush on you. I’ll get over it.’ And she went, ‘Oh, really?’ I was like, ‘Oh, this is bad.’ She goes, ‘Yeah, I got one on you, too.’ And I’m like, ‘Oh, great.’ So, that was it.”
Here they are today, “21 years and two kids later.”
I watched that episode as I’ve been taping Ellen and I have to say that Hugh adores his wife. To all you cynical bitches – I get it, most of the time I’m with you, but this is an exception. I’ve seen both Hugh and Deborra Lee interviewed many times and they’re the real deal. Yes it makes me jealous but at least the woman who bagged Hugh isn’t some Victoria’s Secret model (not that there’s anything wrong with that, but you know what I’m saying, she has other attributes).
Hugh was promoting his upcoming film, Eddie the Eagle, which tells the true story of the first British Olympic ski jumper, played by Taron Egerton (not related to Joel Edgerton, I checked). Hugh plays the coach. Taron, 26, is a Welsh actor, and he came on Ellen for his first talkshow appearance. He said that the name of his hometown is, I sh*t you not, llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch. This is a REAL TOWN NAME and they showed the train station sign and everything. I thought German words were long!
Update: Here’s the video
Photo credit: WENN, FameFlynet and Instagram
