His was a love at first sight of manual back in the nineties and now they celebrate their silver wedding anniversary as one of the most established couples in Hollywood, which already has merit.
Hugh Jackman and Deborra-Lee Furness are married for 25 years and the
Wolverine
actor
He wanted to pay a small tribute to his wife through a romantic post on Instagram.
"Being married to you, Deb, is as natural as breathing," begins the text, which is accompanied by some unpublished photos of their wedding.
Him in a black suit, white shirt and tiny glasses.
She with a huge bouquet of flowers, a pearl necklace and a big updo.
“From almost the moment we met, I knew that our destiny was to be together.
In our 25 years, our love has only deepened.
The most exhilarating fun, excitement and adventure;
even greater learning.
I will always be grateful to share our love, our life, and our family together.
We have done nothing but begin.
Deb, I love you with all my heart ”, he concludes.
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The protagonist of
X-men
and the actress and film producer met in 1995, when they participated together in the Australian series
Correlli
.
He was making his television debut and she was already a recognized star who had promised herself "never to date actors again."
The love he felt then was such that for a time he withdrew his word, as Jackman himself recalled on the Ellen DeGeneres show.
“The whole team liked her, and I was so embarrassed that I didn't speak to her for a week.
I organized a dinner and invited her, well, her and 20 other people.
When we were there he said to me: 'What's wrong with you?
Has something bothered you?
Why don't you talk to me anymore?
At this point Jackman had no choice but to confess his love to Deborra.
"Look, I like you but I'll get over it," snapped the actor who at that time had a partner and wanted to be honest.
But, to his surprise, her response was: "Yes, I like you too."
They started dating and only four months later he asked her to marry him.
The Australian actors were married in Melbourne on April 11, 1996. He was 27 when he said "I do," and she was 36. Although the tabloids always like to highlight it, the age difference has never meant an impediment for neither of them, on the contrary, it is an issue that Jackman has always boasted about because, he has said on several occasions, it has allowed him to work on his personal and professional self-esteem.
His career took off at the same time as his marriage, as it was in 1998 when a producer of the X-Men saga discovered him in a London theater playing
Oklahoma!
, and proposed to him to play the mutant with the adamantium claws and thick sideburns that catapulted him to fame throughout nine films and 17 years.
"The pillar of my life" is how Hugh describes Deborra.
His love for her, he often says, is one of the most important things and the fame, the awards, everything that came after, remains on the surface.
"Underneath all that, the only thing that exists is a deep and lasting love for Deb," she told
People TV
a while ago.
The age difference has not been the only thing that the couple has had to face.
Jackman has suffered from several skin cancers and she has always been his greatest support and the one who pushed him to talk about it to raise awareness in society.
"I went to the beach without sun protection and all the things that have happened to me are damages from 25 or 30 years ago," he said in an interview with ICON-EL PAÍS.
“I think young people should know.
If they see that Wolverine is wearing sun protection, they will also put it on, "he said.
What he has also spoken openly in the past is his addiction to sex, an obsession that led him, in his opinion, to practice tantric sex.
He decided to give up the clinics and as a treatment he preferred to focus on his marriage, the result of which 25 years later seems positive.
The Australian of English descent is considered by the press around the world as "the nicest guy in Hollywood", but that has not spared him from being the subject of rumors.
For years there has been talk of his alleged homosexuality, a topic that he does not veto in his interviews.
"You know you have succeeded when the rumors come that you are gay," he laughed a few years ago to a journalist from
The Guardian
.
A sense of humor that he shares with his wife, because just a few months ago some of his statements made several headlines.
“Hugh has been gay for many years.
I was also gay when I made my film
Shame
in 1988. That's why everyone was very surprised when we got married, "joked the producer on Australian television and later clarified:" I hope people realize that everything is made up.
They are comments that are born of evil and it is better to ignore them, but sometimes they hurt and hurt ”.
Hugh Jackman walks with his wife, Deborra-Lee Furness, and their children through Paris in 2011.
They are both very devoted and fate did not want to give them biological children, but they did not throw in the towel and ended up adopting.
After two abortions, the couple adopted Oscar Maximillian in July 2000 and Ava Eliot in 2005, whom they have preferred to keep in the background.
The arrival of the little ones not only meant a realization for the couple but also became a real cause of life for Deborra, who for years has worked with various organizations helping orphaned children and different initiatives to promote adoption.
The couple also collaborates with different NGOs linked to the fight against AIDS or assistance to refugees, and Jackman is the founder of the Laughing Man foundation, which markets coffee produced by Ethiopian farmers.
Helping those most in need is another of the passions that unites the couple, who despite sharing a profession have agreed not to work together or do it at the same time.
Nor can they accept jobs that require them to be more than two weeks apart.
Twenty-five years later, there is no doubt that the strategy has been a success for this long-lived and in love marriage.