Tragic Details About Hugh Jackman & Deborra-Lee Furness' Nasty Divorce

One of the most devastating celebrity splits of 2023 occurred in September as Hugh Jackman and Deborra-Lee Furness shared a shocking statement with People to announce that they were parting ways after being married for 27 years. The beloved couple's love story began back in 1995, when they shared the screen in the Australian TV show "Correlli." Speaking to Today in 2018, the "Wolverine" star shared that he knew he would marry his co-star only two weeks after first laying eyes on her. In fact, Jackman knew he'd marry Furness even when she tried to dump him early on in their relationship. So, it's unsurprising that they wed in 1996, after only about a year of knowing each other. 

The happy couple's family expanded in the following years as they adopted their kids, Oscar and Ava. Jackman and Furness' love only seemed to grow stronger as the decades went by. During a 2016 appearance on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show," the Australian actor gushed about his wife, "She's the greatest thing that ever happened to me." He continued, "I'm kind of really grateful that I met her before anything kind of happened [...] Everything that's happened in my career and onscreen, offscreen, we've always done it together." 

Jackman shared a similarly sweet sentiment when their 22nd wedding anniversary rolled around, adding in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, "I believe in life we need to see and truly be seen by the most important people in our lives. Deb, from day one, we had that." Although the Marvel stalwart similarly gushed about Furness on their 27th wedding anniversary, in 2023, his words arguably lost their meaning just a few months later. 

In Deborra-Lee Furness and Hugh Jackman's divorce announcement, they insisted that they were walking away from their long-standing union on friendly terms. However, in November 2023, we started seeing signs that Jackman's split from Furness was messier than they let on. At the time, several reports emerged suggesting that the "Greatest Showman" star had wasted no time moving on from his longtime marriage, finding love with Sutton Foster. Notably, the Aussie apparently knew her since the 2000s and had even co-starred with Foster in Broadway's revival of "The Music Man" in 2022. 

The "Prisoners" star's relationship with the Tony recipient apparently moved at breakneck speed, as New Idea confirmed that she was slowly but steadily moving into his New York penthouse in May 2025. According to an insider, Furness was destroyed by the idea that Foster and Jackman were starting their new life together in the home that she had "poured her heart into." Their insider further elaborated, "This was their ultimate family dream home, and a space that was meant to reboot their marriage."  

They also claimed that Jackman's ex was worried that things were moving too fast with them, with the source noting, "She thought Hugh would be more subtle, but this feels like a betrayal of their 27 years." And the former couple appeared to have been at odds around the time the news of his new relationship broke, since they unfollowed each other on Instagram. Despite everything, Furness sent a clear message that she wasn't bothered by Jackman's new romance, likely adding salt to his wounds.

In November 2023, an Us Weekly insider disclosed that Hugh Jackman and Deborra-Lee Furness had actually parted ways because he had an affair with Sutton Foster. They claimed that the "Les Misérables" star didn't come clean about his infidelity to his then-wife either. "Deborra-Lee was blindsided when she found out about the affair through the run of the show," they divulged. "It was apparently Broadway's worst-kept secret, and Deborra-Lee was the last to know." 

Likewise, an InTouch Weekly source confirmed that Foster and Jackman's romance was a long time coming since the Australian actor had been smitten with his Broadway co-star essentially from the moment they first met. Tragically, Furness all but confirmed what had really happened between them in a candid statement shared with the Daily Mail in May 2025, writing, "My heart and compassion goes out to everyone who has traversed the traumatic journey of betrayal." While she acknowledged that such situations can be immensely painful, Furness also professed that they came with a silver lining since they could also guide people to "living within [their] own integrity, values and boundaries is liberation and freedom." 

Then, Jackman subtly confirmed the cheating rumors himself, with his reported response to his ex-wife's divorce call-out. According to another Daily Mail insider, the "Deadpool & Wolverine" star didn't expect Furness to publicly address their divorce since he believed they had an unspoken agreement to keep things private. The source posited that the statement had stung him even more because the actor had tried to atone for his actions in their divorce settlement by giving Furness whatever she wanted.

Hugh Jackman and Sutton Foster's alleged affair had a wider fallout than we knew. In November 2024, a source informed RadarOnline that Jackman and Deborra-Lee Furness' A-list friends, Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds, had an inkling that his relationship with Foster wasn't just that of co-stars. However, they supposedly chose not to share that information with his now-ex-wife because they wanted to protect him. Obviously, Furness wasn't too pleased about the reported betrayal, with the insider noting, "Debs feels cheated by all three because someone could have told her what was happening and they all chose to keep their mouths shut." The confidant added that Furness was "seething with rage over being the last to know about the clandestine affair." Jackman's ex also had to come to terms with how Foster revealed her true colors to her in a calculated move. 

In June 2025, an insider told the Daily Mail that while Foster formed a deep emotional connection with Jackman, she put on a show of friendliness around Furness. In fact, Foster and her then-husband, Ted Griffin, supposedly even went on double dates with Furness and Jackman. The confidant asserted that Furness found the Tony winner's friendship "extremely disturbing" with hindsight. Naturally, Jackman's former wife didn't want to bear any further association with Foster whatsoever. They also claimed that Griffin and Furness had developed a bond over their shared "deep sense of betrayal." Safe to say that Furness probably also hates to see how Jackman's girlfriend is aging like fine wine.

Although Deborra-Lee Furness and Hugh Jackman announced their separation in August 2023, she only officially filed for divorce in May 2025. According to a Daily Mail source, the nearly 3-year gap was due to the exes being unable to decide how to split their $250 million assets. Furness reportedly wanted a bigger piece of the pie than her ex-husband was willing to give her. "With a significant amount of money at stake, Deborra-Lee is determined to get what she believes she deserves from the separation," they explained. "She is using the fact that Hugh is still married and involved with another woman against him." 

To make matters worse, the former couple didn't even have a framework or a starting point in divvying up their assets since they reportedly didn't sign a prenup. In addition to being a financial regret, the non-existent agreement also served as a tragic reminder that Furness and Jackman never thought that their union would fall apart. After tons of back and forth, the "X-Men" star and his ex-wife finally reached an "uncontested" divorce settlement in June 2025, per People. 

At the time, an insider confirmed to the Daily Mail that Furness was particularly pleased with the settlement since she walked away with a "handsome spousal support payment." According to the insider, the details of Jackman and Furness' pricey divorce settlement were essentially that he would keep the keys to his New York penthouse and another home in Australia. However, the beloved actor may have to continue paying for his ex-wife and their children's health care.

For decades, Hugh Jackman was known as one of the nicest, most down-to-earth celebrities in Hollywood. However, that carefully crafted good guy reputation began crumbling as the cheating rumors went rampant and the Aussie actor received tons of criticism online. The negative press reportedly manifested into financial consequences too. According to a July 2025 report in the Daily Mail, Jackman's solo concerts at Radio City Hall in New York were underperforming significantly, with tons of tickets in the pricier sections still up for grabs as the dates grew closer. Moreover, it seemed many who had already bought them were no longer interested in attending since they were reselling their tickets for around $20. 

Notably, the lowest-priced tickets for the shows on Ticketmaster were around $58, so it seemed like people would rather take a loss than attend the shows. Additionally, the "Prestige" star apparently wasn't faring that well in his personal life either. An insider dished to Closer Weekly that Jackman's pals were increasingly concerned about him having a mid-life crisis, since, "He's ditched a lot of people in his life that were steady influences and seems to be putting his whole focus on this new crowd. They're all a lot younger than him and pretty wild." 

Likewise, a RadarOnline source claimed that Deborra-Lee Furness also believed that her ex was going through a mid-life crisis that could negatively impact his relationship with Sutton Foster. They further asserted that she felt Jackman would rely on his new girlfriend for support and offer her advice during tough times, but that he could also turn clingy and drive her away.