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Hugh Jackman and Deborra-Lee Furness’ Separation Has Been ‘Hard and Not Fully Amicable’
Hugh Jackman and estranged wife Deborra-Lee Furness are reportedly still having a difficult time navigating their separation more than one year after their split.
“Hugh and Deborra-Lee’s separation has been stressful, hard and not fully amicable,” a source told Us Weekly on Thursday, February 20.
While the X-Men star, 56, and the Shame actress, 69, disagreed over “certain” things after their split, they eventually figured out a way to coexist, the insider revealed.
“They’re moving forward as [best they can] despite hurt feelings and pain,” the source explained. “[But] it will take a while to recover because they were together for so long.”
Hugh and Deborra-Lee announced their separation after 27 years of marriage in September 2023.
“We have been blessed to share almost three decades together as husband and wife in a wonderful, loving marriage. Our journey now is shifting and we have decided to separate to pursue our individual growth,” the former couple, who share kids Oscar, 24, and Ava, 19, said in a joint statement. “Our family has been and always will be our highest priority.”
The statement continued, “We undertake this next chapter with gratitude, love and kindness. We greatly appreciate your understanding in respecting our privacy as our family navigates this transition in all of our lives. This is the sole statement either of us will make.”
Despite separating more than a year ago, neither Hugh nor Deborra-Lee have filed for divorce yet. A source claimed to Daily Mail in January that the pair’s lack of a prenup was the reason for the delay.
“When they got married, they thought it would be forever. Who doesn’t? At the time, neither of them expected Hugh’s career to get as enormous as it has,” the insider said. “Because there was no prenup, and he made a fortune during their marriage, this divorce is not going to be cut and dry. It may even get messy because the stakes are high. A lot of moving parts need to be worked out and there is a huge amount of money involved.”
Though Hugh and Deborra-Lee — who met on the set of the Australian TV series Correlli in 1995 — want to “make this as easy as possible,” their impending divorce is “not quite that easy,” the source concluded.
Amid his separation from the Australian actress, Hugh has moved on with The Music Man costar Sutton Foster, who is currently wrapped up in her own divorce from Ted Griffin after 10 years of marriage. Hugh and Sutton, 49, confirmed their romance in January with PDA-packed public outings after months of speculation about the nature of their relationship.
Now that the couple has gone public, a source exclusively told Closer on January 28 that Hugh is hoping to have a “blended family” with Deborra-Lee and Sutton, who shares daughter Emily, 7, with Ted, 54.
“Hugh still has a lot of love for Deb. He had three decades with her and doesn’t want to lose her as a friend so he’s ready and willing to do whatever he can to make peace and create a new chapter of their relationship,” the insider said. “Hugh very much wants to have Deb as a part of his life, not just for his sake but for his kids as well.”
The source added that the Greatest Showman star believes “doing family holidays is something he wants to continue with and that ultimately will mean Sutton has to be in the mix as well. It’s just a matter of Deb being comfortable with it.”
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