Australian actor Hugh Jackman’s rumoured affair with American actress Sutton Foster was said to be the reason his 27-year marriage ended in divorce.
American magazine Us Weekly reported on Tuesday (Nov 12) about the secret romance between the Deadpool & Wolverine (2024) star and theatre performer Foster, after they starred together in the 2022 Broadway revival of The Music Man.
In the musical, Jackman played con artist Harold Hill, who falls in love with Foster’s straight-laced librarian Marian Paroo. The musical ran from February 2022 to January 2023 at the Winter Garden Theatre in New York.
Jackman, 56, and Foster, 49, were still married to their respective partners, Australian actress Deborra-Lee Furness and American screenwriter Ted Griffin, 53.
Jackman and Furness, 68, announced their split in September 2023, while Foster filed for divorce on Oct 25 after 10 years of marriage.
Jackman and Furness share adopted children, son Oscar, 24, and daughter Ava, 19, while Foster and Griffin are parents to seven-year-old Emily, whom they adopted in 2017.
A source reportedly close to Foster told Us Weekly that “a lot of people on Broadway knew, and we kept it quiet because both of them are so nice and great people. Everyone respected their privacy. But there was an affair and overlap”.
The magazine added that Furness was “blindsided” when she discovered Jackman and Sutton had allegedly been engaged in an “affair through the run of the show”, branding it “Broadway’s worst-kept secret”.
A friend of the Australian exes told Us Weekly that Furness was devastated, adding that “many people were shocked Hugh could do this to her”.
Sources told American tabloid Page Six in October that Jackman and Foster had been keeping their relationship under wraps, despite spending “all of their free time together”.
During The Music Man’s production, the pair would often share photos and videos on Instagram, each professing respect for the other.
On opening night, Foster shared snaps of her and Jackman on the red carpet with the caption: “This man. An honour to be by your side. You. Are. The. BEST.”
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This article was first published in The Straits Times. Permission required for reproduction.
