Deborra-Lee Furness once appeared offended when asked about ongoing “rude” remarks about her marriage to Hugh Jackman three years before the couple announced their shock split.
In a resurfaced interview with Anh Do’s Brush With Fame in 2020, the actress, 67, was asked by host Anh Do if she was sick of being told she was “lucky” to be married to the Wolverine star, who is 13 years her junior.
“Lucky! Like I won a chook raffle,” the actress scoffed.
“People don’t realise that it’s actually rude to say that. ‘Lucky’ because he’s a stud muffin and all that. But that’s showbiz and Hollywood and the brand of Hugh Jackman.”
In the same ABC interview, Furness went on to say that she knew instantly Jackman was The One within two weeks of meeting on the set of the TV show Correlli in 1995.
“I remember I was sitting in his kitchen and he was cooking for a dinner party and I said, ‘You haven’t been coming into my trailer lately, we always used to hang out’, and he goes ‘Yeah yeah I know, I haven’t, I’ve got a crush on you, then I said ‘I’ve got a crush on you too’ and that was it, we admitted it, and I don’t think we ever spent a day apart,” she said.
Elsewhere in the interview, Furness called Jackman her “soulmate”.
“We just had this amazing connection, and I feel blessed that I experienced it, that I feel like I met my soulmate, whatever that is,” she said.
“When you find a partner in crime where you share and you grow together and you know, life is tough we know. It’s not all good.
“And when you have someone there that is so supportive and you can really stand buck naked – and you have to when you’ve got kids – warts and all, and you’re loved, there’s nothing better.”
Sadly, three years after the interview aired, the couple would call it quits after 27 years and two children.
“We have been blessed to share almost three decades together as husband and wife in a wonderful, loving marriage,” the pair said in a joint statement.
“Our journey now is shifting and we have decided to separate to pursue our individual growth.
“Our family has been and always will be our highest priority.
“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.”
A source told Daily Mail their relationship first became strained during the Covid-19 lockdowns, with the pair faced with a similar setback amid the ongoing SAG-AFTRA strikes that have brought Hollywood to a halt over these past few months.
“After the past few years, the love they had for each other turned more into a friendship which got broken during Covid, as the lockdown didn’t help their marriage at all and really put a strain on their relationship,” the source said.
“They worked on it and couldn’t get it back. The strikes haven’t helped one bit, it got them in the same predicament as Covid did, to where they were just kicking the tires, and Hugh found it all to not have the same magic as they once had.
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“Deb had similar concerns and thoughts and separating is the best option.”
Another source told Page Six their inner circle felt it was “a long time coming”, with an insider claiming the duo seemed to be distant during Jackman’s Broadway production of The Music Man in February last year.
“Deb wasn’t at rehearsals very much,” a friend told the publication.
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