Hugh Jackman and Deborra-Lee Furness Divorced After 27 Years — Why They Couldn't Last "One Day More"

The "Boy from Oz" hasn’t had the most dramatic personal life, but in 2023, Hugh Jackman’s love life made headlines when he and his wife of 27 years, Deborra-Lee Furness, divorced. Hugh has always been somewhat of a father figure to millennials as we grew up watching him take on iconic roles from Wolverine in X-Men to Jean Valjean in Les Miserables.

In 2024, amid his press appearances for Deadpool & Wolverine, his longtime wife was notably absent. Throughout most of his time in the spotlight, however, Hugh has had Deb, also an Australian actor, by his side. Through years of denying rumors about their relationship, they finally split in September 2023, but why did they get divorced?

Despite a seemingly long and healthy marriage, rumors of cracks in Hugh and Deb’s relationship began in 2022. Before that, many had frequently questioned the sincerity of their marriage because of their 13-year age gap and speculation surrounding Hugh’s sexuality. At the time of their divorce, Deb was 67 years old, while Hugh was 54, a subversion of the typical age-gap relationships in which the guy is older.

Because of this, people often speculated, even when they first started dating, that Hugh could be gay. But this was likely just homophobic rhetoric tied to the stereotype that if a man could sing and dance, that means he’s gay (fun fact: straight men can sing and dance too!). In fact, Hugh and Deb have both spoken about his sexuality.

“If he was gay, fine, he would say he’s gay,” Deb shared in a 60 Minutes interview with Hugh in 2013. “It has gotten so out of whack … it’s stupid, yeah, it’s annoying, because it’s not true.” Hugh added, “If I was [gay], I would be. It’s to me not the most interesting thing about a person anyway, but I do get frustrated for Deb because I see Deb go, ‘Ah, this is crazy.’”

Even still, all the speculation and rumors seemingly have little to do with the real reason Hugh and Deb got divorced.

While it’s rare for a Hollywood relationship to last more than a few years, it’s even rarer for one to last almost 30 years. But Hugh and Deb are far from the first couple to divorce decades into a marriage. In fact, it’s incredibly common that when a couple’s kids grow up and go off to college, the couple decides to get divorced.

Hugh and Deb’s youngest child, their daughter, Ava, turned 18 in 2023. For those who haven’t done the math, that’s when most kids move out and either go to college, take a gap year, or do some other sort of introduction to their newfound adulthood. It’s also when couples who know they have no more romantic love between them tend to get divorced.

Australian entertainment reporter Peter Ford suggested to 6PR Breakfast, “27 years of marriage in a showbusiness marriage, that’s a long time. That’s like 186 years in real people’s terms … It’s not the most uncommon scenario for a couple in their fifties and sixties that once the kids are off their hands, they decide the glue that held this together isn’t there anymore and we’re going to go our separate paths.”

Luckily, Hugh and Deb’s divorce was seemingly amicable as sources told Page Six they had been living like “roommates” and even celebrated Hugh’s birthday together after the divorce. Sometimes, people just fall out of love and move on with their lives.