By Kayleigh Donaldson | Celebrity | November 15, 2024 |
This week, Us Weekly dedicated their cover to the ‘untold story’ of the ‘secret romance’ between actors Hugh Jackman and Sutton Foster. The magazine, one of the most widely-read tabloids in the country, said that sources had confirmed to them that the pair were together. ‘They’re happier than ever’, said the source, and admiring of one another’s talent and down-to-earth nature. It’s a typical cutesy story, two hot celebs getting together and all that. But what gave the Us Weekly story an acidic edge was the inclusion of details regarding the end of Jackman’s long-time marriage to Deborra-lee Furness.
Us Weekly had another exclusive claiming that the reason Furness and Jackman split was because of his romance with Foster, with whom he worked on the most recent Broadway production of The Music Man. They cited industry sources as well as an Instagram post from gossip blogger Tasha Lustig, both of whom claimed that Jackman had ‘blindsided’ Furness by ‘running off with the mistress.’
I’ve found this story to be fascinating. It’s revealed so much about how gossip spreads, how celebrities try to keep a lid on it, and how attempts to control the narrative are often hindered by inconveniences like the truth.
So, let’s start from the beginning.
While working on The Music Man, Jackman and Foster couldn’t have been more effusive about one another. They talked about how they’d become the best of friends and had family get-togethers. ‘We just spent Memorial Day with our families,’ she admitted (yikes.) A big part of the hype for the show was based on this seemingly amazing chemistry between the pair and they certainly played into it, posting cute videos and pics to Instagram and gushing over one another whenever possible.
During the run, rumours started swirling that the pair were hooking up behind the scenes, stories that were mostly spread through Broadway-specific fandoms and message boards. Broadway is a notoriously incestuous community where everyone knows everyone and they’re mostly all doing it. Foster herself had been embroiled in a previous musical infidelity scandal when stories bubbled up about her and then-husband Christian Borle cheating on one another with Roger Bart and Laura Bell Bundy respectively. It was a whole thing. Rumours aren’t a foundation for an Us Weekly story, however, and it’s easy for such chatter to spiral into nonsense. So, it largely remained an online conversation for most of us. The Music Man was a commercial hit and got a bunch of Tony nominations, so job well done all round, right?
And then Jackman filed for divorce. The couple announced that they’d separated in September 2023, eight months after finishing his time on The Music Man. The statement was perfectly cordial, nothing out of the ordinary for a celeb couple split announcement. People were shocked, of course. Jackman and Furness had been together for almost 30 years, a veritable eternity in the world of famous marriages. It didn’t do much to quash the growing rumours.
Three months later, Page Six and In Touch both reported from ‘multiple sources’ that Jackman and Foster had an affair. Both said it was an open secret in Broadway circles and that the affair had kicked off during the run of The Music Man. But it didn’t take long for Page Six to delete the article altogether. Foster then did some very pointed Instagram posting of herself with her husband, screenwriter Ted Griffin. The deletion made a lot of people wonder if Hugh called up his old buddy Rupert Murdoch for some help. Several months later, Foster and Griffin split.
And we end with this Us Weekly report. Enough time had passed for a romance soft launch and they could play plausibly deniability about the relationship having started with infidelity. Well, that was probably the plan. Us Weekly follows a lot of the typical PR lines with the romance announcement, talking up how they’re so happy and well-suited, but they didn’t omit the messiness. They kept it in there and amplified it. If this is your first time hearing about Jackman’s new girlfriend, then you’re hearing about it as an instance of cheating. That’s a tough one to wash away. Nobody likes cheaters.
Anytime a major tabloid or celebrity publication decides to go against the A-List, I have to wonder what they’re risking. Perhaps Us Weekly doesn’t care about getting any more Wolverine coverage, but they may have also had to consider everyone else in the wide Jackman circle. That’s a lot of junkets to sit out. Jackman is hardly unpopular with the public either. But also, nobody likes cheaters. It’s one of the few things the world agrees upon. So, for Us Weekly to do this story, and to put it on the cover, suggests that they’re very confident in their sources and are happy to potentially cut loose a few cutesy covers with a big star. And sources do matter. In this case, it’s not just that they trust the source: it’s that they trust Furness, who they reported liked that Instagram post via her private account. The post also received support from a prominent friend of Furness, Amanda de Cadenet. Sometimes, you have to send your pals out to ensure the truth is told.
I still wonder why Us Weekly made the call. The tabloids are hardly averse to sucking up to men who do crappy things, as evidenced by all the glowing headlines Brad Pitt still accrues. Did they just dislike Hugh Jackman enough to decide he wasn’t worth maintaining a good relationship with? Or was it more about knowing that their predominantly female readership would care more about Deborra’s perspective? It could be a bit of both. It could also be that they knew which story would be a bigger seller on newsstands.
I don’t expect Jackman to keep getting a harsh reception if he chooses to go further public with his current relationship. He’s still Wolverine and the star of one of the highest-grossing movies of 2024 so far. This is a bona fide A-Lister with true clout who just wants to work out, sing songs, and hang out with Murdoch and the Kushners in peace. Still, it suggests something far more intriguing to me that not even Hugh Jackman could make this story go away…