Old School. Biblically Independent.
By Kayleigh Donaldson | Celebrity | October 24, 2025
Nearly nine months after confirming the romance that had been one of Broadway’s bigger open secrets, Hugh Jackman and Sutton Foster are now making public appearances as an item. The Tony winners were together for the Fetch Pet Gala this week in New York. This is a star-studded event that often features Broadway performers so it was a safe space for Foster and Jackman to cozy up together without anyone asking, you know, those questions. Also, there were lots of cute doggos there!
Hard-launching a celebrity relationship can be a telling prospect. In this case, we have a beloved A-Lister and his Broadway beau who was once just a good friend and co-star, but we also have two ex-spouses, one of whom has been quite clear on how she feels about these developments. Deborra-Lee Furness, to whom Jackman was married for well over two decades, released a statement pertaining to the divorce wherein she said, ‘My heart and compassion goes out to everyone who has traversed the traumatic journey of betrayal.’ Well, that was a pointed term, yes? ‘Betrayal.’
We’ve talked before about how Jackman and Foster have tried to navigate a celeb romance launch amid extremely loud whispers about the origins of their relationship. They did totally natural pap walks for People while Us Weekly put the ‘untold story’ of their love on the cover and called it an affair. They said that sources had confirmed that Jackman had ‘blindsided’ Furness by ‘running off with the mistress.’ That’s a very blunt and unfriendly way to position this story. It was a line in the sand from one of the major tabloids. Following this launch, the pair retreated from the public eye and kept a low profile. Now, they’re gearing up for more press. Why now?
It’s worth noting that Jackman has a movie coming out this December. In Song Sung Blue, he and Kate Hudson tell the true story of a couple of struggling musicians who became a Neil Diamond tribute act. Yes, this is a real movie, and yes, they’re positioning it for Oscars consideration (early buzz is that good, especially for Hudson.) Jackman is an Oscar nominee and former host of the ceremony but not a winner, and that’s all he needs to complete the EGOT. Is he going to hustle hard for it this season, and if so, will he have Sutton on his arm for red carpet posing? He’s going to be getting interviewed a lot, at the very least, so he’ll have some quotes planned about the new love of his life and how it was definitely not infidelity, thank you very much. Maybe we’ll get a few more corny pap walks out of it, or he’ll serenade her on-stage with ‘Sweet Caroline.’ Do we think he’s introduced Sutton to his pals Rupert Murdoch and the Kushners yet? Does she have to tolerate Ryan Reynolds’ shtick? Let’s wait for the next People exclusive to find out more.
Most people don’t care about this stuff, and they probably shouldn’t anyway. Puritanism may be back in style and some weird young ‘uns think the Hays Code should return to prominence, but that doesn’t mean we should return to enforcing codes of moral decency on actors. Infidelity is one of those things that everyone has an opinion on, and celebrity cheating scandals are a way for us to tackle that, fairly or otherwise. We take sides as we do with our real-life romantic dramas, and it’s largely the women who suffer. But from a professional and gossip perspective, how these narratives of grand public romance in the aftermath of cheating accusations form are often highly revealing. There’s a reason we still refer to the Liz-Eddie-Debbie love triangle. I continue to see people calling Angelina Jolie a ‘husband-stealing b*tch’ many years after she left Brad Pitt and the accusations of his abusive behaviour emerged. Cheating is a grudge to hold onto for decades, as far as many are concerned. It’s to be tended to like a houseplant. That’s why celebrities work overtime to spin their way out of it.
And, of course, Wolverine was never going to be dented by any of this. Famous dudes have to literally murder someone for the public to entirely turn their backs on him, and even then, he’ll still have devotees in his corner with tinhats and manifestos. Maybe some of his female fans will roll their eyes as he talks lavishly of Foster in future interviews but they’ll still go to see X-Men 9 or whatever. For all of our love of gossiping about celebrities and their private lives, it’s still easy to compartmentalize every part of it, minor or otherwise, as unrelated to our love of the performer.
While I was writing this piece, the Australian magazine Women’s Day reported from ‘sources’ that Furness is planning to write her memoirs. They allege that Furness is preparing “to tell her side of the story” in the shape of a “divorce diary”, that, upon the approval of her lawyers, could be shopped to publishers. I can’t speak to the potential accuracy of this rumour or the reliability of this publication since I know nothing about Australian media, but it’s certainly interesting timing. My guess, however, is that the divorce NDAs are going to be airtight for this one, but the ‘sources’ will continue to speak.
