How an 'Angelina Jolie ban', Wolverine claws in the bedroom and a secret pact are the keys to Hugh Jackman’s 22-year marriage to Deborra-Lee Furness – and helped them survive stalker pubic hair hell

While many A-list marriages don't withstand the test of time, The Greatest Showman actor Hugh, 49, is still absolutely besotted with his wife of 22 years, Deborra-Lee Furness, 62.

But they've had their fair share of turbulence to contend with, from fertility problems to dealing with Hugh's stalker throwing a razor full of pubic hair at them.

Earlier this week, Hugh revealed that Deborra is the boss when it comes to what roles he will take on and the pair has a 'secret pact' to ensure a harmonious marriage.

And these aren't the couple's only keys to wedded bliss.

From a 'ban' on working with Angelina Jolie to having fun with Wolverine in the bedroom, we reveal the secrets to their long-lasting relationship.

Jealousy and secret pacts

Deborra's role as the boss in the relationship was established right from the beginning.

The Australian actress captivated Hugh at first sight when they met on the set of a TV drama, Correlli in 1995. 

At the time he was an unknown actor, fresh out of drama school.

Hugh's confessed he was so star struck by former pin-up Deborra – who played prison psychologist Louise Correlli –  he couldn’t even talk to her.

He was playing tattooed convict Kevin Jones in the show and has said of their first encounter: "I was scared. Deb was a massive star, everyone loved Deb."

He added: “Of course she’s very beautiful but I liked her. Then I saw another actor ‘pretend’ to bump into her, and I was jealous. I suddenly realised I had a massive crush on her. I was mortified.”

He was so humiliated he didn’t talk to her for a week, believing she thought he was pathetic.

After inviting her to a dinner party a week later, Hugh was tipsy when he finally admitted to her that he fancied her

“I just said, 'I’m really sorry I haven’t spoken to you. I’ve got a crush on you, but I’m sure I’ll get over it'.

"Then she told me she had a crush on me. Not in a million years did I think that was possible!”

The couple got married in Melbourne in 1996, with their wedding rings with a Sanskrit inscription meaning "we dedicate our union to a greater source."

It was around this time that they made their secret pact.

“When Deb and I got married, we made a pact that we would look at each other at every turning point in our lives and ask ourselves if this is good or bad for our family,” he told WHO magazine.

“There's been times I'll say, "Oh my God, there's this film and it's such and such and it's this and that" and very rarely, [Deb] looks at me and she's like, "No, now is not the best time", and she is just the best barometer of that.”

Angelina Jolie ban and dressing up as Wolverine

Deborra has also set another rule, and has jokingly stipulated Hugh cannot work with Angelina Jolie.

“I’ve told his agent. I’m sure she’s very nice and I love what she’s doing – shining a light on awareness for adoption, but…I’m just kidding!” she told The Today Show.

Hugh responded to the 'demand', saying at the time: "Deb and I have been married for 20 years. We have a lot of rules. We're very balanced… as long as she doesn't work with Brad Pitt, we're cool."

As the star of action blockbuster Wolverine, Hugh Jackman has also jokingly given an insight into his behaviour in the bedroom in the past – suggesting he dresses up as the iconic character at home.

“The sheets we go through…” the actor quipped in 2013 when asked how he deals with wearing the action hero’s claws at home.

Miscarriages and heartbreak

Hugh’s success came at the same time as private heartbreak for the couple, as they'd tried for children since marrying in 1996 without falling pregnant.

However the couple have come through the heartache even stronger, and now have two adopted children – son Max, who was born in 2000, and Ava, born in 2005. 

“We always wanted to adopt. We wanted to have kids. Because of her age, we started straight away when we were together,” Hugh told a US TV channel.

“We had a couple of miscarriages, IVF, it was not easy. It was difficult, particularly on Deb, and I’ll never forget it, the miscarriage thing, there’s a grieving you have to go through.

“So I said, “Now is the time, let’s adopt.”

Hugh said that the moment he watched their son Max being born “all the heartache just melted away”.

The couple then went on to adopt daughter Ava, now 13, in 2005, and Deborra founded charity Adopt Change in 2008.

Now campaigning for adoption laws to change, Deborra believes the adoption process in Australia is "not moving fast enough".

Hugh had been abandoned by his own mother Grace, when he was eight years old, as she left him and his four siblings to move back to England.

“When I was eight, my mother saw me off to school and never came back,” he said, but the pair keep in contact, seeing each several times a year.

He later discovered his mum had been suffering from post-natal depression.

Chopped livers and being 'lucky'

It would have been easy for the couple's romance to fall apart when Hugh’s fame reached its peak when X-Men hit screens in 2000.

Deborra, who by this stage was being eclipsed by his fame, admits that at times she has been made to feel like "chopped liver" – a side dish, rather than main course – by his fans.

Hugh told Oprah Winfrey that his sudden popularity in the US saw a shift in dynamic for the couple, but adds how she was happy to stay at home and raise the children.

“It can be difficult. She’ll call it ‘the chopped liver syndrome’. I’ve seen her literally knocked aside [as people try to reach me],” he explained.


Deborra added that she had been "almost pummelled" to the floor at times and hit back at fans who called her "lucky" to be married to Hugh.

“That, to me, is a put-down. It’s like you suggesting I won a raffle,” she told an Australian magazine.

Pubic hair stalker hell

The couple also went through a frightening period in 2012 where Hugh was stalked by an obsessive fan, Kathleen Thurston, who had a history of mental illness.

Kathleen was arrested after storming into Hugh’s Manhattan gym and throwing and throwing an electric razor full of her pubic hair at him.

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Date night with #mydebs at the @usopen #nothingbetter

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Date night with #mydebs at the @usopen #nothingbetter

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Date night with #mydebs at the @usopen #nothingbetter

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She pleaded guilty to stalking, harassment, and burglary charges, and served six months with a five year probation, which ends next year.

Hugh commented at the time, saying: "It was obviously frightening… For me, my main concern is for my family.

"I just hope the woman gets the help she needs."

Despite it all, Hugh and Deborra have one of the most enduring marriages in Hollywood.

They have always shunned any split rumours and remained by each other’s sides as they raise their family together – appearing to feel just as lucky as each other.

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