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Hugh Jackman has managed to build up a solid filmography for himself ever since his breakthrough role in X-Men. And although he’s entertained many with his movies, the actor’s wife Deborra-Lee Furness was once unable to sit through his projects.
Hugh Jackman didn’t think he was a big enough actor for Deborra-Lee Furness
Jackman and Furness are both actors with long careers in the industry. Jackman had been fascinated in with acting from an early age. Despite certain preconceived notions about the art at the time, Jackman still decided to pursue his career because of his passion.
“As a boy, I’d always had an interest in theater. But the idea at my school was that drama and music were to round out the man. It wasn’t what one did for a living. I got over that. I found the courage to stand up and say, ‘I want to do it,’” Jackman once told Oprah.
His work would eventually result in Jackman featuring in the Australian TV series Correlli. In 1995, he would meet his future wife, who back then was the more popular name between the two.
“My first job out of drama school — it was a massive break for me. I was really scared,” he once said in an interview on People. “Deb, she was a big star. I get picked up, and Deb is in the front seat of the car. I’ll never forget. She took off her seatbelt and she turned around and put out her hand and took off her sunglasses and said, ‘Hi, I’m Deborra-lee Furness, nice to meet you.’ I remember thinking, ‘I like this girl.’”
Deborra-Lee Furness fell asleep through every movie Hugh Jackman has done
Jackman and Furness would marry a year after meeting each other. During their marriage, Jackman experienced a meteoric rise in Hollywood after appearing in X-Men. Since then, Jackman has become the headliner of several hit movies. However, some of those movies weren’t projects that Furness was able to sit through. This was in large part due the different sleeping habits Jackman and Furness practiced.
“She’s a morning person,” Jackman once said in an interview with Parade. “Deb pops up, and it’s, ‘Come on, baby. Let’s go!’ Yet at night she falls asleep instantly, sometimes in mid-conversation. She’s fallen asleep during every movie I’ve ever done. At one premiere, this big-time producer—he’s known for growling—growled down the row to me, ‘Wake your wife up!’”
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But Jackman believed that this behavior was indicative of one of his wife’s most attractive features.
“She’s the most honest person I’ve ever met. The worst liar. Can’t do it. Everything she feels comes out. This is just the long way of saying she’s not jealous of my success, no. It’s not in her DNA. Every person I’ve ever worked with has ended up liking Deb more than they like me,” Jackman continued.
Deborra-Lee Furness doesn’t want to be known as Mrs. Jackman
Being wedded to the mega-star sometimes presents a bit of an issue for Furness. Because of Jackman’s stardom, sometimes Furness believed that she was regarded more for who she was with instead of her own identity. This rubbed the actor the wrong way.
“I just want to be seen for who I am. I don’t want to be judged as ‘Mrs. Jackman,’” Furness once told Daily Telegraph (via Daily Mail).
And although she’s been supportive of her husband’s success, navigating around it has occasionally proved difficult.
“Sometimes it’s tricky. People put you in a box and have an idea of who you are. It’s annoying; I don’t like that,” she said. “The thing about fame that’s challenging is that before, you could meet someone and the joy of getting to know [them] didn’t come with preconceptions that you’re a celebrity or you’re rich.”
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