Hugh Jackman’s rumored affair with Sutton Foster ‘is the reason’ he ended the marriage

Hugh Jackman’s estranged wife Deborra-Lee Furness appeared to confirm the real reason for their September 2023 legal separation stemmed from his rumored affair with his former Music Man leading lady, Sutton Foster.

The Australian 68-year-old’s private Instagram account ‘liked’ one October 26 video from gossip blogger Tasha Lustig, who claims he ‘ran off with the mistress’ and planned a ‘soft launch’ of their relationship – according to Us Weekly.

Believing the claim was Deborra-Lee’s friend Amanda de Cadenet, who commented on the same post: ‘You’re right on this one. My dear friend Deb is making her light up every minute fyi!’

It was in March 2020 — just as COVID shut down the world — when the Australian 56-year-old and the Georgia-born, Michigan-raised 49-year-old dizzy first started working in the workshop Jerry Zaks’ Broadway revival of the 1957 musical.

Hugh and Sutton took on the roles of Harold Hill and Marian Paroo in The Music Man, which ran from February 2022 to January 2023 at the Winter Garden Theater in Manhattan.

‘Sutton and Hugh’s relationship is the reason Hugh and Deb (separated),’ a source close to Foster told the newspaper.

‘A lot of people on Broadway knew and we kept it quiet because they’re both such nice and amazing people. Everyone respected their privacy. But there was an affair and overlap. They are really happy now.’

They continued: ‘Hugh’s whole image is that he’s the nicest guy in Hollywood, so he doesn’t know what to do with this.’

And while a source told DailyMail.com on October 26 that Furness ‘had her suspicions when Hugh started working with Sutton’, an industry source claimed the opposite to Us Weekly.

“Deborra-Lee was stunned when she found out about the affair during the show,” the insider said.

‘Apparently it was Broadway’s worst-kept secret, and Deborra-Lee was the last to know. (even worse) he owned it!’

The Force of Nature: The Dry 2 actress and Jackman’s two adopted children — son Oscar Maximilian Jackman, 24; and daughter Ava Eliot Jackman, 19 — are legal adults, but they are having a hard time sharing his alleged $180 million fortune.

“For a woman who has been in a marriage for 27 years to find out her partner was unfaithful and untrustworthy, it’s a pretty devastating life experience,” a friend told Deborrah-Lee.

‘I think a lot of people were shocked that he could do this to her, especially since she’s the mother of his children and they’ve navigated three decades of life together. A little respect might have been in order’.

It’s worth noting that the Deadpool & Wolverine action star fell in love with Furness while starring as a brain-damaged convict and prison psychologist in ABC’s 10-episode series Correlli in 1995.

Eyebrows were raised once again when the two-time Tony winner filed for an uncontested divorce from second husband Ted Griffin on Oct. 22 in New York County Supreme Court — according to Page six.

During their decades-long marriage, Sutton and the 53-year-old 9-1-1 producer-writer adopted seven-year-old daughter Emily Griffin, and she shared Vogue in 2022 that her family ‘spent Memorial Day’ with Hugh’s family.

It’s unclear when the couple’s alleged affair began, but it was Weekly contact which first reported on it on December 13.

Foster divorced her first husband, actor Christian Borle, in 2009 after three years of marriage.

The Grammy nominee currently stars as Princess Winnifred in Lear deBessonet’s Broadway musical revival of Once Upon a Mattress, which runs through November 30 at the Hudson Theater in Manhattan.

Jackman – who is just one Oscar away from EGOT status – will next star in Craig Brewer’s musical drama Song Sung Blue, Michael Sarnoski’s drama The Death of Robin Hood and Kyle Balda’s comedy Three Bags Full: A Sheep Detective Movie.