Hugh Jackman Talks Marriage to Deborra-Lee Furness

Hugh Jackman is just crazy about his wife.

Jackman and Deborra-Lee Furness are about to celebrate their 20th wedding anniversary, and after nearly two decades, the actor said their marriage just keeps hitting new highs.

“It gets better and better, I can honestly say that,” he said during an appearance on the Ellen DeGeneres Show on Monday. “She’s the greatest thing that ever happened to me.”

Jackman, 47, said that one of the reasons he loves their relationship so much is because they formed their bond before the Wolverine star became famous.

“I’m kind of really grateful that I met her before anything kind of happened,” he said. “Everything that’s happened in my career and onscreen, offscreen, we’ve always done it together.”

Jackman met Furness, 60, while working on his “first job,” the Australian drama Corelli, and it turns out, the actor wasn’t the only one who had his eyes set on Furness.

“She was the star and I had this major crush on her,” he said. “Everyone did. The whole crew had a crush on her and I was so embarrassed by that, I didn’t talk to her for about a week.”

So how did Jackman seal the deal? With the help of some liquid courage, of course.

“I had a dinner party and I invited her over and about 20 other people,” he explained. “And she said, ‘What’s a matter, have I annoyed you? You’re not talking to me anymore. What have I done wrong?’ and I said – I’d had a couple – and I said ‘oh look, I’ve got a crush on you, I’ll get over it.’ And she went, ‘Oh really,’ ” and I was like, ‘Oh, this is bad.’ And she goes, ‘Yeah, I got one on you. too.’ And I’m like, ‘Oh, great!’ So that was it.”

“Twenty-one years later,” he added with a smile.

The couple have two kids together, Oscar, 15, and Ava, 10. The actor gave an update on how they were doing, noting that his son isn’t particularly impressed with his movie-star status – except when he needs to be.

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“There was one time, a few years back, we were at the beach and [Oscar] was talking to this girl. He was about 12 and the girl looked to be about 15 – he likes older women, like his dad,” he said. “Anyway, he started walking over toward me, and he sort of ran ahead of this girl. And the girl was walking and he’s sort of running up to me. I said, ‘Everything all right?’ He said, ‘Yeah. I told her you’re Wolverine. Just sign an autograph.’ I was like, ‘Am I a wingman for my son now? This is really weird,’ ” Hugh admitted.

He also recalled another time when his son wanted to make sure people knew his father was nothing like his Wolverine character in real life.

“But then he had another friend over the other day – a new friend – and I was listening in. The friend was obviously enamored by Wolverine and asking all these questions,” he said. “[Oscar] said nothing, and finally he perked up and I heard him say, ‘Look, my dad is not tough. He’s not cool. He’s nothing like Wolverine, okay? So, just get over it.’ ”

“And that was it,” Jackman explained. “Haven’t seen that kid since, actually.”