There are few things in life more enduring than a fabulous gay rumor — except maybe a 27-year Hollywood marriage that gracefully resists it for decades. So, when Deborra-Lee Furness and Hugh Jackman announced their separation in 2023, the media didn’t just circle — it pounced.
Since then, publishers have reportedly been throwing “huge amounts” of money at Furness to write a tell-all memoir about her nearly three-decade marriage to the X-Men star. According to the Daily Mail, “Deborra-Lee has been flooded with very tempting book offers.” And you just know some editor in Manhattan has already mock-designed a cover called The Greatest Fauxman.
The world — or at least the nosy segment of it that refreshes DeuxMoi hourly — is dying to know: Was it a marriage of convenience? Was Hugh Jackman gay? Is Sutton Foster the Broadway Yoko Ono? Did Wolverine actually claw his way out of a midlife crisis?
Let’s be real: the gay rumor has trailed Jackman like a well-dressed shadow since at least 2003, when he played flamboyant Aussie icon Peter Allen in The Boy from Oz. The role required him to kiss co-star Jarrod Emick on stage — which, to straight America, was apparently as shocking as seeing a man wear pink on purpose.
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Jackman has always taken the speculation in stride. “I think the problem is, I finally made it. I mean, you can’t be a star without having a gay rumor, can you?” he quipped in 2009. And in 2013, when asked about his sexuality on 60 Minutes Australia, he cut through the nonsense: “If [I was gay], I would be.”
Furness herself was never here for it either. “It’s, to me, not the most interesting thing about a person, anyway,” she told 60 Minutes. “It’s stupid, and it’s annoying because it’s not true.” Honestly? That’s the energy. Two people, raising a family, shutting down rumors, and not giving a damn what the tabloids say. Iconic.
Still, with a $200 million empire, multiple homes, A-list friendships, and a seemingly unshakable bond — the Jackman-Furness relationship was a rare kind of Hollywood unicorn. Which is precisely why people can’t stop dissecting it now that it’s over.
Then came January 2024, when Jackman went public with Broadway star Sutton Foster. While neither has addressed speculation about a pre-divorce affair, fans were quick to remember whispers from their Music Man days in 2022. Deborra-Lee, meanwhile, ‘liked’ a video accusing Jackman of “running off with the mistress” and may have quietly launched her own Taylor Swift-esque era of subtle Instagram shade.
By May 2025, she’d had enough. In a dignified, spiritually loaded statement, she broke her silence:
“My heart and compassion goes out to everyone who has traversed the traumatic journey of betrayal… Even when we are presented with apparent adversity, it is leading us to our greatest good, our true purpose.”
Forget memoirs — that’s practically Oprah-level post-breakup enlightenment.
And yet, publishers remain obsessed. “It’s no secret after almost three decades of being wed to him, adopting two children together, Deborra-Lee has an intimate, interesting and maybe scandalous story to tell,” the Daily Mail insider said. If she wants to cash in à la Demi Moore, Jessica Simpson, or Pamela Anderson, she has every right. But make no mistake: she owes no one closure, receipts, or headlines.
Not even the gays. (And we want everything.)
But here’s the thing. Speculating about someone’s sexuality like it’s a dirty little secret is so 2003. The fact that Hugh Jackman played a queer icon and kissed a man on Broadway should never have been seen as a scandal — it should’ve been seen as Tuesday. And maybe it was, to Deb and Hugh.
Whether Deborra-Lee Furness spills it all or stays silent in her goddess-era rebirth, one thing is certain: her story is hers alone. And as far as we’re concerned, she already gave us the most valuable truth there is:
“Returning to yourself and living within your own integrity, values and boundaries is liberation and freedom.”
So, here’s to Deb, glowing up, leveling up, and hopefully working on a lifestyle brand we can all pretend is therapy. And as for Hugh? If he was gay, he’d tell us. If he wasn’t, he already has. Either way, it’s not that interesting a conversation anymore — unless Deb tells it in hardback.
Whether it was a love story, a Broadway bromance, or just life happening loudly in public, Deborra-Lee and Hugh’s marriage deserves respect — not rumors. And if she ever writes that book, we’ll preorder three copies. One for the tea, one for the truth, and one to hide from our moms.
If they get married, Hugh Jackman will be Sutton Foster’s third husband!