Holding hands, with beaming smiles on their faces, Hugh Jackman and his rumored new girlfriend Sutton Foster appear to have gone ‘official’.
Looking very much like a couple in love, they giggled together as they dined at a restaurant close to the actor’s home in Santa Monica, California.
The photos, taken on Monday night, left fans of The Greatest Showman star in little doubt that he has found love again two years after he announced his divorce from wife Deborra-Lee Furness.
The images also dispel one of Hollywood’s most popular rumors that 56-year-old Hugh is gay.
He has been the subject of such misleading rumors for more than two decades, but the speculation only increased in September 2023 when he and Deborra-Lee, 69, revealed that their 27-year marriage was over.
“We are blessed to have had a beautiful, loving marriage together as husband and wife for nearly three decades,” they announced. “Our journey is now changing and we have decided to part ways to pursue our individual growth.
Hugh Jackman and Sutton Foster hold hands for dinner in Santa Monica, California, on Monday night
Co-stars Jackman, 56, and Foster, 49, in Broadway’s The Music Man in 2022, which ended its two-year run in January 2023
‘Our family is and will remain our highest priority. We undertake this next chapter with gratitude, love and kindness.
“We greatly appreciate your understanding in respecting our privacy as our family navigates this transition throughout our lives.”
Despite the warm words, rumors began to circulate that Hugh may have already moved on. Claims soon emerged that he and Sutton, 49, had become close while starring alongside each other in the Broadway musical The Music Man, which ended its two-year run in January 2023.
Insiders from the show – in which the pair played the main characters – say they “got along really well” both off and on stage.
Of course, matters were also complicated by the fact that Hugh was still married to Deborra-Lee, while Sutton was with screenwriter husband Ted Griffin.
But their romance has been the talk of New York theaterland since the day he and Deborra-Lee — who have two adopted children, Oscar, 24, and Ava, 19 — announced their separation.
Whispers about Jackman being gay reached a fever pitch in 2017 when photos of the actor enjoying the beach topless with a very handsome personal trainer turned him into something of a poster boy within the gay community
Jackman with his then-wife Deborra-Lee Furness in 2023. The former couple announced the end of their 27-year marriage in September of that year
And it didn’t take long before Deborra-Lee seemed to give credence to the rumors.
In October, she “liked” an Instagram post from a gossip blogger who claimed her husband “ran off with the mistress” and planned a “soft launch” of their relationship, according to US Weekly.
But sources told the Mail she was ‘blindsided’ by the news that Hugh and Sutton were together.
Although the alleged affair has been described as “Broadway’s worst-kept secret,” Hugh’s ex-wife appears to have been the last to hear about it.
It was a sad end to a relationship that began in 1995 when she and Hugh met on the Australian TV show Correlli.
Just 11 months later they married in Melbourne, with Deborra-Lee 13 years his senior.
These days, all signs point to X-Men star Hugh being in love with Sutton, who is seven years his junior. She and Ted, who have an adopted daughter, Emily, seven, filed for an uncontested divorce last year.
Now Hugh and Sutton, who both have homes in Los Angeles, are said to be “spending as much time together as they can.”
The photos certainly seem to show a blissful couple – so much so that speculation has arisen that both parties were aware they were being photographed.
Their outing coincided with reports in the US media that Hugh was planning to go ‘public’ with his new girlfriend soon. This weekend he attended a performance of Sutton’s production of the musical comedy Once Upon A Mattress in Los Angeles.
“They both look deliriously happy,” said an industry source. ‘When people want to bring things into the public domain, they call it the paparazzi.
‘The rumors have been going around for a while. Maybe Hugh and Sutton just wanted to get it out there and move on.”
Whispers about Hugh being gay reached a fever pitch in 2017 when photos of the actor enjoying the beach topless with a very handsome personal trainer turned him into something of a poster boy within the gay community.
When his divorce from Deborra-Lee was announced, one observer said, “The number of people in Hollywood who said, ‘I told you so’ was enormous.”
“Eventually they thought he would get out. With the changing times and children grown up, it seemed like this could be the reason.”
Hugh once said he believed the rumors dated back to 2003, when – in his mid-30s – he played openly gay singer-songwriter Peter Allen in The Boy From Oz on Broadway.
About the role he took on at the time, he said, “Some people said, ‘It’s brave of you to play a gay man.’ And I find that very dated. Isn’t it?’
During the production, he kissed male co-star Jarrod Emick on stage. Hugh said: ‘I was literally just clicking my teeth… I started laughing so hard… Some guys get upset, some guys say, ‘Don’t say I’m gay.’ [but] I’m good.’
This week, he may have squashed those rumors once and for all.