Hugh Jackman has a new cover story and profile in The Hollywood Reporter. I was surprised and delighted to learn a few new things about one of my favorite male celebrities. The last big interview we covered with him was on 60 minutes, and he covers some of the same ground here, but in a slightly different way. When you consider Hugh’s low key Oscar campaign and compare it to his co-star Anne Hathaway’s ubiquitous “be everywhere, talk to everyone” approach, or even Ben Affleck’s constant “happy family” photo ops, you have a new appreciation for what a classy guy he is, and how he doesn’t seek the spotlight. It might not pay off for him in a couple of weeks though, odds are that the Best Actor statue will go to Daniel Day Lewis, considering how he’s pretty much swept this awards season. (And you don’t see DDL doing any press, do you?) I hope I’m wrong as I’d really like to see Hugh take home his industry’s highest honor. Here are the highlights from his interview, with more at the source:

He worked with Tony Robbins to prepare for Les Mis
Robbins suggested the strapping 6-foot-3 superstar name the secure and insecure sides of his personality. “Frank was the more confident, and Charles was the other,” says Jackman.

“I always thought strength came from getting rid of that fear,” he adds. “And Tony said: ‘Charles is your sensitivity. Charles makes you question. Charles makes you work harder. When you walk on set, thank Charles for everything.’ ” He pauses. “Tony really transformed my life.”

He meditates for 30 minutes, twice a day
Today, he is not particularly religious and says he never prays, though he believes in some form of God and afterlife and meditates twice daily for 30 minutes. “It is about quieting that part of the brain and just seeing and being,” he explains.

On realizing his mother was never coming back
Open and immensely likable, he describes being 8 years old when his mother, Grace, abandoned him and his four elder siblings, leaving them in Sydney with their father, Christopher. His mother’s departure never was fully explained to him, and indeed Jackman only realized it was permanent when he was 13 and his father’s attempt at a reconciliation failed.

“Dad went off to England to bring her back, but by this point she was married to someone else, with a kid,” he says. “It was really complicated. So when Dad arrived back — not three weeks later, as planned, but five days later — I just knew. I was old enough to go, ‘This is not happening.’ ”

On his wife being bothered by rumors that he’s gay
Jackman admits rumors about his sexuality have taken a greater toll than previously acknowledged, especially on his wife. “Just recently, it bugs her,” he says, blaming the Internet, which she frequents more than he does. (Jackman largely sticks to cricket sites and The Economist.) “She goes: ‘It’s big. It’s everywhere!’ ”

His X-Men producer Lauren Shuler Donner shrugs off the gossip. “I have seen him with Deborra since the beginning of their trip to Hollywood, and I’ve been on five movie sets with him and have never seen him stray, have never seen him eye anyone. I met him when he did Oklahoma! [at London's Royal National Theatre in 1999]. He was genuine, hugely talented. He was in love with his wife that day and still is.”

He turned down consideration for James Bond!
[He] declined to be considered for James Bond around the time of the first X-Men. “I thought it would box me in too much,” he says. “My natural instinct is to keep as many doors open as possible.”

His diet regimen for the next X-Men is crazy
Now he is contemplating his future. He is preparing for the next X-Men, which involves a very different regimen from the one for Les Mis — including consuming vats of food for eight hours straight, then going without any for 16 hours. “Your body learns to burn fat in that 16 hours,” says Jackman, his physique at its finest beneath his casual blue T-shirt. “And I sleep better.”

[From The Hollywood Reporter]

Hugh has spoken in earlier interviews about how he was affected by his mother abandoning him and his four siblings when he was just eight years old. I’ve never heard the part about how she had another baby and partner over in England, and how Hugh expected her to return for years. As for his wife being affected by all the fake rumors that he’s gay, she’s admitted that before too, at least a couple of times. It makes me sad that she’s looking up this stuff online and getting bothered by it. They seem so solid to me. He even gushed about her in this interview. (That’s here, I didn’t excerpt that part because he always does that. He loves the hell out of his wife.)

The James Bond story was new to me, but I googled it and apparently Jackman has mentioned before that he passed up consideration for the role and has joked that he regrets it. He would be such an excellent Bond, I feel robbed now!

The photo spread accompanying this interview is incredibly hot, as we’ve come to expect from Hugh. I would prefer that it be shirtless, but in those photos of him in a shirt and tie I can imagine that he’s sitting across from me at dinner, gushing about me like he does his wife. If we can’t have an Oscar-winning Hugh this season, at least we have these wonderful interviews with him, in which he comes across so consistently grounded and genuine. He can’t fake that, no matter how excellent an actor he is.

The Hollywood Reporter also has a great behind-the-scenes interview with Jackman on the set of their cover shoot. What a treat this was.

Photos credit: Ruven Afanador/Hollywood Reporter, where there are more. BAFTA photos credit: WENN.com

Hugh Jackman did an extensive sit-down interview on Katie Couric’s show earlier this week. A lot of outlets are focusing on Hugh revealing that his wife of 16 years, Deborra-Lee Furness, suffered two miscarriages while undergoing IVF early in their marriage. Hugh and Deborra went on to adopt two children, Oscar, now 12, and Ava, 7. This isn’t the first time that either Hugh or Deb have discussed their issues conceiving. They’ve both talked about it in past interviews, and last year Hugh said that he and Deb “are believers in I suppose you could call it destiny. We feel things happened the way they are meant to. Obviously, biologically wasn’t the way we were meant to have children.” It was a very sweet sentiment. In this story I’d like to focus on how glowingly Hugh praised his wife, and her talent, in his interview with Couric. It really touched me. This is a dedicated husband and father and it is in no way a put on. He adores his wife.

On how Deb deals with his sex symbol status
I remind her most days, come on. A lot of people ask me, what’s it like for Deb… what I always do on every film is we’ll all go out and have a dinner together. Any of them [his female costars] meet Deb, they’ll all prefer her to me.

On what makes his marriage work
I’m an indecisive person. I’m terrible to go to a restaurant with, I can spend 10 minutes deciding… When I met Deb, I don’t know what it was. It was the clearest thing in the world for me. I knew 100 percent… I’ve never known anything as confidently or sure in my life that she was the one I was going to be with… In any marriage there’s good times, bad times, hard times and bad times. Whatever happens I know we’re going to tackle it together. Truly she’s the greatest woman I have ever met.

On Deb giving up her career in acting
I think for me, she is one of the great actors I know, she is incredible. In fact, she had a time in Hollywood and I run into people, really powerful, big people, who say, ‘Congrats to you, but your wife is really one of the most talented’ and every time I hear that, it reminds me of the sacrifice she’s made, her selflessness, her love and what she’s done for the kids… We always made family a priority but I’m acutely aware, everyday, that actually, when it comes to sacrifices, Deb has shouldered most of those.

She will come back, she will come back to work and in fact, I was telling her right now, ‘You need to get back to work because you’re just too good to waste that talent. Everyone needs to see it.’

[From Katie Couric's show and partially via Contact Music]

Compare the way Hugh talks about Deb as his partner and equal, as someone who gave up her career and is the “greatest woman” he’s ever met and a “great talent” to how someone like Ben Affleck grudgingly praises his wife Jennifer as a good mother and a kind person. (The comparison is particularly relevant because they’re both in the midst of Oscar campaigns.) Hugh loves Deb and appreciates all she’s done for him. He admires her and sees her as his partner in life, forever. I just hope they stay together for the rest of their lives. I know that’s unrealistic in Hollywood, but I’m rooting for them.

Hugh gushes about his wife:

Hugh talks about his wife’s miscarriages at around 3:00 in

These are photos of Hugh getting his star on the Walk of Fame on 12-13-12 and of The Museum Of Moving Images Salute to Hugh Jackman at Cipriani Wall Street on 12-11-12. Credit: WENN.com

Here are some photos from last night’s Museum of Moving Images Salute to Hugh Jackman. Hugh’s BFF Anne Hathaway was there of course, as was Hugh’s wife Deborra-Lee Furness and Hugh’s Les Mis costar Eddie Redmayne, who grows cuter by the day. I’m including photos of all of them. Let’s discuss Anne first! She wore this Nina Ricci Spring 2013 dress which… I like. I don’t love it. I feel like this is “safe” and it’s definitely in Anne’s comfort zone. It’s weird to me that this came one night after Annie’s controversial head-to-toe Tom Ford look. Do you think this is a conscious choice by Anne and by her stylist Rachel Zoe? To do such a strong, controversial look for the premiere and then one night later do something much more “normal”. And this – more than anything else – is why I want Anne to be nominated for an Oscar. Because of the awards season fashion.

As for Hugh… I’m starting to feel the groundswell of support for Hugh, aren’t you? The reviews are coming in, and many critics have mixed feelings about many of the people involved… except for Hugh. Hugh is getting some of the best reviews of his life. Hugh carries the film, and apparently he carries it well. I do think that the time has come for Hugh to be rewarded with an Oscar nomination. I don’t know if he’ll actually get the Best Actor award or if he SHOULD win, but I would be so, so pleased to see him get a nomination.

Photos courtesy of Joseph Marzullo/WENN.com.

These are photos of Hugh Jackman at the Les Miserables premiere in New York last night. (Kaiser covered the ladies’ awful fashion here.) He was there with his wife of 16 years, Deborra-Lee Furness, aka “that lucky bitch.” I love these two together and hope we never hear a whiff of scandal about them.

Hugh was interviewed on 60 Minutes this Sunday, and it’s an understatement to say that I enjoyed it. I loved seeing that interview, and although I’m already a fan I came away with more respect and adoration for Hugh than ever. Hugh’s Les Mis co-star Anne Hathaway may be blanketing us with her Oscar campaign, but I think Hugh just cinched it in this single, focused segment.

A lot of outlets are focusing on Hugh breaking down crying when he describes how his mother abandoned his family, including his father and Hugh’s two brothers and two sisters, when he was just eight. (Hugh has since reconnected with his mother, and did see her about once a year after she left.) Hugh has discussed this before, and it’s not exactly when he started crying in the interview. Hugh started crying when talking about how his father, who raised him and his siblings as a single parent, tells him to value his family above all else. It wasn’t a put on from Hugh and you could tell that he was genuinely affected.

That wasn’t the part of Hugh’s interview that got me choked up, though. I got choked up seeing segments of his performance in Les Mis. If just a clip from the film is that powerful, imagine how incredible the whole movie is going to be. I want this Oscar for Hugh. Here are some highlights from his interview, and the video is in full below.

On singing live while filming Les Mis instead of recording it in the studio
You get an emotional truth. For example, there’s one song and it’s, literally, written like this: “What have I done, sweet Jesus? What have I done? Become a thief in the night, become a dog on the run. Have I fallen so far and is the hour so late that nothing remains but the cry of my hate?” That’s how it’s written… I could mix it up, I could take a pause. If I was emotional, I could be emotional.

On his mom leaving his family in Australia to return to her native England
Yeah. I don’t think she thought for a second it would be forever when she went. I think she thought it was, “I just need to get away, and I’ll come back.” Dad used to pray every night that mum would come back.

On if he worried his dad would leave too
Never, in a million years, could I imagine, my father is a rock. My father is my rock. It’s where I learned everything about loyalty, dependability, about being there day-in, day-out, no matter what.

On meeting his future wife during his first acting job
I just had an absolute certainty that she was the person I was gonna be with for the rest of my life. Even when Deb tried to break up with me, which she did. I said– “Don’t worry, I get it. I’m your worst nightmare. A young actor in his first job, but don’t worry. We’re gonna be together. This is it.”

On the advice his dad gives him now (this is when he starts to cry)
It’s always about the family. Ah, ah, it’s all– sorry, mate. It’s always, “How’s Deb?” It’s not about work. And I think that’s him living with, probably, some of his regrets and feelings of maybe he– you know, at the wrong time, put too much into his career. And he doesn’t want me to make that mistake. And so, in his gentle way, he always reminds me this is the most important thing.

On preparing his body for his roles
Well this is your tool as much as your voice, as much as your emotions, and so I’ve always taken that very seriously and I love playing Wolverine. It’s a great character, but I want it to be better than the last time. I want to be physically in better shape, otherwise, there’s no point doing it.

On if he thought it would limit his career to playing gay songwriter Peter Allen on Broadway
Never thought it for a second. What sexuality you are is not the most interesting thing about you. It’s the kind of person you are. And that role, just, had, first of all, it was naughty.

I would never give myself permission to do the things I did as Peter Allen. And his sexuality, for me, w– is another costume. It’s a personality trait, it’s not who you really are. However, when I was doing Peter Allen, there’s a scene where I kiss my boyfriend, who’s dying of AIDS. And I go in for the kiss, and I heard this, “Don’t do it, Wolverine.”

[From 60 Minutes]

This is why I love Hugh. He comes across as so dedicated to his wife and kids and incredibly honed to his craft. There’s something so real and so heartfelt about Hugh. He’s rare among leading men and his talent is undeniable.

Also, we may see Hugh out with his children in his everyday life, but it’s very interesting to me that they weren’t shown on 60 Minutes. He could have easily filmed a quick scene outdoors playing with them, but he didn’t. He decided to keep them off camera when he could have used them to bolster his family man image.

Here’s the interview, in full, from 60 Minutes. There’s an amazing performance from Hugh, in Les Mis, around 4:00. He talks about his mother leaving at around 5:00. Hugh’s wife is interviewed around 8:30. At 9:10 Hugh starts crying. The highlight, though, is when he works out at 10:40! Holy crap look at his arms.

My advice to Deborra-Lee – work on your shoe game, girl. You already won the man lottery.

Hugh looks so good with that Wolverine beard!

Premiere photos credit: Joseph Marzullo/WENN.com

The last time I covered Jessica Chastain, I mentioned that she has issues with her cleavage/boobs in a lot of her fashion. This is no exception. Bedhead described these as “doily boobs,” and I agree. The sad thing is, her styling at the Tony Awards is better than we’ve seen in a while. She’s got gorgeous hair and makeup, (how do I get my hair to look like that?) and if you just try and ignore whatever is going on with the bodice you can imagine her rocking a much better dress. I like the skirt actually, and her shoes are too matchy and bridal but they’re not bad. This is a Marios Schwab gown, and Red Carpet Fashion Awards has a comparison photo of the dress on the runway. They like that she’s taking a risk and didn’t line the dress “losing all the mystery, intrigue and possibly even the details.”

I just think this looks ridiculous and like Marchesa. This woman regularly wears some really questionable dresses, though. It’s not sexy to play peek a boo with some sparkly appliques that look like the skid flowers on the bottom of your grandmother’s tub.

Sheryl Crow is 50 freaking years old. Can you believe it? We just heard that she had a benign brain tumor that was affecting her memory. Hopefully she’s doing as well as she looks here. I’m not a fan of the sequin bodice on this dress. It’s very “ice capades,” but she looks gorgeous anyway. Even with that big hair. Sheryl presented an award last night – the Daily Mail has a photo here.

Kathy Najimy lost so much weight she looks like a different person! She probably got a freshening up at the dermatologist’s too, but it’s not too noticeable.

For comparison, here’s Kathy in August of last year.

Hugh Jackman and his wife Deborra-Lee Furness were super cute together. Deborra’s fashion tends toward wacky, and we’ve seen her in big feathered creations before. I find Hugh and Deborra’s love for each other endearing, and I buy that they have a very solid long term relationship.

Her shoes are awful. I just want to point that out.

Hugh received a Tony for helping earn more than $2 million for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS during his 10 week run in Hugh Jackman Back on Broadway. Deborrah presented it to him, and he joked that he was surprised she was able to keep it a secret. “She’s never been able to keep a secret in her life.”

I love Hugh but that hair is just killing it for me. He’s growing out his shaved ‘do from Le Mis.

Photo credit: WENN.com and FameFlynet

CB is more into Hugh Jackman than I ever was. Don’t get me wrong – I like Hugh. He seems like a lovely man, and God knows I love an old-Hollywood throw-back, an old-fashioned song-and-dance man, a true entertainer, which is exactly what Hugh is. But I’ve never really gotten hot for him, you know? He’s pretty to look at, but my biscuits are all “Meh.” As for the gay rumors – I don’t even know. I’m sure half of you will be yelling at me and telling me that OF COURSE HE HAS A BOYFRIEND because a friend of a friend told you, but… I put more stock in rumors about several other Hollywood dudes before I believe it about Hugh. This may seem weird, but I think the fact that he’s Australian makes me doubt the gay rumors more – not to make a massive generalization about one nationality, but Aussie men just seem to approach relationships and women and family life differently than American men, and I think that difference accounts for how we Americans view his 15-year-marriage to an older woman.

Anyway, Hugh’s wife of 15 years, Deborra-Lee Furness, has spoken to Page Six Magazine, and she gives somewhat of a denial of Hugh’s gay rumors, and she talks about the criticisms of her weight. CB pointed out that Deb has addressed the gay rumors before directly – see her old interview from 2008. Here’s what she said to Page Six:

It’s not easy being Hugh Jackman’s other half. His wife of 15 years, Deborra-Lee Furness, said she’s “been almost pummeled” by crazed fans or “Hughophiles” who try to get to him.

“Literally, they will push you out of the way,” she tells Page Six Magazine, out on Thursday. “Hi, I’m chopped liver. How do you do?”

The sassy blonde brushed off critics of her marriage to the younger star currently on Broadway. She said, “Hugh is much more mature than me, so we balance each other out. And heaven forbid I have a human experience and carry a little weight.”

Responding to speculation about his sexuality, she said, “The line I heard was, ‘Wolverine? Who would have thought?’ Hugh and I don’t pay much heed. It’s kind of tragic that these people have nothing better to do than gossip about people they don’t know.”

[From Page Six]

Deborra-Lee didn’t really offer a direct denial, did she? But should she have to? Whatever Hugh and Deb have, it seems to be working for them. She seems like a normal woman, the kind of woman you would meet and befriend, and I imagine that their marriage grounds Hugh a great deal. Is it really so weird to think that Hugh might love his wife and family?

Photos courtesy of WENN.

Those of you who read us regularly know that I love Hugh Jackman. I just think he’s a genuinely nice guy and super hot to boot. My admiration of Hugh crept up on me. While I’ve had crushes on other celebrities like Matt Damon and Johnny Depp forever, Hugh earned my fangirl status from his actions and interviews. Anyway here’s another reason to love Hugh. In a new interview with Australian newspaper The Herald Sun, the 42 year-old actor opens up about how he and his wife of 15 years, Deborra-Lee Furness, struggled with infertility before deciding to adopt. They are now parents to son Oscar, 11, and daughter Ava, six. Hugh describes it as very difficult to get to the point of adopting, but ultimately rewarding. He also sees the adoption of his two children as fated. It’s touching the way he explains it.

The 42-year-old star is married to wife Deborra-Lee Furness and they have two adopted children – Oscar, 11, and Ava, six.

He spoke to Australia’s Herald Sun about the moment they discovered they weren’t able to have children naturally.

He said: ‘It was painful. It’s not easy. You put a lot of time and effort into it, so it’s emotional.

‘I think any parent can relate – trying to have children is wonderful and when you feel as though that’s not going to happen, there’s a certain anxiety that goes with it.’

He added: ‘We thought we’d have a kid or two biologically and then adopt. But when we decided we’d had enough of IVF, we went ahead with adoption.’

However the couple soon moved on with their plans to become parents.

Jackman said: ‘From the moment we started the adoption process, all the anxiety went away. I don’t think of them as adopted – they’re our children.

‘Deb and I are believers in I suppose you could call it destiny. We feel things happened the way they are meant to. Obviously, biologically wasn’t the way we were meant to have children.

‘Now, as we go through life together, sure there are challenges, but everyone’s in the right place with the right people. It sounds airy-fairy, but it’s something we feel very deeply.’

[From The Daily Mail]

That’s so nice! Hugh and Deborra have been open about this issue, and are involved in several adoption charities. I found this moving interview with Deborra from 2004, before their second child was adopted. She said she’d had two miscarriages before they decided to adopt Oscar. Back when Oscar’s mother was pregnant and Deborra and Hugh were meeting with her about adopting the baby, Deborra thinks she was given a sign that he was meant to be their son. She described how she was in an airplane and saw a lightning storm over Iowa, where his birth mother is from. Here’s that part:

“And I kept saying to Hugh when we were in discussions early on. I said I havn’t got a message yet, I’m waiting for a message. And I was on a flight from Los Angeles to Toronto where Hugh was shooting X-Men 1, I think it was, and I was sitting on this flight and I looked out the window and there was this incredible electric storm outside the window and it was so beautiful, I was just staring at it and I said to the guy sitting next to me, “Wow, look at that, it’s amazing, where are we, and he said I think we’re somewhere over Iowa,” And I, I knew that that was the birth mother I had been speaking to and I grabbed the stewardess and I said do you know where we are and she said oh come up here and took me up to the pilot’s cabin it was before September 11, and went in there and I said where are we? And he said, see down there, there’s Cedar Rapids, and tears started to roll down my face and I knew that was my message. And I loved it, it was like it wasn’t a subtle message, it was like, it’s me already, it’s like this huge electrical storm.”

[From ABC.net.au]

I usually don’t believe in signs and messages. When people tell stories like this I find it fascinating though. I truly believe that they thought they received a sign, and that it was a sign in that way, since signs are what we make of them. (Hopefully that makes sense and doesn’t sound condescending, although it probably does.)

Hugh and Deborra sound like they’re on the exact same page when it comes to their family, and that’s very refreshing to hear, inside or outside of Hollywood.

Update: Here’s a link to a bunch of new gratuitous shirtless pictures of Hugh Jackman.

Most of these photos are from July and August of this year, except for the one where they’re in coats, that’s from October. Credit: Fame