In Touch: Hugh Jackman ‘has been besotted’ with Sutton Foster since early 2022

Last year, Hugh Jackman was back on Broadway with the revival of The Music Man. He was nominated for another Tony Award and the revival was successful. His costar in the show was Sutton Foster, another well-loved stage actress. They had to do a million photocalls and appearances with one another, and they were very friendly and affectionate in front of the cameras. Perhaps away from the cameras too. In September of this year, Hugh and Deborra Lee Furness announced their separation. Now In Touch Weekly suggests that Hugh had Sutton waiting in the wings.

Movie superhero Hugh Jackman is separated from — but still married to — longtime wife Deborra-Lee Furness, but insiders say the Wolverine hunk has sunk his talons into his former Broadway costar Sutton Foster, who’s also got a hubby!

“Their romance is an open secret on Broadway,” tattles a snitch, who says Hugh and Sutton grew close when they costarred in the revival of the classic musical The Music Man for more than a year until January 2023. Another source insists the 55-year-old hunk “has been besotted with Sutton from the moment he met her. He followed her around like a puppy!”

And the leggy 48-year-old Tony Award winner, who also costarred for six years with Hilary Duff in the TV sitcom Younger, is “absolutely giddy around” Hugh, says the source. She even raved that meeting the 6-foot-2 movie muscleman was “the greatest thing that came out of the whole experience.”

During their time together on Broadway, the big shot Hollywood actor “had a lot of power and approval over casting and billing, but he always treated Sutton like SHE was the star — and she was moved by that!” notes the source. “He insisted that they share equal billing above the title of the show.”

Previously divorced Sutton confesses they became “really close” when they shared a rehearsal space for the show and admitted arranging to “come together” a half hour before every performance to bond. But they were then, and still are, married to others. She’s been wed since 2014 to second hubby, Ocean’s Eleven screenwriter Ted Griffin, father of their adopted daughter, now 6.

[From In Touch Weekly]

Wait, Sutton is married?? I really never paid attention to her at a gossip level, so this really is news to me. If all of this is true and Sutton and Hugh are, um, spending time together… I would imagine that Sutton has already separated from her husband too and they simply didn’t announce it. Also: I hate the way In Touch Weekly frames the whole “Hugh wanted Sutton to have equal billing” issue – what they’re describing is Hugh Jackman being a mensch and treating his female costar like an equal partner, and making sure she gets the recognition she’s due. He likely would have done that regardless of whether he had a crush on her.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.

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120 Responses to “In Touch: Hugh Jackman ‘has been besotted’ with Sutton Foster since early 2022”

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  1. Ginny says:

    Well that is NOT the plot twist I thought was coming!

  2. Brassy Rebel says:

    Yeah, we all knew this was coming even if we didn’t know the identity of “the other woman”.

    • Ginny says:

      There was just so much speculation about his sexuality that I didn’t predict an affair with a woman 🤷‍♀️

      • Brassy Rebel says:

        I wasn’t aware of that speculation but an affair with a man wouldn’t have surprised me either. There was clearly someone else.

    • Zapp Brannigan says:

      Yep, I feel very sorry for Deb, for years she has had people talking that she was too old, not “hot” enough or a beard to Wolverine and then he goes and does the cliche thing of cheating with a younger woman. I hope she has friends and family caring for her and lots of love in her life right now.

      • Jessica says:

        Yes, Sutton is younger, but she is 48 to his 55 — this is not exactly Leo territory.

      • Zapp Brannigan says:

        I was referring to him cheating with a woman younger than his wife, Deb is 68.

      • AlpineWitch says:

        I sort of feeling more sorry for her husband if this is true, Deb will make it out of this with an eye-watering divorce settlement, her husband not so much.

        Also, I didn’t have “Hugh Jackman is a cheater” on my bingo card (but should have expected it, their divorce was a bit sudden).

      • DaveW says:

        If this really is the situation Sutton’s husband will be ok. He’s a screenwriter/producer and has worked on several high profile projects (Oceans movies, Wolf of Wall Street, etc.).

      • 1960tlm says:

        We really don’t know anything. They could have been separated for years, but were just keeping up appearances for the camera’s sake. There may have not been any cheating, they both may have cheated or she may have cheated alone. We don’t know! I’m a woman, but I hate when people just assume that the guy is cheating. My cousin who is more like a brother never cheated on his wife, he is rich, good looking, kind and successful! His wife cheated more than once! And she looks a bit like Hugh’s ex wife pretty, but overweight, older etc. My cousin was heartbroken. Now he has someone beautiful and kind exactly what he needed to have a better life. I wish no ill will towards his ex, but we will never know the entire truth of what happened. Sometimes people just grow apart.

      • Aurora says:

        So, for Deborah’s sake he must make sure to only date meaty women in their 70s now? Sutton is bordering 50 and he’s 55, what’s the problem? Unless they officially step out and even if… I’ll always think he’s bisexual or this is be a PR thing to keep him in the closet. Where, by the way, he has every right to stay.

      • BothSidesNow says:

        @ Zapp Brannigan, wasn’t that terrible for her. I can’t imagine listening to those talk behind her back about not being “enough” for Jackman or “hot enough”. That shit would get very old very, very fast….

    • The Old Chick says:

      For decades, BR. Not just because of the age difference, either. That speculation had legs. I used to know someone who knew him well and I was tempted to ask but that’s tacky. She wouldn’t have said either.

      • Lisa says:

        Heard it was an empty nest thing. They waited til the kids were off to school. Also the rumor was he was dating the queer eye guy, maybe this is to distract from that? Who knows?

    • Barbie1 says:

      How awful for his wife. He’s just another cheating male. How dissapointing.

    • Ashley says:

      If y’all believe InTouch stories, you are very, very naive.

    • StillDouchesOfCambridge says:

      Surprised, but not really. Do we really think after almost 30 years together they grew apart?

  3. Xeni says:

    Wow…I’m just surprised it’s a woman.

    I pray his wife is healing and happy

    • AlpineWitch says:

      To be fair, not at all… I don’t know why people think this could invalidate the theory he’s bisexual…

  4. Bibliomommy96 says:

    The age gap is fine, let them be happy. As someone who is 47, and just separated from their husband after 27 years, I hope I can be happy again.

  5. Gem says:

    Imagine saying Hugh had to get equal billing for The Sutton Foster….if true than shame on the production….Sutton should have that automatically….she is a freaking veteran Broadway powerhouse.

    • sunny says:

      That was the shocking part to me! Like, Sutton wasn’t going to get equal billing, SUTTON? That is wild.

      As to the rest of it, I can see it. They seemed to have good chemistry when they were promo-ing The Music Man. I feel sad for their previous partners though.

      • lucy2 says:

        Yeah I would have gone to see Sutton more than Hugh!

        I feel for their spouses as well, especially Deborah, they’ve been together a long time.

    • lisalemann says:

      On Broadway, yes – she is. But hit musicals are made by ticket sales to tourists – and Hugh Jackman is much more well known than Sutton is if you’re not a Broadway geek (I am – so I thought the billing was appropriate).

  6. Kiera says:

    I’m taking this with a grain of salt because it came out of Deux moi. I saw it there the other day as a blind and people were fussing Hugh. I think they just took the blind and ran with it, however I might be wrong and it’s totally true. I just always am a hesitant when it comes to DM.

  7. B says:

    Yuck.
    Also, she must be dumb to go along with that.
    Bet the kids are hanging w mom this Christmas.

  8. Leah says:

    The show was actually set to start in 2020 and got delayed obviously just to add another little twist to the plot

  9. ML says:

    Yikes: I didn’t see this coming and it sounds really gross. I didn’t have Hugh Jackman pegged as a cheater, and this really has to suck for the spouses. About a month ago, a few outlets ran a story saying that Hugh wanted to make/ made Deborah Furness sign an eye-watering NDA as part of the divorce. Like $100 million or so. Cheating is awful, but not that amount of money awful. Is something creepy about HJ? I thought he was one of the better people in Hollywood.

    • Misah says:

      Apparently he’s in some kind of cult, Scientology like but more secretive. There are stories about child abuse in the schools run by the cult. It’s called philosophy-something, they supposedly change their name for every country they’re active in.
      Also HJ is close friends with Rupert Murdoch and his family: which could explain the good press he always gets.

      • ML says:

        I feel like I really don’t know anything about HJ now! Misah, I just googled HJ’s “name” and “cult.” There are other links, but here’s the Wikipedia one (he’s under the notable people heading): https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/School_of_Philosophy_and_Economic_Science
        Thanks for the info, and you’re probably right about the Murdoch connection helping him out.

      • Misah says:

        Yeah, I only recently stumbled upon this info. Of course it has to be taken with a grain of salt but sadly it seems true, including the cult part.
        The less we know about Hollywood peeps and VIPs in general, the better…

  10. Amy Bee says:

    If this is true, it’s not surprising due to the age gap between him and his wife.

  11. SAS says:

    This is so disrespectful to her if she’s married ffs.

    Kinda disappointed the rumours about him and Anthony aren’t true lol.

    • M says:

      Yea let’s not assume any of this is true. It’s very hurtful to the person who is actually still married and has a small child.

  12. CC says:

    Is he still best buds with Jared and Ivanka?

    • Sparkles says:

      That was the same thing I was wondering! Every time I see his name I think about his friendship with Ivanka and Jared. Gross.

  13. D says:

    These people. Your wife stays by your side, raises your children, travels all over the world with you so that your career can flourish and puts aside her own career to always be there for you yet as soon as the kids are 18 you do this. All this talk on other sites of “it’s so nice that he found new love” is gross. If this is true then sure he found love, WHILE married to his long time wife. Ugh.

    • Normades says:

      Tale as old as time especially in Hollywood. When they’re fertile and hot they never think it’ll happen to them, but watch out Blake Lively, Hugh’s bff will probably just do the same thing.

  14. A says:

    I did not expect to see so many people casually speculating about Hugh Jackman’s sexuality on this website in 2023! What a disappointment.

    • The Old Chick says:

      This is a gossip website. That’s been gossip for 20 plus years. I have zero fs about his sexuality. Reality is famous people, especially actors, hide their sexuality all the time for their reasons. Beards exist. We’re not the cause. We didn’t create it.

      • A says:

        Oh. Well. If you’ve been doing it for decades by all means, please don’t let me ruin your fun! You didn’t create it so it’s totally cool to spread it!

        Only, gosh, you don’t think maybe, possibly, there could be an outside chance that this is the exact kind of behavior that pressures people into hiding who they are or makes them quit doing what they love? We can all do better and especially in such angry times, we should all want to be better.

    • AlpineWitch says:

      Speculation about his goes back to the first X-men time, when he was partying with Ian McKellen and Bryan Singer.

      • A says:

        Just because there are rumors from the ’00s, doesn’t mean we need to revert back to Perez Hilton. We can gossip without homophobia, surely.

      • AlpineWitch says:

        I didn’t say we should, I only pointed out these rumours have persisted until today. To be fair, I see more biphobia around than what you said.

        ETA: As someone who’ll always be in the closet, I know how hard that is.

      • A says:

        Than I wholeheartedly apologize!

    • Nicky says:

      THIS. I don’t care if it’s old gossip. We know better now so that doesn’t excuse all of this talk about his sexuality.

      • A says:

        Everyone’s being SO casual about it, too! Like a throwback to fifteen or so years ago when meanness was the tone of choice for gossip.

    • ML says:

      Thank you, A.
      My child came out of the closet, and has been forced to change schools due to bullying (though this continues online and is apparently unstoppable). People I thought were okay have dropped being friends with us due to how we raised our kids. My child has lost same-sex friends due to the mistaken belief that my child is in love with every same sex person in the world. Frankly, this has been eye-opening and horrifying to experience!
      If someone remains in the closet for whatever reason, that is their privilege. That person’s sexuality is not my fricking business.
      The cheating is what’s gross here: if HJ had ended things with his wife and then moved on, this wouldn’t be an issue.

      • Milygu says:

        I’m so sorry for what your family has gone through, ML. I hope your child thrives at their new school and that the online bullies give it a rest. How sad to hear this is still happening in 2023.

      • A says:

        ML
        That’s terrible! I am so sorry your kid and your family are going through that and I hope you all find some relief soon. Your family and everyone else deserve better (and better from the commenters here, too)

    • LooneyTunes says:

      You’re the one “scandalizing” his possible sexuality. everyone is so casual about it bc it IS 2023 and it’s not a big deal if he was to come out.

      • A says:

        That’s not what ‘scandalizing’ means.

        But to move on to the heart of your comment, if I have to spell why homophobia is a big deal and shouldn’t be entertained, this probably isn’t going to be a productive exchange for either of us.

    • Aurora says:

      So what’s wrong about commenting on others’ sexuality in a respectful manner? Particularly when even himself has publicly addressed this topic.

  15. girl_ninja says:

    While I do feel for Deb, they seemed to have worked out the end of their marriage with much respect. I see why Hugh would fall for Sutton and vise versa.

    • AlpineWitch says:

      To be honest, if this is true I feel much more sorry for her husband who’s not making it out of this with an inordinate amount of money as Deb will.

  16. Persephone says:

    He needs to come out the closet

    • Flower says:

      ^^ This is the rumour I have heard. Very confused right now.

    • Ameerah M says:

      If he is in fact gay he doesn’t have to do anything but what he wants to do. He doesn’t owe you or anyone else a damn thing

      • atlantababe says:

        thank you Ameerah M. seeing the casual homophobia here and on other sites is appalling.

      • Ameerah M says:

        @atlantababe – I don’t even interpret it as homophobia so much as entitlement. It’s weird to me that people think ANYONE owes them details about their sexuality just because they are famous. None of these folks would walk up to a stranger and demand to know their sexual orientation. As much as I enjoy celeb gossip ultimately we don’t know these people. They are strangers. And still deserve the same level of respect we would give a random person walking down the street.

      • Christine says:

        Well said.

    • NG_76 says:

      No he does not. If he is gay it’s no one’s business until he decides to come out. He does not owe you or anyone else a thing.

    • SuitMeUP says:

      I think he’s trying to come out. He had a leak saying he’s working o his memoirs and facing some hard truths about himself.

      I have no doubt he’s gay and Deb was his best friend and nothing more. I mean, just check out John Palermo.

      I wish Hugh the very best. He seems to be a lovely man, a genuine nice guy except for the friends with Jared and Ivanka thing. Also a darn hard worker and really dedicated to his roles.

  17. Ameerah M says:

    I can see it. If he would have an affair Sutton is the type of woman he would go for: a fellow musical theater actress who is a bit of a nerd – just like him.

  18. Surly Gale says:

    As a ‘body language expert’ (of dogs, but still.. LOL) looking at these pictures, it’s clear they are intimate from their postures. When (human) crotches are turned towards each other like these two are doing in all these pictures, there is a 99.999% chance they are having or going to have intimate contact. In my ‘expert’ opinion, of course.

    • Haus of Cats says:

      They 100% look like a couple in these pics.

    • Lux says:

      This is absolutely hilarious. “Crotches turned towards each other”…wahahahhaa! Your doggy instincts might be very en pointe—I do imagine their body language is the human equivalent of dogs sniffing butts and circling each other.

      Yes, I am married and I don’t think I would drape and position myself over a male friend like that no matter how friendly we were. The side hug exists for a reason and it’s very effective 😂

    • Ameerah M says:

      Body language is psuedoscience. But your comment is amusing.

      • AC says:

        I 💯 agree with this thread. There’s a lot of “tension” already just from these photos lolZ..

  19. Flower says:

    Wait….. I thought the rumour was that Hugh Jackman is …… ?

    Nevermind.

  20. DaveW says:

    I’m confused….is Sutton Foster confirmed as separated / divorcing? She doesn’t post or speak much about her husband very often at all so not sure that can be used as a gauge. I also think they both have that personality that is outgoing and can come across as flirty and they probably genuinely like each other. I remember reading and seeing pics of her with Peter Herrman, Mariska Hargitay’s husband and her costar on Younger, with snarky speculative comments and half the time Mariska was right there and cropped out of the picture.

    And if they are getting ready to come out as a couple, well, they seem a decent match? And yeah, never got the gay vibe from Hugh or understand where that comes from but since, sadly, we were never likely to meet, lock eyes and sail off into the sunset, doesn’t impact my life one way or the other.

    • atlantababe says:

      she posted pictures of her husband and child like a week ago on ig. does not have to mean anything tho.

    • tealily says:

      I’m with you. I don’t think I believe this? But if it is true, they seem like a good match. She’s still friendly with her first husband. Maybe it’s an amicable breakup with her second too.

  21. JaneS says:

    If this is true. I hate all of it!
    Cheaters suck. They do as they please, tearing apart family and betraying their spouses.
    Divorce first, then move on.

    I don’t care what HJ sexuality might be, if he was cheating on his wife of decades, THAT pisses me off.
    And these photos look far too cuddly together for costars. She is hanging off his as she is velcro’d there. Crap behavior from millionaires in Showbiz again.

  22. Ameerah M says:

    They got his height wrong in this article. He is 6’3″. Which I can attest to because I’ve met him in person. VERY tall. And surprisingly boyishly handsome in person.

  23. TIFFANY says:

    So when children are adopted, they are still not the children of the parents who adopted them.

    That adopted daughter line is what bothered me the most in this story.

    • tealily says:

      Right! They have a daughter together!

    • VilleRose says:

      Hugh’s kids are also adopted which makes it all the more infuriating. They don’t mention his adopted kids, just Sutton’s daughter.

    • lucy2 says:

      Entertainment journalism has often done that, and it has always bugged me. That’s her daughter, no “adopted” needed.

    • Pamspam says:

      Came here to say the same thing!

    • QuiteContrary says:

      Thank you!!

    • SadieMae says:

      Thank you, I came here to say exactly this. “Adopted child” suggests they’re your child, but, you know, not really. I have both a biological child and an adopted child and there is absolutely no difference in the way I feel about them. Regardless of how they join your family, your child is your child. No qualifier needed.

  24. JaneS says:

    The idea that Hugh paid Deb $100M for an NDA does not hold water to me.
    They were married w/children for close to 30 years.
    Deb is due HALF of the martial assets. Period.

    I hate this garbage. 26-30 years together and then he cheats, divorce.
    WTH? Such a cliche.

    Team Deb.

    • lisalemann says:

      From what I have read, the $100M for signing the NDA was on TOP of what she would already get – which is half of their assets. I have heard from various sources that they have grown apart for a while. Someone saw them with their kids at a dinner in NYC – and she never spoke to or looked at Hugh the entire meal – so I don’t think this was sudden. And people grow apart – it happens. I know several of my friends whose parents got divorced as soon as their youngest kid went to college – and those people had been married 20-30 years – it’s not uncommon. I would be interested to know who filed first – I initially heard it was her that actually filed for divorce.

  25. Eowyn says:

    Not a fan of the casual homophobia and biphobia, it’s 2023.
    In another post on the site about Prince Edward, the same kind of casual homophobia happened, with someone speculating his weight loss had to do with him being a closeted gay man and therefore living with HIV. Along with homophobia, that comment included AIDSphobia! WTH. Not ok.

    • sparrow says:

      I don’t see this as casual anything; had he started a relationship with a man, no one would have been surprised, judging by the rumours, but neither would they criticise. Two things at the same time but very different. However I agree re Edward. There has been long standing casual and overt homophobia, which carried on until his marriage and continues till this day. Growing up in the UK, the rumours regarding Edward were awful to the point that he was openly laughed at for possibly being gay. I remember a panel show where they were joking about him. (I don’t remember which because this was decades ago.) “He’s gay because he wants to be an actor and then run a production company …” blah blah

    • sunny says:

      Yes to all of this. It really is shocking. I saw that comment on the post on Edward as gasped because it was so ignorant and homophoblic.

      First off, it is fine to gossip but all the assumptions are wild. Also comments that he should come out- no to that. People don’t owe the public that.

      Finally, the comments assuming that because they think he’s gay, he can’t be with a woman like sexuality isn’t a whole spectrum and a whole damn alphabet that includes a B and a P.

      Yikes.

  26. Melissa says:

    I still only see her as Coco from Flight of the Conchords 🙂 “…and then maybe later, we’ll get hot by the refrigerator!”

  27. VilleRose says:

    If this is true (this seems to have originated with DeuxMoi?), at least it’s an age appropriate hook up? I’m sure Deborah wouldn’t be thrilled if this were true, given how much younger Sutton is than her. But the age gap between Hugh and Sutton isn’t ridiculous. At least we know Hugh is allowed to date now since he announced his separation a few months ago. Sutton though is another story… but if they do end up together, it would be very clear they caught feelings for each other by doing the Music Man for so long and even if there wasn’t a physical affair, there was definitely emotional cheating. I guess we’ll see.

  28. Oswin says:

    Sutton has a history of cheating on her husbands with her costars, so I’m not particularly surprised. Just ask Christian Borle.

    • lisalemann says:

      Actually, Christian Borle cheated on her first with Laura Bell Bundy. She then “revenge-cheated” on him with Roger Bart. But they get along fine now. Broadway is wild…

  29. girl_ninja says:

    Was there an affair though? It seems as though they had feelings for each other but didn’t act on it. The speculation about Hugh’s sexuality is tired and foolish.

    • SadieMae says:

      I do always think it’s interesting that when people divorce their spouses and get together right away, it’s assumed that they were cheating. Certainly that usually seems to be true, but there are people ethical enough that when they fall in love with someone else, they at least separate from their spouse (even if not technically divorced yet) before they start sleeping with the new person. To my mind there is a huge moral difference there.

      • Turtledove says:

        You are correct that there is a huge difference between sleeping with someone else pre-separation vs post-separation.

        I think that many people, myself included, can be pretty suspicious. So when we see a story like this, it’s hard NOT to assume that they were cheating. But you are right, they may not have been, we would never know. And even if the spouses of both Jackman and Sutton gave interviews SAYING there was no cheating, at least some amount of people would still wonder if that was a lie.

        It’s an interesting “line in the sand”. I was full-on cheated on in a pretty spectacular way and it hurts so much. I’ve given the topic of cheating a lot of thought. And i don’t know that my heart would be any LESS injured if my ex-husband came to me and said “I met someone and have feelings for them and before I do anything inappropriate, I want to let you know and I want us to separate.” That would still have gutted me. Though it would absolutely have been the more ethical path in those circumstances. All that said, if you have been cheated on and it was long term, there is anger there. You realize that you have been lied to for a really long time in so many little ways and that is a whole separate layer to deal with.

  30. Jaded says:

    I really don’t give two effs about his sexuality, that’s his business and nobody else’s. I thought we’d become a little more enlightened and accepting about this, but after reading some of the comments, apparently not. However I do have thoughts about his involvement with this weird cultish organization — you should read up on what has been happening in a number of its schools, it has a long history of abusing children: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/School_of_Philosophy_and_Economic_Science

    • Ameerah M says:

      So where is the info about his involvement?? All you posted was a link to the wikipedia page but it has no mention of Jackman.

      Never mind I found it. The quotes are from 2006 and 2010. I would be interested to know if he is still involved. He also stated in that same interview that he is Christian and attends Church.

  31. Kelly says:

    I don’t buy it. Heck, everyone on Broadway is obsessed with Sutton. Jonathon Geoff was over the moon to sing with her.

    And Jackman is a notoriously generous actor.

  32. Normades says:

    If he’s 6”3 she’s super tall as well.

  33. Anne Keane says:

    I’m not keen on speculation about his sexuality. But incidentally, the ‘only gay actors should play gay’ view would require that actors declare their sexuality: even young actors would be required to go on the record before playing a gay character. I don’t think it’s anyone else’s business.

  34. Krista says:

    Believing InTouch is like believing the Daily Mail. Kinda disappointed you would post this. She married with a young child.

  35. Her again says:

    I give credit to any rich, powerful middle aged man who chooses to be in an age appropriate relationship. It’s just nice to see, and I think it’s good for our culture’s general perception of “women of a certain age” (ftr, I myself am a woman of a certain age), which is not to say that our appeal to men should be the only thing we value. But for a long time, single middle aged women were discarded by our society

  36. chismeisadancer says:

    What a way to kill the Antoni Porowski’s rumours on TikTok!

  37. Grant says:

    All I got from this was a laugh that Hugh had to push for Sutton to have equal billing. Sutton has, like, four Tony’s, she DESERVES equal billing. Also, she was a GD delight on Younger, a delightful show that I highly recommend!

    Do we feel any kind of way about Hugh knowing that he has ties to Bryan Singer? Does anyone know anything about Hugh attending any of those creepy parties with the under-age boys?