Hugh Jackman and Deborra-Lee Furness' love has stood the test of time.
While appearing on The Ellen DeGeneres Show Monday to promote his new movie Eddie the Eagle, Hugh spoke fondly of his wife of nearly 20 years. Ellen DeGeneres commended the actor for his commitment to Deborra, telling him, "That's a wonderful thing, to have that history."
Hugh agreed, adding that "it gets better and better" with time.
"She and I met before [I got famous]. It was my fist job and it was...obviously, she's the greatest thing that ever happened to me, and it gets better and better," Hugh, 47, said of Deborra, 60. "I'm kind of really grateful that I met before anything kind of happened, because everything that's happened in my career and on-screen, off-screen, we've always done it together." He then told the story of how they first got together on the set of the Australian TV series Correlli. "She was the star I had this major crush on her. 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. When I realized, I didn't talk to her. About a week later, I go, 'This I silly.' I had a dinner party and I invited her over and about 20 other people, and she said, 'What's the matter? Have I annoyed you? You're not talking to me anymore. What have I done wrong?' All the sudden I was—I'd had a couple ——and I said, 'Look, I got a crush on you. I'll get over it.' And she went, 'Oh, really?' I was like, 'Oh, this is bad.' She goes, 'Yeah, I got one on you, too.' And I'm like, 'Oh, great.' So, that was it."
Here they are today, "21 years and two kids later."
Speaking of his children, Hugh also gave an update on his 15-year-old Oscar Jackman and 10-year-old Ava Jackman. "My son is…You know what I love about my son? He saw that movie A Walk in the Woods. You know, that movie with Robert Redford? And he goes, 'I love that guy. That's me.' He loves the outdoors. He loves reading. He's not into video games—none of that," the actor raved. "He's into medicinal herbs. I mean, he's going to do something extraordinary."
Ava, it appears, wants to get into the family business. "I said, 'What do you want to do when you grow up?' She says, 'Well, I'd like to be an actor and a singer and a chef and a vet.' I was like, 'I love it! But if you could focus on the chef, because we really need one of those in the family.'"
Ellen later suggested that his kids must find it cool to have a dad who plays Wolverine in movies, but Hugh said it's a double-edged sword. "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. 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. "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. [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, OK? So, just get over it.' And that was it. Haven't seen that kid since, actually."