- Hugh Jackman and Deborra-Lee Furness have two children.
- They adopted son Oscar and daughter Ava.
- Hugh and Deborra announced their split after 27 years of marriage on September 15.
Hugh Jackman, 54, and Deborra-Lee Furness, 67, were always open about their family leading up to their shocking split. The couple, who announced they were amicably ending their marriage after 27 years on September 15, were unable to have children on their own after Deborra-Lee suffered two unfortunate miscarriages. So they decided to adopt their two children, Oscar, 23, and Ava, 18. When they announced their split, Hugh and Deborra-Lee said that their “family has been and always will be our highest priority.”
Hugh and Deborra-Lee have always been loving parents to their kids. “I don’t think of them as adopted – they’re our children,” the Australian actor told The Herald Sun in 2011. “We feel things happened the way they are meant to. Obviously, biologically wasn’t the way we were meant to have children.”
Oscar and Ava are both of mixed race. “We specifically requested a bi-racial child because there was more of a need. People will wait 18 months to adopt a little blonde girl; meanwhile, bi-racial children are turned away,” Hugh graciously told People in 2007.
Keep reading to find out more about the lives of Oscar and Ava Jackman.
Oscar Jackman
Born in 2000, Hugh’s elder child is currently 23 years old. He is of African-American, Caucasian, Hawaiian, and Cherokee descent.
Oscar clearly embraces his heritage. “When my son was younger, he found out he was part Bosnian, so we went and got this Croatian/Bosnian cookbook and he was very proud to carry that around when he was 7 years old,” his mother Deborra told People in 2020.
Oscar seems to be a ladies man! “Once he was on the beach. He was talking to a girl, he was about 13, he was talking to a girl, who I guess to be about 15, and he started walking towards me,” The X-Men star told Entertainment Weekly in 2018. “He came up to me and he started walking ahead of the girl, and he goes, ‘Dad, Dad, Dad, she’s coming over. I told her you’re Wolverine, just go with it.’ I was like, ‘I am the wingman for my 13-year-old boy.’”
Oscar left high school in 2019, and is currently pursuing an education in the New York area, according to Closer Weekly. Apparently, upon reaching adulthood, Oscar has become more defiant towards his father. “Anytime I ask him to do something or listen to me, he just says, ”I’m an adult now. I can do what I want,’ Hugh said, per The Daily Mail.
Ava Jackman
Reportedly entering high school around 2019, Ava is of half Mexican and half German descent. She also took dance classes during her teenage years. “My daughter does dance and I go watch her,” Hugh told Closer Weekly. “But after The Greatest Showman I had 60 young girls in their tutus coming up to me and my daughter says, ‘You are not coming to dance again!’” Clearly, the Hugh’s younger daughter is not phased by her father’s superstar status.
Hugh and Ava are often seen photographed together. In September 2020, the two took a stroll in New York while walking their dogs and wearing casual attire, per The Daily Mail. Looks like Ava likes spending quality time with her father!