Hugh Jackman wants to raise kids to be unafraid

Watching Hugh Jackman play Wolverine in the X-Men movies, you probably wouldn’t think he was once a fearful child.

"As a kid, I hated being afraid of things.  I had a horrible fear of heights.  I remember spending two months going to the diving board with my brother, which was actually one of the kind  things he did when we were younger.  He said, ‘Right, we are going to do the one-meter board, then the three-meter board and then the 10-meter board.  You are going to do it over and over again until you don’t feel scared going up there.’  It worked."

Hugh tries to apply the same philosophy to raising his own kids: encouraging them to take leaps but being there to help if they aren’t quite ready.

"My boy has just started school.  I dropped him off and watched him. He walked into the playground.  He looked around, and I could see that no one was running to him, and so he just walked over to the swings and started swinging on his own.  So I went in and said ‘Hey, let’s play a game!’"

Hugh and his wife Deborra-Lee Furness have two children, Oscar, 6, and Ava, 10 months.  His latest movie X-Men: The Last Stand opened this weekend.

Source: OK! Magazine, June 5, 2006, page 49

Comments

wildviolette on May 30th, 2006

Thank you for being one of the ONLY members of the media who don’t place the word “adopted” in the phrase “Hugh and his wife have two children.” Just another reason why this site is one of my favorites!

landroverdisco on May 30th, 2006

Hugh looks like a Greek god in that photo. He truly seems like an extremely loving and caring father.

gargoylegurl on May 30th, 2006

I agree landroverdisco…*wipes drool from the keyboard* And the fact that he seems like such a caring daddy makes him all the more sexy!

Lola on May 31st, 2006

I love him. He seems so down-to-earth and like a really great dad. His son is adorable– I can’t wait to see him out and about with his Ava.

faghag on May 31st, 2006

Hmmm. Am I the only one whose gay-dar starts going off on red alert whenever I see this fellow? He’s cute enough, I give you that – but then most gay men are.

As for his story about his son – sounds like the kid was handling the situation just fine until his over-protective Dad stepped in. It’s one thing if your kid is being bullied, but if he’s just playing alone for a bit it doesn’t seem to warrant that kind of coddling – in fact I’d say Hugh’s actions were counter-productive if his goal is to foster fearlessness and independence.

Not the worst of parental sins, but hardly laudable.