Hugh Jackman Calls Love For Kids 'Frightening'

KCS Presse/Splash News Online

Although he plays a fearless Australian drover in his new movie Australia, Hugh Jackman is anything but when it comes to his family. The 40-year-old actor says  that the decision to settle into domestic life with wife Deborra-Lee Furness was one of the biggest chances he’s ever taken. “It’s not so much a risk as a surrender, kind of like, okay, I’m jumping into the rapids,” he tells Men’s Journal. The couple’s two children — Oscar Maximillian, 8 ½, and Ava Eliot, 3 — have only reinforced to Hugh how much he stands to lose when he’s on location making a film.

“Frightening how in love with them you are. It’s hard to go away, hard to do things like this. You have those little flashes of them jumping into a road and you stop breathing.”

Crediting their “unconditional love” for giving him the courage to take chances as an actor, Hugh says that the awards and accolades — like being named PEOPLE’s Sexiest Man Alive – mean nothing without his family. “If your career is more important than them, you’re going to have hell,” he explains. “To feel at the end of the day that you haven’t done everything you could for your kids – none of it’s worth it.” He also credits Oscar and Ava for keeping him real!

“Everything is exposed with kids. There’s no artifice, because they see you for exactly what you are. You can’t pretend. Actors can fool people about the kind of person they are. You can wear whatever mask you want to put on. But it doesn’t work with kids, you know?…You see things get out of whack, out of balance, because they just mirror it back to you.”

Australia is in theaters now.

Source: Men’s Journal

Comments

Just to clarify, Ava and Oscar are adopted right? I’m not sure these days, but I do remember something about Jackman adopting these kids. Out of curiosity, was it because he wanted to adopt or because he and his wife couldn’t have any kids?
Hugh sounds such a loving and a dedicated father to Ava and Oscar, who are beautiful!

- babyboopie on January 1st, 2009

Yup, Oscar and Ava are adopted. I think he and his wife couldn’t have kids, due to her age? But, they are strong avocates for adoptions so maybe it was something they wanted to do anyway.

- Jane on January 2nd, 2009

They were adopted after his wife had two miscarriages, although Hugh has said that they had planned to adopt anyway even if they could have biological children.

- stephanie on January 2nd, 2009

It’s cute when celebrities say stuff like that but sometimes I wonder why they do. I only say that because doesn’t every parent feel that way about their kids? But then again, he was probably asked a specific question that needed that type of a specific answer. I guess I’m putting him in a no-win situation here haha.

I remember when he adopted Oscar, man he was a cute kid!

- Natasha on January 2nd, 2009

Yep, they were adopted. And he requested bi-racial children, because he knew they were harder to place. I’m not sure if he and his wife can’t have kids or if they just really wanted to adopt.

- MZ on January 2nd, 2009

On the X-men 1.5 DVD you can see Oscar as a tiny baby in Hugh’s arms. It’s just a small clip but very sweet.

- Anna on January 2nd, 2009

babyboopie: Yep they’re adopted; Deborrah suffered several miscarriages when they tried to have a child biologically so they adopted Oscar in 2000 and Ava in 2005. They had planned to adopt after having children biologically so they were more than happy to do it.

- Allison on November 30th, 2011