Adopting their first child helped Hugh Jackman and his wife overcome the pain of multiple miscarriages

Jackman with wife Furness

The 44-year-old actor and his wife Deborra-Lee Furness always planned to adopt after having their own biological children but when they were unable to conceive naturally, bringing forward their adoption plans helped the couple recover from their losses.

Hugh – who has kids Oscar, 12 and seven-year-old Ava with Deborra – told Katie Couric on her talk show ‘Katie’: "Until you go through it, you understand it’s not talked about a lot. By the way to be clear, Deb and I always wanted to adopt. So that was always in our plan. We didn’t know where in the process that would happen but biologically obviously we tried and it was not happening for us and it is a difficult time. We did IVF and Deb had a couple of miscarriages. I’ll never forget it,  the miscarriage thing… It happens to one in three pregnancies. But it’s very, very rarely talked about. It’s almost secretive, so I hope Deb doesn’t mind me bringing it up now.

“It’s a good thing to talk about it. It’s more common and it is tough. There’s a grieving that you have to go through. So the moment Oscar was born, all the heartache just melted away.”

While Hugh and Deborra were thrilled to have a child of their own, the ‘Les Miserables’ star admitted all of his emotions were heightened when he became a parent.

He said: “Parents know you can’t prepare for that moment. Nothing can prepare you... You can’t even explain how incredible it is and that avalanche of emotion that comes and how it opens up your heart, how it frustrates you, how it angers you, how everything is just all the sudden how alive you are as a parent.”

Hugh Jackman received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame

Hugh Jackman

The 44-year-old actor joked he would use the coveted plaque as a form of "therapy" for his children Oscar, 12, and seven-year-old Ava - who were in attendance for the ceremony alongside the star's wife Deborra-Lee Furness and his 'Les Miserables' co-stars Anne Hathaway and Amanda Seyfried - when they get older as he unveiled the square.

He said:  "Say 10 years from now, when they're remembering all the things I did wrong, it's gonna save a fortune in therapy - they can come here, graffiti it, stomp on it, spill their soda on it, whatever."

Hugh - who also learned yesterday he had been nominated for a Golden Globe award for Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy for his performance in 'Les Miserables' - planned to leave the ceremony to buy a lottery ticket as he felt it had been such a lucky day for him.

And he was particularly pleased his star is positioned by Madame Tussauds Hollywood, where a waxwork figure of himself as superhero character 'Wolverine' is on display.

The actor - who hosted the Academy Awards in 2009 - told E! Online: "It's kind of a surreal day. I'll probably always remember Thursday, December 13 and I think I'm either going straight from here to buy a lottery ticket or to a casino because it just feels like someone is looking down on me in a very nice way at this moment.

"I'm excited. The star is right here outside where I got to host the Oscars and if the movie gets nominated (for an Oscar), it'll be nice to get up there and show a little bit of the show to everybody."

Hugh Jackman went without water for 36 hours before filming the opening scene in 'Les Miserables'

Jackman as Jean Valjean

The Australian actor takes on the role of Jean Valjean in the big screen adaptation of the hit musical and he admits he had to go to extreme measures to look like a starving prisoner at the beginning of the movie before piling the pounds back on as Valjean made a success of his life on the outside world.

Speaking at the world premiere of 'Les Miserables' at London's Odeon Leicester Square cinema, Hugh told BANG Showbiz:  "I had to lose a lot of weight, so I went on a very strict diet. I even went without water for 36 hours before I filmed the opening scene. And then after that, I put on weight. I was training every day."
In the movie, Russell Crowe plays Valjean's arch-enemy, Javert, and Hugh said he loved every moment of working with Russell, especially as they have a lot of history together.

He said: "I've known for Russell for years. If you ever go to a party thrown by Russell you end up singing so we had a lot of practice! But it was great working with him and he's one of the world's greatest actors. I love him."

Other stars to walk the red carpet at the premiere included Anne Hathaway, Amanda Seyfried, Eddie Redmayne, Helena Bonham Carter and Sacha Baron-Cohen.

'Les Miserables' is released in the US on Christmas Day  and around the world on January 11 2013.

Hugh Jackman wants to punch Russell Crowe as many times as possible during 'Les Miserables'

Hugh Jackman and Russell Crowe

The Australian star keeps asking to re-shoot fight scenes where he knocks Russell out, because he enjoys it so much.

A source told The Sun newspaper: "The crew find it hilarious as Crowe would obviously sweep the floor with Jackman in real life.

"Hugh keeps ribbing Russell and winding him up but he's been getting his own back by calling Hugh a twirlie, which is showbiz speak for a singer/dancer."

Although Hugh has always had to be in good shape to play muscular superhero Wolverine in the 'X Men' films, he was recently told he had to bulk up to play the character in the next movie, 'The Wolverine', as he had lost so many pounds while appearing in 'Hugh Jackman: Back On Broadway'.

He said: "The studio wants me to bulk up. Singing and dancing makes the suits nervous because weight just falls off me, but I'd rather sing and dance on Broadway than make movies."

Russell is also no stranger to long fight scenes, having undergone grueling shoots against Michael Shannon in 'Superman: Man of Steel', in which he played the titular superhero's father,

He tweeted: "15km bike ride, umpteen hours fighting Michael Shannon. He's very hard to put down. Hard to tell who wins, we are still fighting tomorrow. (sic)"

Hugh Jackman spices up his marriage by dressing as a stockbroker

The 'Wolverine' star has been married to Deborra-Lee Furness since 1996 and the actress revealed the couple keep things interesting in the bedroom with some bizarre role play.


She explained to the New York Post's Page Six: "I was always saying I'd marry somebody sensible, like a stockbroker. So he dresses up for that fantasy for me occasionally."
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Although Deborra is used to seeing Hugh kiss other women on screen, the hunky actor recently revealed their son Oscar, 11, was horrified when he saw his dad kiss his 'Real Steel' co-star Evangeline Lilly in the movie.


Hugh - who also has six-year-old daughter Ava with Deborra - said: "There was this one moment, Deb is on one side and Oscar is on the other... and I have one kissing scene with Evangeline Lilly from 'Lost'... very good kisser.... so Deb is used to that... we all of a sudden looked at my son, he's never seen his dad kissing someone else, he didn't look at us he looked straight at the screen and said 'You're going to be in trouble.'"

Hugh Jackman and ‘Twilight’ hunk Robert Pattinson did karaoke together in Japan

Hugh Jackman

"Real Steel' star Hugh revealed he asked the 'Twilight' star to join him and 'Australia' director Baz Luhrmann at a Japanese karaoke bar after they were on the same flight to the country and Hugh claims Robert has a great voice.

He told MTV News: "I actually did karaoke with Rob. That's random, isn't it? We were on our way to Japan, and he was promoting ['Twilight'] and I didn't talk to him at all on the flight, because he's this really tall guy with a hood over his head literally, and every time I'd go to the bathroom, I'd be like, 'Man, that guy takes some serious sleeping pills,' because this was him slumped over the whole time.

"He sang very well. I can't even remember what it was he was singing. Man, he's got a voice. Really soulful."

Although he was impressed with Robert's vocals, Hugh admitted the whole experience was a "little weird".

He explained: "The first thing you do is you get inside this room, the doors are closed, and there's, like, eight of you. So it feels a little weird. And then all of a sudden, they open, and they bring in these boxes, which are basically [full of] dress-up [clothes], and it's all girls' clothes. I was a schoolgirl, Baz got dressed up, and Rob did not. He was too cool for school."

'X Men's' Hugh Jackman's son was terrified by a Wolverine toy which issued threats in the actor's voice

Hugh Jackman

The 42-year-old action star's children Oscar, 11, and six-year-old Ava love playing with the action figures of his various characters including the robot from new movie 'Real Steel', but Hugh revealed a cuddly toy based on his 'X Men' character upset Oscar.

Speaking at the BT Vision preview screening of Dreamworks’ new blockbuster 'Real Steel' held last Friday at the BT Tower, Hugh told BANG Showbiz: "They love to play with the actions figures from this movie more than ever. They were a little into the Wolverine characters but with this movie, they both loved the robots.
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"Although for my son Oscar, with Wolverine early on the toys weren’t very sophisticated. There was one soft toy which kind of looked like a teddy bear and my son loved sleeping with it but when you pressed its tummy it had my voice saying things like, ‘I will slice you in half,’ or, ‘This kick will take you down,’ and my son would wake up in the middle of the night terrified hearing my voice saying, ‘I will slice you in half.' He was so scared."

Hugh recently revealed Oscar - his eldest child with wife Deborra-Lee Furness – isn't impressed with his fame and often finds his dad embarrassing.

He explained: "I just did this one-man show in Toronto. There's an early song where I'm talking about how I like to dance but I'm Wolverine - it's a funny, fun thing.

"I was dancing and being a bit of a goofball. My son turned to my wife and said, 'My dad is so embarrassing.' He thinks I'm embarrassing."