There have been rumours for over a year now that Hugh Jackman and Sutton Foster were a thing. They worked together on Broadway on Music Man for a couple of years, with the show ending its run at the beginning of 2023. Nine months later, in the fall of 2023, Hugh announced he and Deborra Lee-Furness were over after 27 years of marriage. A year after that, this past fall 2024, Sutton announced that she and Ted Griffin were over after 10 years of marriage.
By this point, any gossip who’d even been casually paying attention could see what was up – it was just a matter of time and how they’d make it official. They certainly weren’t denying all the reporting that’s already been happening prior to this latest development, essentially soft-launching the relationship.
And late last night came the hard launch. A PEOPLE Magazine exclusive, naturally.
Hugh Jackman and Sutton Foster Step Out Hand-in-Hand for Dinner Date in L.A. (Exclusive) https://t.co/Cc4Olnhc0g
— People (@people) January 7, 2025
Even amateur gossips know this is staged, right? From the choice of outlet to the quality of these shots and the way they’re posed-not-posed, this is nowhere near organic. Clearly they’re done hiding, and hoping that nobody cares anymore about the overlap and the curious timing of their professional-to-personal situation and the impact that had on their respective marriages.
Hard launching like this is a confirmation but also a test, testing the waters to see what the reception will be before they might take their relationship on the road – Hollywood parties and other events. Also, Hugh’s kicking off his tour soon. First show is January 24 at Radio City Music Hall. Presumably there will be a red carpet for this, and it’ll be interesting to see whether or not she joins him on it now that they’ve premiered themselves.
It'll be even more interesting to see what impact this does or does not have on his reputation. Hugh Jackman is a very popular and, up until recently, unpolarising celebrity. He’s well-known to be one of the kindest stars in the business, accommodating to crews, fans, and media. Having an affair doesn’t make a person unkind, overall, but we’re talking here about public image. And this, really, after a 30 year career, is the biggest mainstream gossip controversy that he’s been attached to. This hard launch of course is part of his and his PR team’s attempt to get ahead of it, unscandalise it, and control it. Given that on his tour, he'll be face-to-face with so many of his fans, many if not most of whom will be women, they’re probably get a report card on how this strategy will be received very soon.