A piece of heritage gossip: Nicole Kidman reportedly credits Rupert Murdoch for helping her get out of her marriage to Tom Cruise with her career intact. As in, the Murdoch-owned press took Nicole’s side and pushed back against any and all Scientology-related smear campaigns against Kidman. So it is with many Australian celebrities – the Murdoch press has helped them over the years, and they feel they “owe” Rupert Murdoch and his family. Well, Rupert celebrated his 95th birthday in NYC over the weekend. It doesn’t sound like Nicole made it to the party, but Hugh Jackman did. And he danced and performed for the assorted Murdochs. Damn, I wonder how the Murdochs have helped Hugh?
Australian actor and singer Hugh Jackman performed Saturday evening at a star-studded celebration for Rupert Murdoch’s birthday.
The conservative media mogul, who is also from Australia, celebrated his 95th birthday at The Grill in Midtown Manhattan in a star-studded affair that included a video message from President Donald Trump. Jackman performed songs from The Greatest Showman and sang renditions of “Fly Me to the Moon” and “New York, New York,” before closing with Peter Allen’s “I Still Call Australia Home,” a source in attendance tells PEOPLE.
Ivanka Trump, with whom Jackman maintains a close friendship, “was cheering him on,” the source says.
Jackman, who cannot vote in U.S. elections, told Variety in 2018 that his friendship with Ivanka and her husband, Jared Kushner, both of whom attended Jackman’s 50th birthday party that year, is not a reflection of his values or political beliefs. “I’ve known those guys for 15 years,” he said, “and we don’t talk politics at birthday parties.”
Sutton Foster, Jackman’s girlfriend and former co-star in the Broadway revival of The Music Man, did not attend, according to the source.
Rupert arrived at Saturday evening’s birthday party with wife Elena Zhukova, whom he married in 2024, and son Lachlan, who will inherit his father’s vast media empire, including Fox News, The Wall Street Journal and the New York Post, upon the elder Murdoch’s death.
Children James and Elisabeth Murdoch and Prudence MacLeod were notably absent, following a lengthy dispute over the family trust that ended in September. The forthcoming Netflix documentary series, Dynasty: The Murdochs, will detail the fight among the four eldest Murdoch siblings for control of their father’s media empire. The agreement reached in September terminates ongoing litigation over the trust and allows Rupert and Lachlan to buy out James, Elisabeth and Prudence, who will each receive a reported $1.1 billion. New trusts will be established for Lachlan as well as Grace and Chloe Murdoch, Rupert’s youngest daughters with third wife, Wendi Deng Murdoch. Jackman and fellow Australian actor Nicole Kidman are the girls’ godparents.
According to Breaker Media, other notable guests at the Murdoch patriarch’s birthday celebration included English playwright Andrew Lloyd Webber, former U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair, ex-House Speaker Paul Ryan, former Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin and U.S. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum. Also in attendance were some of football’s foremost financial titans, including Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft and NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell.
I totally forgot about Jackman’s connections to Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump as well – that was a big controversy in 2018, that Jackman was so cozy with Javanka. Hugh even publicly defended them and said they “have always been so kind and generous.” Yiiiikes. Jackman’s connection to Rupert Murdoch makes sense if you consider the Mudochs’ stranglehold on the Australian media. But there’s no reason for Hugh to be so buddy-buddy with Javanka. Unless all of this is representative of his politics and his worldview. In which case… gross.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.
