Maybe this is how the rumors started about Hugh Jackman and his Broadway co-star, Sutton Foster, engaging in a secret, backstage romance while both were married to other people.
Foster herself admitted in a 2022 interview that she and Jackman, 56, developed a very close bond while starring together in a Broadway revival of “The Music Man,” the New York Post reported. During the show’s run from late 2021 to early 2023, they also started a pre-performance ritual that took place when they were alone in her dressing room.
“We call it carpet chat,” Foster, 49, revealed during an appearance on “Live with Kelly and Ryan.”
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – JUNE 12: Hugh Jackman and Sutton Foster attend the 75th Annual Tony Awards at Radio City Music Hall on June 12, 2022 in New York City. (Photo by Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for Tony Awards Productions)
“We hang out in my dressing room before every show and just catch up,” Foster continued. “Somehow we ended up sitting … maybe because my dressing room’s a mess, we sit on the carpet.”
“It’s such a wonderful thing,” Foster also said. “We’ve become really good friends and we just talk and catch up on our day. That’s been one of the best parts of the whole thing, that I’ve made this wonderful new friend.”
According to multiple reports, Foster and Jackman became more than friends. They reportedly fell “in love,” leading to Jackman’s ex-wife, Deborra-Lee Furness developing “suspicions” about them working together, the Daily Mail reported earlier this week. This report by the Daily Mail and other outlets suggest that Jackman and Foster’s romance began in the waning years of his 27-year marriage to Furness.
Jackman and Furness announced their separation in October 2023, nine months after “The Music Man” closed. Meanwhile, speculation that Jackman was enamored with his co-star had reportedly brewing in New York theater circles all along. That speculation burst into the tabloids last week when Page Six and other outlets revealed that the Tony Award-winning Foster had filed for divorce from screenwriter Ted Griffin after 10 years of marriage — “amid buzz” that she is now dating Jackman.
It has since been reported that Jackman and Foster are “100% together” and planning to spend “the rest of their lives together.” But this news probably isn’t a surprise to people who worked with them on the show.
In the classic musical, Jackman played conman Prof. Harold Hill who comes to a small town to execute his latest scam, but becomes charmed by the residents, especially by librarian Marian Paroo. He and Marian fall in love, and he’s redeemed by that love, with the two singing to each other, “There was love all around/But I never heard it singing/No, I never heard it at all/’Til there was you.”
Jackman and Foster played out this love story for more than 300 performances, according to the Internet Broadway Database. Sources told In Touch that Foster couldn’t resist the charms of the handsome, famously toned, 6-foot-2-inch Australian actor. A source told In Touch that she was “absolutely giddy” around him. He, meanwhile, “was besotted with Sutton from the moment he met her. He followed her around like a puppy!”
In hindsight, their regard for each other was pretty apparent when they appeared together on red carpets or did joint interviews to promote the show.
During a 2022 appearance on “Late Night With Seth Meyers,” they both gushed about how “intimidated” they were by each other before they got “close,” the New York Post also reported.
“You’re Hugh Jackman!” Foster exclaimed on Seth Meyers’ show after the “Wolverine” star doubted that she could be intimidated by him. He, in turn, talked up her accomplishments, saying that she’s a six-time Tony nominee and a two-time winner.
“Like, I saw her do ‘Thoroughly Modern Millie’ when you were like 4 years old,” Jackman joked, turning to address his co-star. He was referring to her Tony win in 2002 for starring in “Thoroughly Modern Millie,” when she was actually in her 20s.
“I’ve watched everything she’s done,” Jackman continued. “It’s amazing.”
With Foster filing for divorce, she and Jackman are presumably free to go public with their romance. But until that happens, they prefer to keep things private, a source told Page Six. “They spend all of their free time together,” the source said. “They are a regular couple, they are just in private.”