Hugh Jackman shares rare photo of mum
Hugh Jackman has shared a photo with his mother on social media after years of a rocky relationship.
The Aussie actor has opened up about his sad past with his mum, Grace McNeil, revealing she abandoned him, his four siblings and his father when he was just eight.
Jackman has been able to repair his close bond with his mum over the last decade or so, and has shown their growth in his most recent post to Instagram with the simple caption: “Mum”.
That doesn’t mean his childhood was anything less than traumatic though, with The Greatest Showman admitting his mother fled back to the UK and informed them via telegram.
“I can remember the morning she left, it’s weird the things you pick up. I remember her being in a towel around her head and saying goodbye, must have been the way she said goodbye,” he told 60 Minutes in a sad interview in 2012.
“As I went off to school, when I came back, there was no one there in the house.
“The next day there was a telegram from England. Mum was there. And then that was it.
“I don’t think she thought for a second it would be forever. I think she thought it was, ‘I just need to get away, and I’ll come back.’ Dad used to pray every night that Mum would come back.”
Hugh’s father Chris, mother Grace, and four siblings Ralph, Zoe, Sonia and Ian, moved permanently to Australia in 1967 as part of the Ten Pound Poms migration scheme.
Hugh was born in Sydney in 1968.
Grace moved back to the UK in the late ’70s, and later Hugh’s parents divorced.
While Hugh’s two sisters eventually joined Grace back in the UK, the actor remained in Sydney with his father and two brothers.
“As I grew older I gained an understanding of why Mum did leave,” Hugh told The Sun in 2011. “We have definitely made our peace, which is important.”
He went on to share in a 2012 interview with Women’s Weekly: “The thing I never felt and I know this might sound strange, I never felt that my mum didn’t love me.
“I’ve spoken about it at length with her since and I know she was struggling.”
Hugh shares two adopted children with his wife Deborra-lee Furness, and while building his relationship with his mother, he has continued to maintain that his father Chris is his “rock”.
“My father is a rock,” he told 60 Minutes.
“My father is my rock. It’s where I learned everything about loyalty, dependability, being there day in, day out, no matter what … It’s always about the family.”