Sutton Foster is a name you’ll likely hear a lot more of, following news of Hugh Jackman‘s divorce this week.
The Aussie superstar’s ex-wife Deborra-lee Furness released a statement, shared with 9honey Celebrity, after filing for divorce more than 18 months after the couple’s 2023 separation.
The Australian actress said she “remains grateful” for their almost 30-year marriage but has been navigating “the traumatic journey of betrayal”.
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Jackman seemingly went public with his new relationship, with his former Broadway co-star Foster, in January, months after rumours of a romance between the pair first began.
The actors, who had both recently split from their spouses, were spotted holding hands while out in LA and days later were photographed sharing a passionate kiss.
While they didn’t go public with their new relationship until well after their separations from their respective other halves, Furness’s statement wording casts question marks over their relationship timeline.
Of course, that all remains unknown at this stage but, what we do know is Foster, who many will know from the hit Stan TV show Younger, is a star of stage and screen.
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Along with major Broadway productions and being the lead in Younger, she’s also starred in high-profile series such as Flight of the Conchords and Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life.
Here’s everything you need to know about the American actress.
What is Sutton Foster most famous for?
Foster, 50, is a two-time Tony Award-winning actress, most famous for her work in musical theatre on Broadway.
Her performances in Thoroughly Modern Millie and Anything Goes earned her the Best Actress in a Musical trophy in 2002 and 2011, respectively.
After making her Broadway debut in Grease in 1996, Foster’s gone on to star in Little Women, The Drowsy Chaperone and Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Musical, among others.
The actress has also appeared in TV shows Bunheads and Psych as well as Younger, where she played the lead character of Liza Miller for seven seasons.
Did Sutton Foster star in Les Misérables?
Yes, but not the movie version Hugh Jackman starred in.
Foster played Eponine Thenardier in a touring production in the late ’90s before taking on the role as an understudy on Broadway in 2000.
Is Sutton Foster married?
Foster has been married twice before.
First to fellow two-time Tony Award-winning actor Christian Borle, from 2006 to 2009, after the couple first met in college.
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Foster said in 2012 she and the Smash star had remained friends following their reportedly “painful” split.
She then went on a blind date with American screenwriter Ted Griffin and the pair got engaged in 2013.
They tied the knot in 2014 before filing for divorce a decade later, in 2024.
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Does Sutton Foster have kids?
The actress has one daughter, Emily Dale, whom she adopted in 2017 with Griffin.
Foster has been open about the fertility struggles the couple went through when trying to start a family in their late 30s, saying it was her husband who “made me want kids”.
“I didn’t really understand the concept of motherhood until he came around,” Foster told People magazine in 2018.
She said after a “hard” IVF journey, which spawned her book Hooked: How Crafting Saved My Life, the couple decided adoption was “so clearly what was meant to be for us”.
“Now I realise Emily was so clearly meant to be our daughter,” she said in a later interview with the US publication.
“It doesn’t matter where she came from, my belly or someone else’s belly. When she was born, I was like, ‘What took me so long?'”
It’s something her Younger co-star Peter Hermann helped the couple with, having been through the process himself.
It’s also something Foster and Jackman, 56, would have likely bonded over, with the Aussie actor having two adopted children – Oscar and Ava – with his ex-wife.
When did Sutton Foster and Hugh Jackman first meet?
Foster first met Jackman backstage on Broadway in 2008.
The Aussie actor went to see Shrek: The Musical, in which Foster played Princess Fiona, and met the cast backstage after the show, posing for photos together.
Decades later, the pair starred together in a Broadway revival of The Music Man, which ran from December 2021 through till January 2023.
Amid rumours the duo had become close during the production, Jackman announced his split from wife of 27 years, Furness, in September 2023.
Foster then split from her husband in October last year, just shy of their tenth wedding anniversary.
Jackman and Foster have never addressed the speculation or rumours of a romance, with the only “confirmation” coming in the photos of them holding hands on a night out in January, 2025.
What has Sutton Foster said about Hugh Jackman?
The pair have praised each other publicly on numerous occasions.
In an interview with Vogue, Foster said the pair had become close friends through their time working together, which she wasn’t expecting to happen.
“He’s now become one of my best friends, which was a surprise because you usually go into these things thinking, ‘Well, I hope we get along’,” she said.
“But we just spent Memorial Day with our families. It’s really fun to meet new friends after 40.”
In the 2022 profile piece, she also admitted the pair somewhat blurred lines on stage to throw off the audience.
“One of the things that our director [Jerry Zaks] said early on was, ‘When you’re watching two characters fall in love, you look for the moments where they make each other smile’,” she explained.
“So it’s sort of birthed out of that, and it’s a spontaneous moment that’s different every single night. It toes that line of, is it Harold and Marian, or Hugh and Sutton?”
During an appearance on US morning show Live With Kelly and Ryan, Foster said the pair would bond with “carpet chats” in her dressing room every night before going out on stage.
“We hang out in my dressing room before every show and just catch up,” she said.
“Somehow we ended up sitting … maybe because my dressing room’s a mess, we sit on the carpet.
“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.”
Then, at the 2024 Drama Desk Awards last June, Foster told People Jackman is “one of the greatest guys ever, an incredible costar”.
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