When Sutton Foster stepped out at a Broadway awards show on Sunday her new boyfriend, Hugh Jackman, was perhaps wisely absent.
After all, it was the first time the actress had been seen since Deborra-Lee Furness issued a scathing public statement in which she took aim at Jackman and, by implication, his new squeeze.
Just four days earlier Jackman’s soon-to-be ex-wife, Furness, 69, told the Daily Mail, ‘My heart and compassion goes out to everyone who has traversed the traumatic journey of betrayal, it’s a profound wound that cuts deep.’
Her words marked an abrupt departure from the cordial tone which has so far characterized the end of her 27-year marriage.
In fact, one source told the Daily Mail, Jackman, 56, was ‘extremely disappointed’ by Furness’s public comments, calling it a breach of their ‘unwritten understanding’ not to speak negatively about one another.
But now a top divorce lawyer tells the Daily Mail that the sudden outbreak in hostilities, in what was long- billed as an amicable divorce, is no surprise.
When Sutton Foster stepped out at a Broadway awards show on Sunday (pictured), her new boyfriend, Hugh Jackman , was perhaps wisely absent.
Deborra-Lee Furness, 69, told the Daily Mail, ‘My heart and compassion goes out to everyone who has traversed the traumatic journey of betrayal, it’s a profound wound that cuts deep.’ (Pictured: Hugh Jackman and Deborra-Lee Furness at the Met Gala in 2023).
‘I represent celebrities, athletes and high-net worth people, and just like everyone else, they’re all equally terrible at relationships and keeping their s**t together while they’re getting divorced,’ said James Sexton.
It’s even more difficult when there’s another woman involved.
Sources told the Mail previously that Jackman and Furness’s marriage started to fall apart during Covid, around the same time that Jackman struck up a friendship with Foster, 50.
Dating rumors dogged Jackman and Foster for months, but they finally confirmed their relationship in January of this year, three months after Foster’s October 2024, filing for divorce from her screenwriter husband Ted Griffin.
‘While he didn’t physically cheat on her with Sutton, Deborra-Lee believes they were having an emotional affair and she feels he betrayed her,’ a source told the Daily Mail in March.
Sexton has no doubt that this added to the strain on divorce proceedings. He told the Daily Mail that one party starting a new relationship before a settlement has been inked always spells trouble.
He said, ‘I always tell my clients, it’s like waving a red flag in front of a bull. Anytime I hear that someone is dating a new person, and it’s become public, I know it’s going to exacerbate the conflict between people – unless both people are in new relationships.’
It doesn’t help, Sexton pointed out, when unwelcome information emerges during divorce proceedings. For example, lawyers always conduct a forensic audit of each partner’s finances, a process that can see uncomfortable truths surface.
Sources told the Mail previously that Jackman and Furness’s marriage started to fall apart during Covid, around the same time that Jackman struck up a friendship with Foster, 50. (Pictured: Jackman and Foster in 2022).
‘While he didn’t physically cheat on her with Sutton, Deborra-Lee believes they were having an emotional affair and she feels he betrayed her,’ a source told the Daily Mail in March. (Pictured: Foster and Jackman in May 2025).
He said, ‘What happens in divorces is there’s a mandatory exchange of certain financial information. So sometimes in that process, you look at it and you go, ‘What was this charge? When were you staying at that hotel? We used to go to that restaurant. When did you go?
‘That’s a romantic restaurant.’ Sometimes people even see airfares. They’re like, ‘Why were you in Paris for the weekend? I thought you were away shooting on this set.’ And so sometimes that will blow up otherwise amicable situations.’
The truth is that no-one is immune from the onset of disdain and resentment that all too often accompanies the march to divorce.
Sexton said, ‘This is a breakup at the end of the day. It’s a financial autopsy of a couple, but it’s also just a breakup. And when people break up, things happen, feelings get hurt.’
And in Jackman and Furness’s case, it was made even more complicated by the fact they reportedly didn’t have a prenup.
While their finances may not have been much to look at when they met, in the years of marriage since, Jackman has amassed an eye-watering fortune – estimated to be around $380 million – thanks in large part to his turn as Wolverine in Marvel’s blockbuster comic book franchise.
Earlier this year, a source told the Daily Mail that Furness and Jackman had been contemplating initiating divorce proceedings for a while, but had stalled because, without a prenup they were ‘struggling to reach an agreement on how to divide their assets.’
Sexton says without a prenup, the legal battle is likely to be far more protracted and bitter. ‘Prenups make divorces very, very clean and very easy to deal with,’ he said, ‘it defines very clearly what’s marital property and what isn’t, and it lays out mechanisms on how they’ll be divided.’
Without one, relations can quickly sour.
In Jackman and Furness’s case, their breakup was made even more complicated by the fact they reportedly didn’t have a prenup. (Pictured: Jackman and Furness on their wedding day in 1996).
Sexton said, ‘No one has ever come into my office for a consultation and said to me, ‘I’d like this to be expensive, protracted, terrible, emotional and vicious, and I would like this to scar me for the rest of my life, emotionally and financially.”
‘Everyone comes in and says the same thing, ‘I want to be fair.”
‘The problem is, their spouse is in a different lawyer’s office also saying, ‘I want to be fair.’ And their definitions of fair are completely different. That’s where the challenge really is.’
And that’s where the rot sets in.
He added, ‘These are two people who previously had a tremendous amount of intimacy between them. It’s sort of weaponized.’
Despite it all, sources told the Daily Mail last week that, after two years of bitter back and forth since they announced their separation in 2023, Jackman and Furness have finally reached a settlement – and that all that is left now is for a judge to sign on the dotted line.
If Sexton has one piece of advice for Furness and Jackman, it’s to avoid any further mudslinging and unpleasantness.
He said, ‘Using the divorce process to get revenge for cheating or for lying is like reaching into a pile of hot coals to throw them at your spouse: You may or may not hit them, but you’re going to burn yourself.’
