Deborra-Lee Furness reveals she almost stopped Hugh Jackman from playing Wolverine

Hugh Jackman is best known for playing Wolverine in the X-Men film series.

But on Thursday, Hugh’s wife, Deborra-lee Furness, revealed she had been skeptical at first when the actor, 51, auditioned for the role.

Speaking on Nova’s 96.9’s Fitzy & Wippa, the 64-year-old actress and director said: ‘We are a team so [he runs things by me] and when I have to do stuff, I run it by him.’

‘You’re a team when you’re married, you want the best for each other. I was the one that said, “What are you going to do in this movie with claws?”‘ she admitted.

Deborra-lee – who shares two children, Ava and Oscar, with her husband-of-24-years – added with a laugh: ‘But what do I know, I mean it has put my kids through college!’

Hugh played the character of Wolverine in seven films including X-Men: Days of Future Past, X-Men: Apocalypse, Logan, X-Men: The Last Stand and Deadpool 2. 

In 2001, the actor won an Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films award for his performance in the first X-Men movie.

In 2009, Hugh also won VGA’s Best Performance By A Human Male for the film X-Men Origins: Wolverine.

Meanwhile, Hugh and Deborra, who married in 1996, celebrated their 24th wedding anniversary in April.   

Earlier this year, the actor told People that the secret to their happy marriage was ‘making time for each other and ‘always learning’ from one another.

He said they consciously ‘reset’ their marriage from time to time, which means they don’t grow apart like many longtime couples do.

‘We’re always learning and humans change so you have to, even though we’ve been together 25 years, you gotta reset all the time,’ he said.

‘I’m always reeling in how funny she is and how amazing she is and how smart she is. The longer it goes on the better it gets.’