Hugh Jackman and his mum are closer than ever. Aww…
Hugh’s happiness after heartache
The ac actor puts his tortured past behind him
At first glance, it looks the p perfect portrait of a mother and son e enjoying some quality time togethertoget – but behind Hugh Jackman a and Grace Mcneil’s happy smilessm is a heartbreaking history of abandonment, and one the actor has only now finally learnt to live with.
Over the past decade, Hugh, 48, has worked hard to repair his fractured relationship with his mum who, in a shock move, walked out on him, his four siblings – Ian, Ralph, Zoe and Sonia – and their father, Christopher, when Hugh was just eight years old.
As well as cooking up a storm with Grace earlier this month – the pair baked cashew flapjacks – Hugh was spotted treating his mum to dinner at London’s swanky Chiltern Firehouse in February. Grace was also in the audience when he appeared on The Graham Norton Show to promote his final turn as Wolverine, alongside Star Trek favourite Patrick Stewart.
On top of bonding with her son, the loving grandma often spends time with
Hugh's two children, Oscar, 16, and Ava, 11, with the actor revealing the family get together “three or four times a year”.
But Hugh – who is married to actress Deborra-lee Furness – hasn't always found it so easy to accept his once fractured relationship with his mum.
In an interview with 60 Minutes back in 2012, he broke down in front of the nation as he reflected on the heartbreak of growing up without his mother.
Shedding a tear, the Aussie star told of the “terrible” day Grace, battling a failing marriage and postnatal depression, left the family home in Australia, to return to her native England.
“I can remember the morning she left… it’s weird the things you pick up,” Hugh said.
“I remember her being in a towel around her head and saying goodbye, must have been the way she said goodbye 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'. ”
At the time, Hugh didn't think his mum's departure would be “forever”, either.
“For many years, I thought it was not going to be forever, so I clung onto that. Up until that age of about 12 or 13, I thought Mum and Dad would get back together,” he added.
“Finally realising it wasn't going to happen was probably the roughest time,” he added sadly.
Hugh might have suffered immense heartbreak as a result of his mother's actions, but age and the experience of becoming a parent himself has helped him finally make peace with her decision. “There comes a certain point in life when you have to stop blaming other people for how you feel or the misfortunes in your life,” he explains. “You can't go through life obsessing about what might have been.”
No doubt Hugh's courage has been partially inspired by his “rock” and “hero” dad, Chris. The X-men star recently revealed his beloved father is suffering from Alzheimer's disease, which has no doubt made Hugh even more determined to make the most of precious family time.
Now that his relationship with Grace has healed, Hugh can look back on his childhood with fond memories rather than heartache.
In a touching post uploaded last year, he told fans that a handwritten journal of recipes handed down from his mum was “one of the greatest gifts I've ever received”.
“Love you mum,” he affectionately captioned the accompanying Instagram shot.
‘You have to stop blaming other people for the way you feel’
Carrie Bickmore couldn’t hold back the tears last week as she admitted that she suffers crippling anxiety over the dreaded “mummy guilt” when she’s working.
During an emotional chat with her The Project co-host Waleed Aly, Carrie, 36, revealed, “Right now, all morning, I have had a pain in the pit of my stomach. I just want to be at home playing with Evie [her two-year-old daughter with partner Chris Walker], and I’ve just got this overwhelming feeling that I want to be at home.
“I think for me, working is incredibly important and trying to get the balance right every day is tricky. Some days I do it better than others.”
The Gold Logie winner – who also has son Oliver, nine, with late husband Greg Lange – confessed to watching other mums on their commute to avoid feeling so alone.
“This is going to sound really creepy, but I’ll often be driving to work and I’ll look at a mum next to me in her car with an empty baby seat or an empty car seat in the back, and I’ll look at her and I’ll be like, ‘I wonder if she’s got the same pain in the pit of her stomach that I have right now?’ ”
Carrie, who also returned to radio in February, co-hosting a new afternoon show with comedian Tommy Little, is finding the heavy demands of her successful career is causing a lot of heartache.
“I’m very, very – more than I ever have been – aware of my time with my family, and I realise for my own mental health I have to have it or my life is out of whack,” she said.
In another sign of the stress she’s under, just days before her poignant confession to Waleed, Carrie burst into tears on air as she and her co-presenters discussed the horrific chemical attack in Syria.
And as Carrie’s work commitments build up, it’s unlikely her predicament will ease anytime soon.
‘Trying to get the balance right every day is tricky.’