Hugh Jackman attends The 2024 Met Gala Celebrating "Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion" at The Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 06, 2024 in New York City.© Getty Images

Hugh Jackman shares insight into parenting rarely-seen kids Oscar and Ava after split from Deborra-Lee Furness

The Deadpool & Wolverine star reunites with his close friend Ryan Reynolds, himself a Hollywood dad

Ahad Sanwari - New York
Senior WriterNew York
May 30, 2024

Hugh Jackman may be one of the world's most recognizable stars, but often keeps his personal life under wraps, especially in the wake of his separation.

The 55-year-old announced last year that he and wife of 27 years Deborra-Lee Furness were getting a divorce, and he's since focused more on his professional endeavors.

In a new conversation with People, where he and Deadpool & Wolverine co-star and close friend Ryan Reynolds interviewed each other, they each shared some insight into their personal lives.

While discussing their years-long friendship, their evolving careers, and being part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe together, they also bonded over their shared status as immigrants.

Ryan is a Canadian actor, while Hugh is Australian, and both expressed how important it was for them to imbibe feelings of patriotism for their home countries.

The Deapool star asked Hugh what he missed most about Australia, and he reminisced: "Definitely the people. My family, I don't see my brothers who live there, nearly enough, my best mates. I miss the food, I miss the ocean."

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Hugh and Deborra-Lee adopted two children during their time together

Ryan responded: "I find Canada to be incredibly restorative to me. I don't really hide the fact that Canada's just so ingrained in my DNA. I mean, the country seems like an additional parent to me." He emphasized that he would've probably been "eaten alive by show business early in my career" had he not experienced a Canadian upbringing.

The Wolverine actor added that it was important for him that his two children with Deborra-Lee, 24-year-old Oscar and 18-year-old Ava, also felt part Australian. "And I'm really proud of that."

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"I think if you ask them, they'll say, 'Oh I'm Australian. I'm American too, but I'm Australian,'" he shared, and Ryan, a dad-of-four with Blake Lively, affirmed that he felt the same and so did his kids.

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"I think if you ask them, they'll say, 'Oh I'm Australian. I'm American too, but I'm Australian.'"

Ryan and Blake share daughters Betty, four, Inez, seven, and James, nine, plus a fourth child whose name and gender they have not yet revealed, born in late 2022.

MORE: Ryan Reynolds reveals terrifying but hilarious incident in family home that left kid screaming 'bloody murder'

"My kids are very much [the same], they have their Canadian passports as well and they feel a real connection to that, it's a point of pride of theirs. They've also spent huge amounts of their formative years in Canada, and particularly Vancouver, we shot Deadpool 1 and Deadpool 2 over there."

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Ryan shares four children with his wife Blake Lively

"They love being from Canada, they tell people, 'Oh, I'm half-Canadian, half-American.'"

SEE: Hugh Jackman's bachelor pad takes inspiration from ex Deborra-Lee Furness

In a previous interview with People, Deborra-Lee revealed that Oscar and Ava, who were adopted by the former couple, both had different cultural roots. "When my son was younger, he found out he was part Bosnian, so we went and got this Croatian/Bosnian cookbook and he was very proud to carry that around when he was seven years old."

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"They love being from Canada, they tell people, 'Oh, I'm half-Canadian, half-American.'"

"My daughter has a Mexican lineage, so we've been to Mexico," the actress said. "We completely embrace the ancestors and the extended family; they're family to us. And it's in there, even though it's generational. It may be subtle, but it's in there."

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