Hugh Jackman Shared A Moving Health Update, And He Wants Everyone To Listen

By most measures, the year 2020 had actually started pretty well for Jackman. His performance in the HBO movie Bad Education had been praised as “darkly charismatic” by The New York Times newspaper, and it won him rave reviews from fans and critics alike. Not only that, but the Aussie earned his fifth Emmy award nomination for what some called a career-best performance. “[I feel] very blessed and humble,” he told The Hollywood Reporter. “It meant a lot.”

The following months proved to be relatively quiet for the Hollywood star, though. Jackman had been due to take the lead in The Music Man on Broadway in fall 2020, playing Harold Hill in a revival of the much-loved musical. But with the shutters down on much of theaterland, the opening was pushed back to May 2021.

While fans may eagerly await Jackman’s return to the stage, they were given a more intimate glimpse of his life while at home in the meantime. As one-half of one of Hollywood’s most enduring couples, Jackman celebrated his 24th wedding anniversary with wife Deborra-Lee Furness by posting a throwback picture on Instagram.

The image came complete with a suitably touching caption, reflecting on the pair’s time together. “These 24 years have been the best of my life!” the 51-year-old Jackman wrote. “And as far as I can see, we keep getting better. I love you Debs with every fiber of my soul. Happy anniversary.”

Speaking to Bang Showbiz in 2020, the Hollywood heavyweight revealed that spending an enforced period of time at home together earlier in the year had bonded the couple even more tightly. “Having this time without either of us working, being with the family… We’ve had this opportunity to be together, and the results are in: [we’re] closer,” he said. It was against this backdrop that Jackman would share his powerful news.

Jackman and Furness had originally met on the set of the Australian TV show Correlli in 1995. The two then went on to tie the knot the following year in 1996 in Melbourne. Following fertility treatment, Furness sadly suffered two miscarriages, and the pair then decided to turn their hopes to adoption.

It was not an easy process, though. The couple initially attempted to adopt in their native Australia. But they ultimately headed to the United States, which afforded greater flexibility for the process. They would eventually go on to welcome son Oscar to the family in 2000 and daughter Ava in 2005.

Today, Furness is an advocate for adoption and has worked to make it an easier process in Australia. In 2008 she founded Adopt Change, an Australian grassroots advocacy group for children in out-of-home care, and she also set up National Adoption Awareness Week. “Let’s make the process work for everyone,” she told Australian Vogue magazine in 2015. “I want more research, more understanding, more education.”

Indeed, Furness has a reputation as an expert. Accordingly, when the popular soap opera Neighbours needed an expert to advise on a fostering storyline in early 2020, producer Jason Herbison contacted Furness. “I wanted to do a storyline highlighting adoption and fostering, so I reached out to Deborra-Lee and Adopt Change to see if they’d like to be involved,” Herbison told Radio Times magazine in June 2020.

And Neighbours’ producers were clearly keen to get things right. “Deb and Adopt Change collaborated on the narrative from outline to script, then finally with Deb on set directing,” Herbison explained. “She was especially keen to depict the trauma displaced children can go through. It’s truly heartbreaking. Many moments are ripped from real life.” Clearly, Furness is a woman dedicated to driving change for the better.

And looking back, it would seem that the busy Hollywood couple’s family is now complete. “Deb and I are believers in… I suppose you could call it destiny,” Jackman told Australian newspaper the Herald Sun in 2011. “We feel things happened the way they are meant to. Obviously, biologically wasn’t the way we were meant to have children. Now, as we go through life together, sure there are challenges, but everyone’s in the right place with the right people. It sounds airy-fairy, but it’s something we feel very deeply.”

One can only imagine that Oscar and Ava have enjoyed an ideal childhood. Jackman’s own upbringing had a few bumps along the way, though. He was born and raised in the sunny Australian city of Sydney, but his British parents divorced and his mother left Jackman and his four siblings to return to the U.K. when he was just eight years old. His accountant father, meanwhile, took up the reins to bring up the children. It’s an experience that – perhaps unsurprisingly – he described to WHO magazine in 2018 as having been traumatic.

And the acting bug caught Jackman early. Aged just five, he made his first appearance on the stage as King Arthur in a performance of Camelot. Yet it was during a course at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts in Perth that he really got his teeth into drama. Not long after his graduation in 1994 he was offered a role in Correlli – and it was there that he would meet his future wife, of course.

Although Jackman is best known for his movie roles, he had built a solid stage career before Tinseltown beckoned. Indeed, starring turns in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical adaptation of Sunset Boulevard in Australia and a box-office-breaking London run of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Oklahoma! earned him credibility as a leading man. Then in 2000 Jackman made his Hollywood debut as the clawed and flawed hero Wolverine in X-Men.

The role of Wolverine would make Jackman world-famous. Indeed, he would star as the character in six more movies, as well as appearing in an additional two films in uncredited cameos. It was a truly record-breaking role: he shares Guinness World Records’ “Longest Career as a Live-Action Marvel Superhero” with Patrick Stewart, who appeared beside him as Professor X in the series.

Alongside his superhero appearances, Jackman was busy showing the world just how versatile a leading man he could be. He picked up a Golden Globe award as well as an Oscar nomination for his performance as Jean Valjean in 2012’s Les Misérables; he hosted the Oscars and several Tony Award shows; and what’s more, he was named one of People magazine’s “50 Most Beautiful People in the World” for five years in a row.

As if that wasn’t enough, Jackman also sealed his status as one of Hollywood’s most conscientious leading men by setting up the Laughing Man Coffee company in 2011. The New-York based fair-trade coffee firm doesn’t just sell beverages, though: all profits go toward building better lives for the coffee farmers and their families.

Jackman, meanwhile, made his final appearance as Wolverine in 2017’s Logan. He then surprised many with his star turn playing P.T. Barnum in The Greatest Showman. While critics gave the movie mixed reviews, audiences seemingly loved it. The film became an enduring box-office success and it had a Grammy-award-winning soundtrack to match.

But this particular triumph almost stalled before it hit the silver screen. A day before meeting financiers to get the movie into production, Jackman had in fact had a procedure performed on his nose to remove a basal cell carcinoma (BCC). Carcinomas are the most prevalent form of skin cancer. They account for about 80 percent of the 5.4 million skin cancer cases diagnosed in America each year, according to the American Cancer Society. And while Jackman is in good health today, the disease has been a shadow in his life for years – which is why he’s the first to remind people to get themselves checked out.

However, according to Jackman, the condition really could have thrown The Greatest Showman off the rails. While his operation seemed like it had been a success, the star was advised to avoid singing in case he burst his stitches, potentially resulting in infection and disfigurement. Effectively ignoring his doctor’s orders, Jackman sang his way into production.

The American Cancer Society explains that BCCs tend to grow on areas exposed to the sun – such as on the head and particularly the face and neck. Although rarely fatal, they can spread to other areas of the body if not treated, such as into the bone and the tissues beneath the skin. What’s more, those who have had this condition are more likely to be diagnosed with other forms of cancer.

Jackman has in fact repeatedly undergone treatment for BCCs since 2013 – and he had already been living with the diagnosis for some four years in 2017. The star has shared regular updates on social media for his fans and has posted pictures of his nose in dressings on a number of occasions. Indeed, he has been consistently upfront and open about his recurrent battles. Then in February 2020 Jackman revealed that he had some more news.

In an Instagram post, Jackman admitted that he had let his three-month check slide for an additional month or two – something that he noted he shouldn’t have done. Thankfully, he had received good news, and he went on to reassure his followers that he had been given a clean bill of health. He had a message as well: he called on those watching the video to get their own skin checked.

As an Australian, Jackman is well aware of the seriousness of skin cancer. His country of birth has one of the highest incidences of the condition worldwide, according to SunSmart, and, shockingly, Cancer Council NSW reports that close to 66 percent of people in Australia receive a skin cancer diagnosis before the age of 70. Awareness campaigns, calling on the continent’s population to cover up and to get regular skin checks, have gone some way to tackling the condition in recent years, though.

According to the American Cancer Society, there are three main types of skin cancer. The first is basal cell carcinoma – which is what Jackman has been diagnosed with. The second is squamous cell carcinoma, which is similarly prevalent and which can also be treated; while the last and most serious is melanoma.

Over the years, Jackman has repeatedly urged his Instagram followers to have themselves checked. What should you look out for, though? BCC may appear as a small lump that looks pink and shiny or is pearl white and has a wax-like or see-through appearance. It may also present as a scaly red spot, with black or brown coloring inside. Over time, the cancerous lump will grow, and it may bleed, form a crust or develop as an ulcer.

“Occasional extended, intense sun exposure that leads to sunburn and cumulative sun exposure over your lifetime are the main causes of skin damage that can lead to BCCs,” the Skin Cancer Foundation reports. Fairness of skin and age are also contributing factors for the condition. Jackman’s own battles with BCC began just months after the release of Les Misérables in 2013.

“Deb said to get the mark on my nose checked; boy, was she right!” Jackman told his Instagram followers in 2013, posting a picture of himself with a bandaged nose. “I had a [basal] cell carcinoma,” he wrote. “Please don’t be foolish like me. Get yourself checked. And use sunscreen!”

Although the slow-growing cancer is treatable if caught in time, it returns for some 40 percent of sufferers, according to Harvard Medical School. For Jackman, it has become something of a recurring nightmare. In fact, the star saw the condition re-emerging six times between 2013 and 2017 – and he has regularly taken to Instagram with updates on his condition.

What’s more, the handsome star has shown off his battle scars, repeatedly sharing photos of his bandaged nose after receiving treatment. This usually involves the cancerous area being scooped out under local anaesthetic with a curette – a tool that sits somewhere between a spoon and a scalpel. A low heat is then used to halt bleeding.

Still, while the cancer returned and was treated successfully in 2014, Jackman also had a close call of a different kind that year. Talking on British TV’s The Graham Norton Show, he revealed that filming on X-Men: Days of Future Past had almost left him with a life-changing injury.

“There was a very intense first scene and I insisted on a closed set,” the actor told the talk show host. “I ran around the corner and all the female members of the crew were gathered there.” Wolverine’s trademark steel claws then nearly cost him a vital body part. “I tried to cover myself and cut my inner thigh. It was just the inner thigh, thankfully. The metal claws had to go – you can’t have bits and pieces flying off.”

And that’s not all. As Wolverine, Jackman has had several scrapes on set. In the past, he has reportedly suffered a mangled ear and once also managed to stab himself in the face, narrowly avoiding his eye and leaving a lasting scar. What’s more, during the filming of The Wolverine in 2013 there was a stunt that almost went disastrously wrong.

The maneuver called for Jackman to swing out of a bullet train as it hurtled along. While doing so, however, his head was caught, and the force made him fear that he had snapped a vertebrae. “I just remember hanging up there on the wires and everyone just stops,” Yahoo Movies reported him saying. “And I got sent home because I was a little in shock about it.”

Fortunately, the injury turned out to be muscular – rather than having impacted his spine – and the Wolverine star lived to fight another day. All the same, Furness had had enough of seeing her husband put himself at risk, and she stepped in. Jackman recalled, “She goes, ‘You’ve got a stunt double. Stop. Is this a midlife crisis?’”

Indeed, Jackman has little left to prove. The hard-working action hero has won plenty of acclaim for his work, including having received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. And in 2019 he received what might be the ultimate accolade when he was appointed a Companion of the Order of Australia in the Queen’s Birthday Honors.

The honor rewarded Jackman’s “eminent service to the performing arts as an acclaimed actor and performer, and to the global community, particularly as an advocate for poverty eradication.” Jackman revealed in comments reported by the Daily Mail newspaper that the award had left him feeling “especially emotional,” and he described the experience as having been “humbling.”

Whether tackling child poverty or sustainable farming, Jackman has become a leading light when it comes to speaking out about important causes. And fortunately, he has had no recurrence of BCC since 2017. He continues to warn about the importance of skin checks, though – and it’s something about which he’ll need to remain vigilant for the rest of his life.

With his recent all-clear, Jackman can breathe a sigh of relief for the time being. There is little sign of the Hollywood superstar slowing down, either. Whether it’s his work on stage and screen or in raising awareness of humanitarian issues, he clearly remains an actor on top of his game.