Photo: Rocco Spaziani/Archivio Spaziani/Mondadori Portfolio via Getty
Hugh Jackmanwent through a lot of highs and lows while filmingThe Son.
Appearing onThe Late Show with Stephen Colberton Monday, the actor, 54, talked about how he was experiencing shifts as both a father and a son while making the film.
After sharing that his father also died during the filming of the movie, Colbert asked if all these things made him reconsider his role as a parent differently.
“I think I’m a different parent now because of it,” Jackman proclaimed.
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“And then realizing that they may think they’ve done something and just me not communicating because I’m thinking, ‘I don’t want to burden them with that,’ doesn’t help,” he continued. “So now I find myself saying, ‘hey guys, sorry if I feel distant, I’m really nervous about this thing and if I’ve gone off my head, it’s nothing to do with you.'”
Jackman says that his kids — daughter, Ava, 17, and son Oscar, 22, whom he shares with wifeDeborra-Lee Furness— “really appreciate” his attempts.
“I think that idea of communicating more — not necessarily just because you’re the father — and you don’t have to know, you don’t have to know what to do or what the best thing is, and it’s okay to say that,” he noted, then joking, “then, of course, they use that and wrap around you a little finger.”
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Jackman and Furness have raised their children out of the public eye, rarely sharing pictures of their son and daughter, nor do they bring them along to many public events. However, they are not shy when it comes to expressing how much their family means to them.
“It’s so interesting being a parent, and they’ve bothmade me smarter than I think I ever could have been on my own,” Furness said of her children during an interview with PEOPLE in 2020. “But when you’re a parent, you can’t lie to them or yourself. They will shine a light on every one of your flaws, your Achilles heel, whatever. You’ve got to look at yourself.”
Now, Oscar and Ava are all grown up and they are able to discuss difficult subjects — such as mental health — with their dad. At a 2022 screening of his movieThe Son, which follows a family struggling with their teenage son’s depression, Jackman shared that his kids “aretotally fine having these conversations” about their mental health.
“It was very important that I talk to [Oscar and Ava] about what it was about, what it meant to me and why I was doing it,” Jackman said of theFlorian Zeller-directed drama. “When I saw the movie, I took them with me to see it and we had a long conversation. What I find amazing is the generation of 22 to 17-year-olds are totally fine having these conversations.”
The father of two added, “I’m really proud of them for the way they engaged with it.”
source: people.com
