Hand in hand, with beaming smiles on their faces, Hugh Jackman and his rumoured new girlfriend Sutton Foster appear to have gone ‘official’.
Looking very much like a loved-up couple, they giggled together as they headed off for dinner at a restaurant close to the actor’s home in Santa Monica, California.
The pictures, taken on Monday night, left The Greatest Showman star’s fans in little doubt that he has found love again two years after he announced his split from wife Deborra-Lee Furness.
The images also dispel one of Hollywood’s hottest rumours that Hugh, 56, is gay.
He has been the subject of such misguided hearsay for more than two decades, but speculation only increased in September 2023 when he and Deborra-Lee, 69, revealed their 27-year marriage was over.
‘We have been blessed to share almost three decades together as husband and wife in a wonderful, loving marriage,’ they announced. ‘Our journey now is shifting and we have decided to separate to pursue our individual growth.
Hugh Jackman and Sutton Foster head hand-in-hand for a dinner date in Santa Monica, California, on Monday night
Co-stars Jackman, 56, and Foster, 49, in Broadway’s The Music Man in 2022, which ended its two-year run in January 2023
‘Our family has been and always will be our highest priority. We undertake this next chapter with gratitude, love, and kindness.
‘We greatly appreciate your understanding in respecting our privacy as our family navigates this transition in all of our lives.’
Despite the warm words, murmurs began to circulate that Hugh may have already moved on. Soon, there were claims that he and Sutton, 49, had grown close while starring alongside each other in Broadway musical The Music Man, which ended its two-year run in January 2023.
Insiders on the show – in which the pair played the lead characters – say that they were seen ‘getting on very well’ offstage as well as on it.
Matters were also complicated, of course, by the fact that Hugh was still married to Deborra-Lee, while Sutton was with screenwriter husband Ted Griffin.
