​Hugh Jackman Shares Rare Photo With Mum Who Abandoned Him As A Child

Hugh Jackman has shared a rare photo of himself hugging the mother who abandoned him as a child, with fans flocking to the comments to admire the 'beautiful' snap.

Jackman, 52, posted the heartwarming photo on Instagram yesterday (Monday 24 August), simply writing: "Mum."

In the picture, he and his mum Grace McNeil can be seen smiling at each other, with Jackman wrapping his arm around her lovingly.

One person commented: "Such a nice, wholesome picture."

Someone else said: "Aw so sweet."

A third said the picture was 'beautiful', while a fourth wrote: "Such a lovely photo! Long may you both remain smiling."

Another also said: "Ma'am, you have raised a gentleman, my respects to you both."

However, someone else pointed out that it wasn't Grace that brought him up.

"Actually his father raised him," they explained.

Back in 2018, Jackman told Australian outlet Who magazine that he found his mother's abandonment 'traumatic'.

His parents divorced when he was just eight years old - at which point his sisters, Zoe and Sonya, went to live with their mother in the UK.

Meanwhile, Jackman stayed with his dad, Christopher Jackman, in Sydney, Australia.

Jackman said: "It was traumatic."

"I thought she was probably going to come back. And then it sort of dragged on and on."

He said that, after Grace left the family, he only saw her about 'once a year', and that it wasn't until he was '12 or 13' that it dawned on him that his mother would never return properly.

In December 2012, Jackman told Australia's 60 Minutes programme that he still remembered the morning she left, recalling: "I remember her being in a towel around her head and saying goodbye. [It] 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."

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He added: "The next day there was a telegram from England. Mum was there. And then that was it. Dad used to pray every night that mum would come back."

The year beforehand, however, he told The Sun newspaper that he had forigven her, saying: "I am 43 now and we have definitely made our peace, which is important.

"I was always quite connected with my mum. I have a good relationship with her."

Speaking to The Australian Women's Weekly, he explained that she had been suffering from post-natal depression.

He said: "The thing I never felt - and I know this might sound strange - I never felt that my mum didn't love me.

"I've spoken about it at length with her since and I know she was struggling.

"She was in hospital after I was born suffering from post-natal depression. There wasn't a support network for her here."

It looks like the two have a strong relationship of sorts these days - especially as he now considers himself an honorary Canary, having been to a couple of Norwich FC games at Carrow Road in Norwich, where his mother lives now.

In fact, he's even jokingly threatened to take over the football club with the sole purpose of defeating Ryan Reynolds' Wrexham AFC.

The two Hollywood superstars have a long-running beef, which has manifested itself through countless social media prankings and trollings down the years, and when Reynolds and actor Rob McElhenney announced they were planning on buying Welsh fifth tier club Wrexham, you could be forgiven for assuming it was just another joke.

However, the seemingly bizarre acquisition became a reality in February when the actors took 100 percent control of the Red Dragons.

When LADbible put it to the Aussie that he could take over his own British football club, purely to defeat Wrexham, he replied: "I had never considered it - until just that last bit of that sentence."

The Wolverine actor - who stars in new sci-fi flick Reminiscence - then went one step further, suggesting he could buy Norwich City in order to go head-to-head against Wrexham in a winner-takes-all match.

The 52-year-old said: "Let's get that game together. That'd be fun.

"And then maybe Ryan and I could just make it a little side wager. Like, everything; let's just put everything that we own and love - families, kids, everything - on the line. And let's get Norwich playing Wrexham."

Topics: Entertainment, Celebrity, Hugh Jackman

Jess Hardiman

Jess is a journalist at LADbible who graduated from Manchester University with a degree in Film Studies, English Language and Linguistics - indecisiveness at its finest, right there. She also works for FOODbible and its sister page Seitanists, which are both a safe haven for her to channel a love for homemade pasta, fennel and everything else in between. You can contact Jess at [email protected].

@Jess_Hardiman