Hugh Jackman and Sutton Foster have gone public with their romance now, but for a long time they were playing it close to the chest. Of course, we hear it was the worst kept secret on Broadway, but still. They were trying.
Why? Well, it seems from Hugh’s ex Debora-Lee Furness and her social media activity that there may have been a liiiiittle bit of overlap. But that’s with the actual plunge, when they were so consumed by passion while co-starring as love interests that they couldn’t help themselves. But what about before that?
It turns out they didn’t first meet in the run-up to co-starring in a revival of The Music Man in 2021, as we’ve seen reported in a lot of places. They’ve been on one another’s radar for over TWO DECADES!
Related: Jessica Simpson ‘Heartbreak Album’ Coming — She’s Ready For ‘Revenge’!
It’s 2002. Britney and JT have just broken up, Spider-Man is the biggest movie ever, and Hollywood is putting X-Men‘s hunky standout Hugh Jackman in EVERYTHING — rom coms, thrillers, time travel fantasies, whatever.
But Hugh is trying to parlay his success on the big screen into his passion as a musical theater lover, and he’s about to star in a Broadway run of The Boy From Oz. Before that he was apparently taking in the shows, and he went to see Sutton in her acclaimed starring role in Thoroughly Modern Millie — and was apparently enraptured!

In a 2022 interview with Broadway.com, Sutton gushed about being keenly aware of her future The Music Man co-star watching her perform:
“I have photo evidence, and we’ve met several times.”
LOLz! The interview is all about how great a friend and a man Hugh is. Remember, this was in 2022, before the so-called affair — and before she realized she was going to have to keep a lid on her feelings for him.
Jump to 2008. Hugh made a point of going to see Sutton’s performance as Princess Fiona in Shrek the Musical. He even took a pic with her backstage.
Today in 2008: Welcome to Duloc! Shrek opens on Broadway https://t.co/HMzZR0YpoN pic.twitter.com/n81yvYf9VL
— Playbill (@playbill) December 14, 2016
Then in 2014, Hugh hosted the Tony Awards. And in a saucy move Deborra-Lee must have just loved, he stole a brief dance with each nominee for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical. And guess what? One of them was Sutton. And their promenade? SMOLDERING! Like no one else was in the audience!
Sutton even posted a pic of the magic moment:
Hugh shared it, too, when she was announced as his Music Man costar:
But one more… In 2017, Hugh got to make a movie musical with The Greatest Showman. And he brought on Sutton to do some… consulting? She told Broadway.com:
“I did a couple workshops of Greatest Showman with him. So I met him then, but only for a couple days here and there.”
Sorry, what did she do exactly? Hmm.
Look, all of this is largely innocent, of course… but in retrospect? Knowing where they end up? We can see how an ex might be a little suspicious of the thoughts and feelings that have been going on under the surface all those years, even if nothing was acted on.
How would YOU feel??
[Image via Joseph Marzullo/WENN.]