Hugh Jackman On His Wife, Adoption & Gay Rumors

Hugh Jackman may come across as a funny, handsome and thoroughly lovable superstar, but in a new interview, the 40-year-old “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” star said it is his wife, Deborra-Lee Furness, who is the most charming in their family.

“Every person I’ve ever worked with has ended up liking Deb more than they like me,” Hugh told Sunday’s issue of Parade magazine. “I’m a little behind in the wit department, and she’s always like, ‘Come on, Hugh, keep up! Keep up!’”

As it turns out, however, Hugh said sometimes, people don’t take the time to get to know his wife of 13 years, who was a star in their native Oz, first.

“The thing I find hard is that a lot of people won’t even see her, and they’ll obviously be talking to her to get to me,” he said. “I’ve seen Deb literally be knocked out of the way. She just knocks ‘em back.”

Not only is he proud of his wife, but Hugh is proud of the couple’s decision years ago to adopt their multiracial children – Oscar, 8, and Ava, 3.

“Mixed-race babies have such a hard time being adopted that Deb and I checked off that box specifically when we were filling out our forms,” he revealed. “Our lawyer brought the form back to us and said, ‘This is not the time to be politically correct. Are you sure this is what you want?’ We were definite about it. Adoption is about taking a baby into your home – and your heart. It’s the best thing we’ve ever done.”

But there won’t be any more adoptions in the family’s future.

“No!” he said about adopting again. “Wow. That’s the first time I’ve ever said that so emphatically and on-the-record. For Deb and me, our family is the most important thing to us, but we travel so much that we fear if we have more kids, it’ll be too much.”

While he can now shoot down future adoption ideas, Hugh told the mag he doesn’t enjoy answering questions about his sexuality, including a particular question he says he gets asked most often in America – are you gay?

“I’d be happy to go and deny it, because I’m not,” he said “But by denying it, I’m saying there is something shameful about it, and there isn’t anything shameful. The questions about sexuality I find more here in America than anywhere else, because it’s a big hang-up and defines what people think about themselves and others. It’s not a big issue in Australia.”