Hugh Jackman "knew very early" that his wife Deborra-Lee Furness was "the one".
The 50-year-old actor has been married to the ‘Real Macaw’ star – with whom he has two adoptive children, Oscar, 18, and Ava, 13 – since 1996, and has said that it only took him a matter of weeks to fall head over heels for his wife, and knew she was the one for him even when she was trying to break off their romance.
He said: "I knew very early, I knew before Deb knew, even when she tried to break up with me, I knew [she was the one]. She kind of [broke up with me], a little bit. Early on, three weeks in. I managed to talk her out of it, thank God. I’m a very indecisive person, Deb really knows this about me. I can count on my hand the amount of times in my life anything has felt that clear to me, and when it happens it’s such a relief for me.
"I just knew 100 percent, I even knew when she was trying to work out reasons to break up with me."
The couple first met on Australian TV show ‘Correlli’ in 1995, and even though it was before they were romantically involved, Hugh believes working with the 62-year-old actress was "the best experience" he’s ever had with another actor.
He added: "The best experience I ever had, working with another actor [was with Deborra]. This was before we were romantically involved or had any idea that Deborra was interested. There was a chemistry … and every time we had a scene together it was unbelievable. Professionally, I’ve never had anything quite like that again."
Hugh and Deborra married 11 months after they met, and their lives could have been completely different, because Deborra almost talked Hugh out of accepting his iconic role as Wolverine in the ‘X-Men’ franchise.
In a joint interview for the ‘Aussies in Hollywood with Jenny Cooney’ podcast, Deborra recalled: "There is only one time in my life that I have been wrong. I’m thankful that I was wrong because my children get to go to college and have their tuition paid for."