How Hugh Jackman reconciled with the mother who abandoned him at eight

Hugh Jackman reconciled with the mother who abandoned him at the age of eight after having children of her own helped him better understand his private struggles.

The Hollywood actor, 52, went viral this week after sharing a cute photo on Instagram with his mother, Grace McNeil, which led fans to discover the heartbreaking story behind their relationship.

And a 2012 interview has now resurfaced in which Hugh spoke of his personal journey to making peace with his mother.

The X-Men star told The Australian Women’s Weekly he felt traumatized and ashamed for years after his mother left her family in Australia and returned to the UK.

But he realized over time that she was battling postpartum depression without a proper support system.

“At the time, it was difficult,” he says. “One of the main things I remember is that horrible feeling that people were talking about you and looking at you because it was weird for the mother to leave.

“For many years, I thought this wasn’t going to last forever, so I held onto this. Until I was about 12 or 13, I thought mom and dad would get back together… Realizing that wasn’t going to happen was probably the hardest moment to be honest.

Years later, Hugh spoke to his mother about her decision to leave and realized that she was having her own battles that he could not have understood as a child.

“I know she was struggling. She was in the hospital after I was born with postpartum depression, ”he said.

“And then you add five kids to the mix and the fact that she had emigrated from England and there was no support network for her here, plus the fact that dad was at work all day – and you realize that as parents we make mistakes. ‘

Hugh explained that having his own children with his wife Deborra-Lee Furness – they share his son Oscar, 21, and daughter Ava, 16, both adopted – gave him “another level of empathy and understanding ”that enabled him to build bridges with his mother.

“There comes a time in life when you need to stop blaming others for how you are feeling or the misfortunes in your life,” he added.

Meanwhile, thousands of fans have praised Hugh for finding the strength to forgive his mother for abandoning him, after his heartwarming photo of the couple – simply captioned “Mum” – hit the headlines on Tuesday. .

One wrote on Facebook: “It’s amazing that you have come to accept and forgive your mother. You are a great person, because not only did you lose your mother at such a young age, but also your two sisters. Thank goodness you had such a beautiful father.

Another added: “What people don’t realize is that he should have done a lot of work on himself and his feelings of abandonment to get to this.

“He could have stayed angry and scared, but I’m so glad he chose healing because he is now free to love him.”

A third fan commented: “I wish I could be more like him, but sadly I will never forgive my ‘mother’ for abandoning us. I can’t bring myself to do it. This man [Hugh] is clearly a better person than me for that.

Others said they hoped Prince Harry and Meghan Markle would read Hugh’s story and one day come to terms with the families they rejected.

Hugh told Australian magazine Who in January 2018 that leaving his mother as a child was “traumatic”.

The Broadway star was an eight-year-old schoolboy when Grace left him without even saying goodbye to him.

She left Australia and returned to her native England in the late 1970s, leaving her husband, Christopher Jackman, to raise their children on their own.

After the couple divorced, Hugh’s sisters, Zoe and Sonya, moved to live with Grace in the UK; Hugh and his brothers, Ian and Ralph, stayed in Sydney with their father.

“It was traumatic,” said Hugh, recalling his difficult childhood. “I thought she was probably going to come back. And then it kind of dragged on and on.

The Greatest Showman star added that after his mother left the family, he saw her about “once a year.”

It wasn’t until he was 12 or 13 that he realized his mother would never come back.

In December 2012, Hugh told Australia’s 60 Minutes that he still remembered the “morning she left” vividly.

“I remember she was wrapped around her head in a towel saying goodbye to him. [It] must have been the way she said goodbye, ”he said.

“As I was leaving for school, when I got back, there was no one in the house. “

He added: “The next day there was a telegram from England. Mom was there. And then that was it. Dad prayed every night for mum to come back.

Hugh once told an Australian magazine: “What I never felt – and I know it may sound strange – I never felt my mother didn’t love me.”

Fortunately, Hugh and his mother reconciled years later.

He told The Sun newspaper in October 2011: I’m 43 now and we’ve definitely made peace, which is important.

“I have always been quite connected with my mother. I have a good relationship with her.