FORGIVENESS: Hollywood actor Hugh Jackman hugs the mother who abandoned him as a child
Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong: Hugh Jackman forgives his mother for abandoning him when he was just 8.
Grace McNeil, Hugh Jackman’s mother, left her family in Australia and returned to the UK when her son was only 8-years-old. The Logan actor, now 52, has previously described his mother’s absence as “traumatic.”
However, as Daily Mail notes, it appears that time really does heal all wounds.
Recently, Jackman posted an endearing photo on his official Instagram profile with his arm around Grace as they both smile at each other. The image was captioned with the simple, yet powerful word “Mum.”
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Fans of The Wolverine rushed into the comment section to express their admiration for both the actor and his mother. But when one of Jackman’s followers commented: “Ma’am, you have raised a gentleman. My respects to you both,” another corrected them: “Actually his father raised him.”
When Grace left her family, she didn’t even say goodbye to her son.
Speaking to Who Magazine in 2018, the award-winning actor confessed his mother abandoning him as a child was a “traumatic” experience.
“It was traumatic. I thought she was probably going to come back. And then it sort of dragged on and on.”
While Hugh and his brothers, Ralph and Ian, were raised by their father, Christopher Jackman, in Sydney, his sisters, Zoe and Sonya, went to live with their mother in the UK.
In a 2012 interview with 60 Minutes, the Hollywood star shared he still remembers “the morning she left.”
“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.
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.”
Despite their troubled past, Jackman claims he never felt his mother didn’t love him.
During another interview with Women’s Weekly Australia, the actor 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.”
Thankfully, today, Hugh and his mum’s relationship is flourishing. Speaking to The Sun back in 2011, he noted:
“We have definitely made our peace, which is important. I was always quite connected with my mum. I have a good relationship with her.”