RELATED: Quentin Tarantino Says He Vowed Not to Give His Mom Any of His Money. In a 2012 interview with Australian Women’s Weekly (via Today), Jackman shared that his family split apart when he was eight years old. He stayed in Sydney, Australia with his father and two brothers, while his mother moved to England with his two sisters. He said that he found out via a telegram the day after they left, but that it didn’t really sink in that his mom wouldn’t be returning until he was 12 or 13. “One of the main things I remember is that horrible feeling that people were talking about you and looking at you because it was odd for the mother to leave,” he said. According to The Independent, Jackman told Who magazine in 2018 that he saw his mother about once a year after she left Australia. In a 2012 interview with 60 Minutes (via Us Weekly), Jackman said that he still recalls clear details about the day his mom left. “I can remember the morning she left, it’s weird the things you pick up,” he said. “I remember her being in a towel around her head and saying goodbye, 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.” He added, “I don’t think she thought for a second it would be forever. I think she thought it was, ‘I just need to get away, and I’ll come back.’ Dad used to pray every night that Mom would come back.“ae0fcc31ae342fd3a1346ebb1f342fcb For more celebrity news delivered right to your inbox, sign up for our daily newsletter. Jackman later found out that his mother was suffering from postpartum depression around the time that she left. “The thing I never felt, and I know this might sound strange, I never felt that my mum didn’t love me,” Jackman told Australian Women’s Weekly. “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.” Jackman also told The Sun in 2011 that he had reconciled with McNeil. “As I grew older I gained an understanding of why Mum did leave,” he said. “I am 43 now and we have definitely made our peace, which is important.” Jackman has two children, 21-year-old Oscar and 16-year-old Ava, with his wife of 25 years, Deborra-Lee Furness. I think having kids of your own just adds another level of empathy and understanding,” he told Australian Women’s Weekly. “And there comes a certain point in life when you have to stop blaming other people for how you feel or the misfortunes in your life.” RELATED: 12 Beloved, Long-Term Celebrity Couples, Then and Now.
