Who is Sutton Foster, rumoured new girlfriend of Hugh Jackman?

X-Men star Hugh Jackman appears to have confirmed his relationship with fellow actor Sutton Foster. The pair were spotted laughing and holding hands on a dinner date in LA last night.

Jackman, 56, and Foster, 49, first met in 2008 when Foster was starring in a Broadway production of Shrek. Jackman went to see the play and posed backstage with the cast afterwards, including Foster.

Jackman and Foster performed a number from The Music Man at the Tony Awards in 2022 (Getty Images for Tony Awards Pro)

The pair became Broadway co-stars in a year-long revival of The Music Man in 2022. They grew close during the year-long run of the production, with Foster telling Vogue in 2022: “He disarms everyone, and he doesn’t make anything about him. He’s now become one of my best friends, which was a surprise”. Foster said that the pair spent Memorial Day together with each other's families that year. Jackman also described Foster at the time as “just a dream” in an interview with the New York Theatre Guide.

In September 2023, Jackman separated from Australian actor Deborra-Lee Furness, his wife of 27 years with whom he shares two children. The pair said in a statement they were "separating to pursue our individual growth".

Jackman separated from his wife Debora Lee-Furness in 2023 (Getty Images)

Rumours began swirling that Jackman and Foster were linked in January 2024, after Jackman was spotted in the audience of Once Upon a Mattress, a play Foster starred in.

In October 2024, Foster filed for divorce from her husband of a decade, the screenwriter Ted Griffin. At this point speculation reached fever pitch, with “insiders” claiming it was an open secret on Broadway, but the pair did not confirm anything.

Jackman and Foster’s date in Santa Monica last night is the first time they appear to have confirmed their relationship.

Foster onstage at a production of Anything Goes at the Barbican Theatre, London (PA)

Foster is known primarily for her theatrical work. She has starred in Broadway productions like Grease, Little Women and Sweeney Todd and won two Tony awards for best actress in a musical, as well as an Olivier award.

She first got married to fellow actor Christian Borle in 2006, but the pair divorced in 2009. She then married again in 2014 and has an adopted daughter with her then-husband called Emily, who was born in 2017.