Hugh Jackman Fans Impressed As He Forgives Mom Who Abandoned Him As A Baby
Hugh Jackman has been praised by fans after he shared a snap hugging his mother Grace in a photo on Instagram.
The Hollywood actor simply captioned it: "Mum."
Jackman, 52, was just eight years old when his mother, Grace McNeil, left her family in Australia and returned to the UK.
The Greatest Showman star once described Grace's sudden departure as "traumatic."
Hugh told Australia's Who magazine in January 2018 that his mother left him without even saying goodbye.
As she returned to her native England in the late '70s, her husband, Christopher Jackman, raised Hugh and his brothers and sisters alone.
After Hugh's dad divorced his mother, Hugh's sisters, Zoe and Sonya, went to live with Grace in the UK.
Hugh and his brothers, Ian and Ralph, stayed in Sydney with their father.
"It was traumatic," Hugh said, recalling his estrangement from his mom. "I thought she was probably going to come back. And then it sort of dragged on and on."
After his mother left the family, he saw her about "once a year."
It wasn't until he was "12 or 13" that it dawned on him his mother would never return.
In December 2012, Hugh told Australia's 60 Minutes program that he still remembers the day his mom left.
"I remember her being in a towel around her head and saying goodbye. [It] must have been the way she said goodbye," he said.
"As I went off to school, when I came back, there was no one there in the house."
He added: "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."
Hugh once told The Australian Women's Weekly: "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."
He told The Sun newspaper in October 2011: "I am 43 now and we have definitely made our peace, which is important. I was always quite connected with my mum. I have a good relationship with her."
After Jackman shared the heartwarming Instagram post with his mom, social media users praised the star for his big heart.
"He is such a stand up guy. Love him. Total role model," one person wrote online.
"Good for him.. to forgive is to have peace," a second added.
"What maturity to be able to see things the way he did. Great man," a third commented.
"Not sure I would be able to forgive her. What a terrible thing for her to do. May he teach us all how to forgive others," a fourth wrote.
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