Sutton Foster’s ‘ultimatum’ to Hugh Jackman over bromance
Source: SailGP
Hugh Jackman’s partner Sutton Foster reportedly wants the Australian actor to cool his long-time bromance with fellow Hollywood heavyweight Ryan Reynolds.
The duo, who were co-stars in the 2024 film Deadpool & Wolverine, have been friends with a matey rivalry for years, and are co-owners of the Australian SailGP team Bonds Flying Roos.
Just last week, they donned helmets inspired by their X-Men characters and boarded separate hydrofoiling F50 catamarans as extra crew members to go head-to-head in a high-speed SailGP showdown in Valencia ahead of the Spain Sail Grand Prix.
But reports have emerged that Broadway star Foster, whose romance with Jackman was made public when they were first photographed together in January last year, isn’t too thrilled about the pair’s closeness.
A source of the tension, according to Woman’s Day, is Reynolds’ “personal baggage” – which largely relates to his wife Blake Lively’s lengthy legal battle with Justin Baldoni, who directed and starred alongside her in the 2024 drama It Ends With Us.
“Sutton and Blake don’t get on, and combined with the fact that Blake’s recent legal issues have affected Ryan’s career, Sutton’s right to be fearful of Hugh hanging out with Ryan,” the magazine quoted a source as saying.
Lively had claimed Baldoni conspired to destroy her reputation after she accused him of sexually harassing her on the set of It Ends With Us. Baldoni lodged a countersuit alleging Lively, Reynolds and her publicist had defamed him. They settled the civil case in May, with Lively last month awarded more than $400,000 in legal fees.
Jackman accompanied Reynolds to the It Ends With Us premiere in New York in 2024 and has apparently supported the couple through the legal battle. But Woman’s Day claimed Sutton thinks it is time he re-evaluated the friendship.
“Hugh’s not having any of it, of course… He knows Ryan’s not doing so well and wants to help him get through this, no matter who it upsets,” the source said.
Previous reports have suggested that although the two men have a strong bond, their female partners have never formed “a deep and meaningful friendship”.
The only tension between Jackman and Reynolds in Spain, however, appeared to be related to their friendly rivalry over the SailGP practice race, for which Jackman joined the Bonds Flying Roos team and Reynolds teamed up with Canada’s NorthStar crew.
“It was really special. And then, of course, humiliating Hugh Jackman … that’s a national pastime in Canada,” Reynolds joked after NorthStar won the race, as Jackman made a show of sobbing into his shoulder.
The two actors, who acquired a stake in the Bonds Flying Roos last year and recently signed a deal for a Disney+ docu-series centred on the sailing team, have been friends for nearly 20 years after meeting on the set of Jackman’s film X-Men Origins: Wolverine.
They are known for their public teasing and trash-talking of each other, but have also spoken previously about the depth of their connection.
“We rely on each other for the real kind of advice that you want,” Reynolds said, when the pair interviewed each other for a People cover feature that coincided with the release of Deadpool & Wolverine.
Jackman, in turn, described Reynolds as an “unbelievable listener”: “You can tell me anything and I can tell you anything, and I don’t feel like you’re going to be judging.”
The Wolverine star has had his own challenges since his 2023 split from wife Deborra-Lee Furness. She released a blistering statement in May last year saying her heart went out to “everyone who traversed the traumatic journey of betrayal”.
Jackman had been romantically linked with Sutton – with whom he starred in the 2022-23 Broadway production of Music Man – just two months after he and Furness ended their marriage. But he did not confirm the new relationship until January 2025.
He has recently struggled to sell his lavish New York penthouse, bought with Furness in 2008. It was re-listed earlier this year at a dramatically reduced price of about $A40 million.
“He and Sutton have had to put off buying their dream country bolthole until he gets this cash windfall,” the Woman’s Day source claimed.
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