Hugh Jackman opens up about being abandoned by his mum: 'It was traumatic'

Hugh Jackman is opening up about the "traumatic" moment his mother abandoned him at the age of eight.

This week, the 49-year-old spoke to WHO magazine about the day his mum, Grace, left the family to go back to the UK.

"It was traumatic," he said. "I thought she was probably going to come back. And then it sort of dragged on and on."

His father Christopher was left to raise Jackman and his four siblings while juggling his career working as a lawyer. Later his two sisters went to live in the UK with their mum.

The Greatest Showman star has spoken about his childhood heartbreak previously, recalling the last time he saw his mother before she fled the family home.

"I can remember the morning she left, it's weird the things you pick up," Jackman said in a December 2012 interview with 60 Minutes. "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."

Jackman continued, "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."

The Wolverine star, who shares two adopted children (Ava, 12, and Oscar, 17) with his wife Deborra-Lee Furness, has since forgiven his mother.

He told The Sun in October 2011, "As I grew older I gained an understanding of why Mum did leave. 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.”

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