Hugh Jackman and his former Music Man leading lady Sutton Foster have been making plans to ‘soft launch’ their relationship.

The new clain comes as Hugh’s estranged wife Deborra-Lee Furness appeared to confirm the affair rumours and the real reason for their September 2023 legal separation in an explosive social media reaction.

Deborra’s private Instagram account ‘liked’ an October 26th video from gossip blogger Tasha Lustig which alleged Hugh’s rumoured affair with Sutton was why they split.

Lustig’s post also claims that Hugh and Sutton have been planning a ‘soft launch’ of their relationship publicly to test reaction, with the gossip blogger saying they are going ‘to have to dream up the Disney story of the ages’ to win over critics. 

Hugh Jackman and his former Music Man leading lady, Sutton Foster have been making plans to ‘soft launch’ their relationship to the public (pictured in 2022 at the The Music Man opening)

Gossip blogger Tasha Lustig claims that Hugh and Sutton have been planning a ‘soft launch’ in a video that has been liked by Hugh’s estranged wife Deborra-Lee Furness

Hugh, 56, and Sutton, 49, have already attended public events together, looking smitten with one another at the opening night of their show The Music Man on Broadway in February 2022.

They began workshopping Jerry Zaks’ Broadway revival of the 1957 musical in March 2020 before the musical eventually made it to stage post-pandemic in February 2022, running for 11 months at the Winter Garden Theatre in Manhattan.

According to insiders, their affair during the show was ‘Broadway’s worst-kept secret’ and now it’s claimed the ‘really happy’ pair are keen to have their relationship out in the open.

‘A lot of people on Broadway knew, and we kept it quiet because both of them are so nice and great people. Everyone respected their privacy. But there was an affair and overlap. They are really happy now,’ a source close to Foster told Us Weekly.

They continued: ‘Hugh’s whole image is that he’s the nicest guy in Hollywood, so he doesn’t know what to do with this.’

And while a source told DailyMail.com on October 26 that Furness ‘had her suspicions when Hugh started working with Sutton’ an industry source claimed the opposite to Us Weekly.

‘Deborra-Lee was blindsided when she found out about the affair through the run of the show,’ the insider said.

‘It was apparently Broadway’s worst-kept secret, and Deborra-Lee was the last to know. [Worse yet,] he didn’t own up to it!’

‘Deborra-Lee was blindsided when she found out about the affair through the run of the show,’ an insider has spilled (Deborra and Hugh pictured in May 2023)

Hugh and Sutton first began workshopping the musical in March 2020 before the musical eventually made it to stage post-pandemic in February 2022, running for 11 months 

According to insiders, their affair during the show was ‘Broadway’s worst-kept secret’ and now it’s claimed the ‘really happy’ pair are keen to have their relationship out in the open (pictured in 2022)

Read More Hugh Jackman’s rumoured girlfriend Sutton Foster gushes over her co-star in resurfaced interview

Resurfaced interviews from The Music Man’s 2022 run have shown how the pair have publicly gushed over one another with both admitting it ‘was a dream come true’ to work together. 

Sutton spoke highly of the ‘incredibly kind, and generous’ Hugh to Vogue when asked about their professional relationship, gushing that ‘he’s now become one of my best friends,’ before adding that ‘we just spent Memorial Day with our families. It’s really fun to meet new friends after 40.’

Meanwhile, a source told Page Six last month that the pair are ‘100 per cent together and are in love and want to spend the rest of their lives together.

Sutton filed for divorce from her estranged husband Ted Griffin last month after 10 years of marriage. They share daughter Emily, seven ( pictured in 2022)

Sutton filed for divorce from her estranged husband Ted Griffin last month after 10 years of marriage. They share daughter Emily, seven. 

Her first marriage was to Tony winner Christian Borle, 51, from 2006 until 2009. Four years later, she confirmed her engagement to Griffin, a screenwriter on Ocean’s Eleven .

Hugh and Deborra, who are parents to son Oscar Maximilian Jackman, 24; and daughter Ava Eliot Jackman, 19, meanwhile announced their split after 27 years in September 2023.