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Before finding love with Hugh Jackman, Sutton Foster offered glimpses into her marriage of nearly a decade to Ted Griffin.
Foster was initially married to college sweetheart Christian Borle from 2006 to 2009. After her divorce from Borle, Foster was set up on a blind date with Griffin, who is a screenwriter with credits on Ocean’s Eleven, Prom and The Wolf of Wall Street.
The couple tied the knot in 2014 after several years of dating and expanded their family with daughter Emily three years later.
“We plan these surprise dates for each other, and the only rule is that you can’t say no,” Foster exclusively told Us Weekly in 2019. “It’s not like, ‘OK, you have to eat a spider.’ We try to be very gentle about it.”
Foster said their “can’t say no dates” kept their romance alive, adding, “He planned a date for me once where we took a Latin jazz class at Lincoln Center. Then he took me to go listen to jazz music at Dizzy’s, which is at the Time Warner Center, and we had dinner at this fabulous place that we’d never gone to.”
The actress made rare comments about her marriage before news of their divorce broke in October 2024. Foster filed for uncontested divorce from Griffin just days before their 10th wedding anniversary.
One month later, a source told Us confirmed that Foster’s romance with Jackman led to the actor’s split from wife Deborra-lee Furness.
“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,” an insider told Us about Jackman and Foster, who worked together on The Music Man. “They are really happy now.”
Keep scrolling to see Foster’s insight on her marriage to Griffin before their surprising split:
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2014
After several years of dating, Foster and Griffin exchanged vows. Her process in picking out a wedding dress was featured on TLC’s Say Yes to the Dress.
“I knew that it made me ‘feel’ different,” she told People of the gown she chose. “I felt very confident and knew that it was the first dress I had tried on that felt ‘right.’”
2015
Bruce Glikas/FilmMagic
Foster gushed over her “very talented” husband’s career, telling Broadway.com, “He’s like, the smartest guy I’ve ever known. He’s incredibly smart.” The actress went on to say that she loves to go to the theater and watch movies with Griffin because he showed her “classics” including Rear Window while she enjoyed more “silly” movies.
“I’m trying to bring his intelligence a little bit down,” she joked at the time.
2017
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Following years of fertility struggles, Foster and Griffin welcomed daughter Emily via adoption.
“Where IVF was full of disappointment and heartbreak, adoption was so clearly what was meant to be for us,” she recalled after announcing the news at Lincoln Center’s American Songbook performance. “Our lives are forever changed, and our hearts are exploding.”
One year later, Foster gushed about her daughter, telling People, “I’m fascinated by Emily; she changes every day. It doesn’t matter where she came from, my belly or someone else’s belly. When she was born, I was like, ‘What took me so long?’ And I realized I was waiting for her to come into my life.”
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2018
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Foster recalled not really understanding “the concept of motherhood” until she met Griffin.
“There was something about being with Ted that made me want kids,” she told People. “He belonged in my family. [I] didn’t really understand the concept of motherhood until he came around.”
2019
In Foster’s 25 Things You Don’t Know About Me interview with Us, she revealed the moment she knew Griffin was The One, adding, “I knew I was going to marry my husband when he bought me a pair of sweatpants. I still wear them and will probably keep wearing them until they turn to dust.”
2020
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Foster and Griffin’s relationship evolved after they sheltered in place amid the COVID pandemic.
“[This is] the first time that we’ve all been together for this amount of concentrated time without one of us traveling or having to leave for work every day,” she explained to People. “Especially breakfast and dinner, we’re all sitting at the table and now my daughter will ask everyone, ‘How was your day?’ We all like to sit down and talk and we’ve made it a really important part of our day that we come together as a family.”
Foster noted that her family was “trying to make the most of this time,” with her daughter “really thriving” because they were all together.
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2021
In a personal essay for People, Foster wrote how she was “always on the fence about whether” she wanted to have children.
“I was always very career-driven, and I had such a tricky relationship growing up with my own mom. It was never clear cut for me,” she noted before reflecting on her marriage to Borle. “I married in my 30s — it didn’t last. But one thing it did give me was this little inkling that I wanted to maybe have a family.”
She continued: “When I met my husband, it was the first time that I finally went, ‘Oh, I get it. I understand why people have families.’”
2024
Hugh Jackman and Sutton Foster Bruce Glikas/WireImage
Us confirmed that Foster formed a connection with Jackman before her marriage to Griffin came to an end.
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“Deborra-lee was blindsided when she found out about the affair through the run of the show,” a source told Us about Jackman’s wife. “It was apparently Broadway’s worst-kept secret, and Deborra-lee was the last to know. … He didn’t own up to it.”
Foster previously reflected on her friendship with Jackman, telling Vogue two years prior, “You usually go into these things thinking, ‘Well, I hope we get along.’ But we just spent Memorial Day with our families.”
In a separate interview on Live With Kelly and Ryan, Foster recalled a “wonderful” ritual between her and Jackman. “We just talk and catch up on our day. That’s been one of the best parts of the whole thing,” she added. “That I’ve made this wonderful new friend.”
