It isn't easy being Mrs. Hugh Jackman.
Australian actress Deborra-Lee Furness has been married to the fellow Australian, 43, since 1996 — and she's had to physically and mentally battle fans and mean-spirited critics!
"I've been almost pummeled as people try to get to him," Furness, 56, tells Page Six Magazine. "Literally, they will push you out of the way."
And then there's Furness' age — 13 years Jackman's senior — and her curves. "The age thing! Truth be known, Hugh is much more mature than me, so we balance each other out," she tells the mag. "And heaven forbid I have a human experience and carry a little weight."
Like many an A-list star, the X-Men hunk (currently performing his one-man-show on Broadway in NYC) has also fielded rumors that he's gay, and that their marriage is a sham.
"The line I heard was, 'Wolverine? Who would have thought?' Hugh and I don't pay much heed," Furness sniffs of the speculation. "It's kind of tragic that these people have nothing better to do than gossip about people they don't know."
The couple share kids Oscar, 11, and Ava, 6, whom they adopted after several heartbreaking miscarriages.
"Hugh and I were always going to adopt," she explains. "We were going to have one [child], adopt another. When we didn’t have one, we adopted two. I can't bear to think of a child not being cared for. I tell my own children it was their destiny to come to us."
