Hugh Jackman is a happily married father of two — an accomplishment he doesn't take for granted.
Speaking to Australia's Herald Sun, the 42-year-old Real Steel star opened up about the time when he and wife Deborra-Lee Furness learned they were unable to conceive children naturally.
"It was painful. It's not easy. You put a lot of time and effort into it, so it's emotional," Jackman said. "I think any parent can relate — trying to have children is wonderful and when you feel as though that's not going to happen, there's a certain anxiety that goes with it."
The couple tried in vitro fertilization to boost their chances of having biological children, but after several failed attempts, "we went ahead with adoption."
Adopting son Oscar, 11, and daughter Ava, 6, turned out to be the best decision of Jackman's life. "From the moment we started the adoption process, all the anxiety went away. I don't think of them as adopted — they're our children."
"We feel things happened the way they are meant to," he added. "Obviously, biologically wasn't the way we were meant to have children."
Jackman and Furness, who married in 1996, met while starring in the Australian TV series Correlli in 1995.
