Hugh Jackman shares photo embracing mother he was estranged from as a child a decade after revealing they ‘made peace’

Actor called her sudden departure ‘traumatic’ but has said they have a ‘good relationship’ now

Hugh Jackman has shared a rare photo of himself hugging his mother, who left him as a child.

The Wolverine actor posted the heartwarming photo to his Instagram yesterday (23 August). In it, he is seen smiling with his arm wrapped around his mother, Grace McNeil.

Jackman captioned the photo: “Mum.”

The photo comes after a 2018 interview with Australian outlet Who magazine during which the actor revealed he found his mother’s sudden departure “traumatic”.

Jackman’s parents divorced when he was eight years old. Following the separation, his two sisters moved to the UK to live with McNeil. Meanwhile Jackman and his brothers stayed with his father Christopher in Sydney, Australia.

Reflecting on the experience, the actor said: “It was traumatic. I thought she was probably going to come back. And then it sort of dragged on and on.”

The 52-year-old continued to explain how he saw his mother approximately “once a year” following her departure, before realising aged 12 or 13 that she would never return properly.

In a 2012 interview with Australia’s 60 Minutes show, the Greatest Showman star revealed that he still remembers “the morning she left” in vivid detail.

“I remember her being in a towel around her head and saying goodbye. [It] must have been the way she said goodbye,” he said, adding that he came home from school to find no one in the house.

The Oscar nominee continued: “The next day there was a telegram from England. Mum was there. And that was it. Dad used to pray every night that mum would come back.”

A year prior to that interview, Jackman revealed to The Sun that he had forgiven his mother for leaving.

“I am 43 now and we have definitely made our peace, which is important,” he said, stating that he had developed a “good relationship with her”.

Jackman has previously opened up about his mother’s reasons for leaving as she did, explaining that after speaking with her “at length” about it he had learned she was suffering from postnatal depression.

He said that he “never felt my mum didn’t love me”.

“She was in hospital after I was born suffering from postnatal depression. There wasn’t a support network for her here,” he told The Sun.

Many fans commented on the recent photo of Jackman and Neill, sharing admiration for their rebuilt relationship.

“Awww cutest pic,” wrote one user, while another said: “Such a lovely photo! Long may you both remain smiling!”

Jackman’s newly released thriller Reminiscence recently became one of the biggest box office flops of all time.