Hugh Jackman's Wife Blasts 'Mean-Spirited' Gay Rumors

Deborra-Lee Furness is taking the tabloids to task for gay speculation around her husband, Hugh Jackman.

"I see these magazines and they're so mean-spirited," the 64-year-old actress and producer said Tuesday on Anh's Brush with Fame, an Australian TV series in which an artist paints a person's portrait during an interview, reports the Daily Mail. "I hope people realize it's all made up."

Addressing the rumors, Furness recounted how the Greatest Showman star had been reported as "'gay' for so many years, I was 'gay' too when I did [the 1988 film] Shame. They were shocked when I got married."

"It's just wrong," Furness said. "It's like someone saying to Elton John, 'Oh, he's straight.' I'm sure he'd be pissed! And so what! What are we discussing here? ... Is he a vegetarian? ... Is he gay?"

In 2013, Jackman dismissed the gay rumors to 60 Minutes. "If I was, I would be," declared Jackman, who found them frustrating due to how they upset his wife.

"I don't think -- it's to me not the most interesting thing about a person anyway, but ah -- I do get frustrated for Deb, 'cause I see Deb go, 'Ah, this is crazy.'"

Furness and Jackman married in 1996 and have two adopted children.