Hugh Jackman has announced that his father, Christopher John Jackman, has died.
In a post shared to Instagram on Monday, the Australian actor, 56, revealed the sad news.
Alongside a photo of his father, he wrote: ‘In the early hours of Father’s Day (AU), my Dad peacefully passed away.
Tragic: Hugh Jackman has announced that his father, Christopher John Jackman, has died. In a post shared to Instagram on Monday, the Australian actor, 56, revealed the sad news. Pictured together last year
‘And whilst there is deep sadness, I am filled with such gratitude and love. My Dad was, in a word, extraordinary.
‘He devoted his life to his family, his work and his faith. I pray he is now at peace with God.’
Christopher, a British-born, Cambridge-educated accountant, was believed to have been around 84 years old.
Alongside a photo of his father, he wrote: ‘In the early hours of Father’s Day (AU), my Dad peacefully passed away. And whilst there is deep sadness, I am filled with such gratitude and love. My Dad was, in a word, extraordinary’
He raised Hugh and his two brothers, Ian and Ralph, as a single father, in Sydney, Australia.
Hugh’s mother, Grace McNeil, left the family and returned to England when Hugh was just eight years old, and he has referred to his dad as his ‘rock’ from then on.
In 2012, Hugh broke down on 60 Minutes when discussing his mother Grace leaving his father, himself and his siblings to return to the UK.
‘My father is my rock. It’s where I learned everything about loyalty, dependability, being there day in, day out, no matter what,’ Hugh said.
‘It’s always about the family,’ he added of what his father has instilled in him.
The Wolverine star told The Australian Women’s Weekly he felt traumatised and ashamed for years after his mother left his family in Australia and returned to the UK.
But he came to realise over time that she was struggling with postnatal depression without a proper support system.
‘At the time, it was difficult,’ he said. ‘One of the main things I remember is that horrible feeling that people were talking about you and looking at you because it was odd for the mother to leave.
‘For many years, I thought it was not going to be forever, so I clung on to that. Up until about the age of 12 or 13, I thought mum and dad would get back together… Realising it wasn’t going to happen was probably the toughest time to be honest.’
Years later Hugh spoke to his mother about her decision to leave, and realised she had her own battles he wouldn’t have been able to understand as a child.
‘I know she was struggling. She was in hospital after I was born suffering from post-natal depression,’ he said.
‘And then you add five kids into the mix and the fact she had emigrated from England and there wasn’t a support network for her here, plus the fact that dad was at work all day – and you realise that as parents we make mistakes.’
Hugh explained that having children of his own with wife Deborra-Lee Furness – they share son Oscar, 21, and daughter Ava, 16, both adopted – gave him ‘another level of empathy and understanding’ that allowed him to build bridges with his mother.
‘There comes a certain point in life when you have to stop blaming other people for how you feel or the misfortunes in your life,’ he added.