“We struggled, a couple miscarriages, IVF—it’s not easy, particularly on Deb,” Jackman recalled to Cagle.
So, they opted for adoption, bringing home son Oscar in 2000 and daughter Ava in 2005. Both kids are biracial—a quality Jackman and Furness purposely sought out when they started the process.
“Oscar is a bit of everything—African-American, Caucasian, Hawaiian and Cherokee,” he told New Idea in 2007. “We specifically requested a bi-racial child because there was more of a need. People will wait 18 months to adopt a little blonde girl; meanwhile, bi-racial children are turned away. The same was true for Ava, she’s half Mexican, half German.”
Jackman reiterated as much to Cagle years later, saying, “Our motivation behind adopting was, ‘Where is the need?’ The biggest need is in mixed-race kids. I want to tell my kids that… it doesn’t matter what sexual [orientation] you are, it doesn’t matter what job you do, it doesn’t matter whether your hair is straight or curly, if you’re tall or short, man or woman, what race you are. What defines you as a human being is underneath all that.”
