“Oh, stop it!”
Sutton Foster was “convinced” she would get fired from “The Music Man,” the Broadway musical she starred in alongside her rumored new beau, Hugh Jackman.
Foster, 49, made her confession during an appearance on “Late Night With Seth Meyers” that she and Jackman, 56, did to promote their 2022 production.
A clip from the joint interview resurfaced after rumors spread that the former co-stars are dating.
The stars told Meyers that they were intimidated by each other when they began working together.
“You’re Hugh Jackman!” Foster exclaimed after the “Wolverine” star doubted that the Tony winner could be intimidated by him.
Foster added that she thought her termination was imminent when she billboards promoting the Broadway show.
“Our names are like really big on like a giant billboard. And I was like, ‘Oh God, that’s gonna cost a lot of money when they have to replace me,’” Foster recalled thinking. “But I was pretty convinced I was going to be fired for several weeks.”
“Oh, stop it,” Jackman said, again convinced Foster was being overly humble.
“It’s true though!” the actress insisted.
Both Jackman and Foster would earn Tony nominations for their work playing Harold Hill and Marian Paroo, respectively, in the Broadway revival of “The Music Man” that started previews in December 2021 and ran through January 2023.
Explaining why he was intimidated by Foster, Jackman told Meyers, “This is a six-time Tony nominee, two-time winner.”
“Like, I saw her do ‘Thoroughly Modern Millie’ when you were like 4 years old,” he added, turning to address his co-star. “But I’ve watched everything she’s done. It’s amazing. And I’m the guy who, in my first show, ‘Beauty and the Beast,’ it was in my contract that I had to have singing lessons once a week. True story!”
After months of speculation that Jackman and Foster have been carrying out a secret romance, Page Six exclusively reported last week that Foster had filed for divorce from her husband of 10 years.
The new couple is very much “in love,” a source told Page Six. “They spend all of their free time together,” an insider said. “They are a regular couple, they are just in private,” and they “sneak around” to stay under the radar.
News of Foster’s divorce from “Ocean’s Eleven” screenwriter Ted Griffin came just over a year after Jackman announced the end of his marriage to actress Deborra-Lee Furness after 27 years.
“Deborra-Lee had her suspicions when Hugh started working with Sutton,” a source recently told the Daily Mail. “Their relationship is not a secret to her.”
Jackman and Furness have two adopted children, son Oscar, 24, and daughter Ava, 19.
Foster and Griffin have an adopted daughter, Emily, 7.
Foster listed her Tuxedo Park, NY, home in December for $2.2 million. It reportedly sold this May.