While Hugh Jackman may have patched up his relationship with his mother in his adulthood, traumatic memories of her leaving when he was just a child still haunt him to this day. He opened up about the experience to an Australian publication recently, revealing just how being abandoned affected him.

Hugh Jackman at a photocall for 'The Greatest Showman'Hugh Jackman at a photocall for 'The Greatest Showman'

When 'The Greatest Showman' star was just 8-years-old, his mother Grace left him, his two brothers and his father Christopher and moved back to England with his sisters. He even remembers the day that she left, and never really accepted her moving away.

'It was traumatic', he told WHO magazine. 'I thought she was probably going to come back. And then it sort of dragged on and on.'

He went on to say that after that he only saw his mother 'once a year', but could only heap praise on his father for managing to raise him and his brothers as a single father while also furthering his law career.

It's not the first time the 49-year-old actor has spoken about his mother's departure. Back in 2012, he was moved to tears discussing his last memory of her at his childhood home during an interview with '60 Minutes'.

'I can remember the morning she left, it's weird the things you pick up', he said at the time. 'I remember her being in a towel around her head and saying goodbye, must have been the way she said goodbye. As I went off to school, when I came back, there was no one there in the house. The next day there was a telegram from England, Mum was there. And then that was it.'

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Such difficult childhood memories seem to have only strengthened Hugh's resolve to have a happy, stable family of his own. He has been married to Deborra-Lee Furness for over twenty years, and the pair have two adopted children - 12-year-old Ava and 17-year-old Oscar - together.