Hugh Jackman's Kids Keep Him Honest

Australia has premiered here in the US, and the film's male lead, Hugh Jackman, spoke with Movies Online about how the movie improved him as a parent, and how his kids are keeping him "honest."

Hugh explained what he thinks he learned from having children Oscar, 8, and Ava, 3: "It makes you learn about yourself. I think it also makes you learn about your own parents because I’ve found myself and my wife quite often says 'Oh, hello Chris,' that's my dad's name, because the things coming out of my mouth sound exactly like my dad that I swore on my life I would never do. The most annoying things. It's sort of bizarre. Yes, you learn about yourself. You learn about your own relationship to your parents and then how you want to parent and also I've found, your marriage goes to a whole other level. You not only fall in love with your wife in a whole different way but you're also forced to kind of pull together your own philosophies about parenthood even though you may have grown up in a completely different environment and somehow, you've got to become this united front. So, I'm a big believer that the best way to learn or improve is ‘in relationship to,’ so you have to go outside of yourself. In acting, it's your partner and your director really who you're working with. That's who you have to trust and be open to. It's not a singular experience when it's parenting with your wife."

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He also said that kids are "just the most pure reflection of the truth at any given moment," citing Oscar's reaction to his being named People Magazine's Sexist Man Alive for 2008: " My son Oscar is eight and he goes 'You? You've gotta be kidding me!' (laughs) I thought, 'It’s the truth!'"

On his learning to work with horses for Australia also improved his parenting skills: "The only way you can really develop a relationship of trust with a horse is to not put a saddle on it because horses can sense it. I learned a lot about parenting from riding a horse. It’s the same thing. You can whack a horse. I’ve seen people do it. They whack them, they kick them, and they do all that, and you can get a horse to do something. But, I was very lucky to have two trainers who taught me how to make the horse feel it’s their idea. I’ll tell you, as a parent, it is the greatest thing I’ve ever learned. [Laughs]"

Photo: Carlos Costas/PacificCoastNews.com