Hollywood hunk Hugh Jackman has revealed how his mum abandoned him when he was just eight years old.
The Australian star – famed for his macho roles – broke down in tears as he went on TV to tell about the day mother-of-five Grace sent him to school and flew to England leaving, dad Chris to care for the kids.
He told US show 60 Minutes: "I can remember the morning she left, it's weird the things you pick up. 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.
"I don't think she thought for a second it would be forever. I think she thought it was: 'I just need to get away, and I'll come back'.
"Dad used to pray every night that mumm would come back."
The X-Men and Les Miserables actor said it took several years before he realised she wasn't coming back.
"For many years, I thought it was not going to be forever, so I clung onto that. Up until that age of about 12 or 13, I thought mum and dad would get back together.
"Finally realising it wasn't going to happen was probably the roughest time to be honest."
Hugh – who is married to Deborra-Lee Furness and has two children, Oscar, 12, and Eva, seven – was overcome with emotion again when he talked about his dad.
"My father is a rock," he said. "My father is my rock. It's where I learned everything about loyalty, dependability, being there day in, day out, no matter what. It's always about the family."
In recent years, he has been reunited with his mother, who lives in Norfolk, and says he never thought she didn't love him.
He said: "But the thing I never felt, and I know this might sound strange, I never felt that my mum didn't love me."
And he added: "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.
"You can't go through life obsessing about what might have been. "We see each other three or four times a year."