Hugh Jackman recently revealed an embarrassing moment from his career when he lost control of his bladder during a stage performance.
The 57-year-old actor from Australia, known for his iconic role as Wolverine in the X-Men films and Marvel Cinematic Universe, has also made a name for himself in theater.
In 1995, Jackman took on the role of Gaston in the Australian production of Beauty and the Beast, followed by a performance as Joe Gillis in the 1996 show Sunset Boulevard.
He later earned a Laurence Olivier Award nomination for his portrayal of Curly McLain in the West End revival of Oklahoma! in 1998. Jackman also received a Tony Award, Drama Desk Award, Emmy Award, and a Golden Globe for his role as Jean Valjean in Les Misérables in 2019.
This track record shows the New South Wales actor’s extensive experience both on screen and on stage.
Nonetheless, Jackman has shared a mishap from earlier in his career where he experienced an unfortunate accident during a live performance.
During an interview on Howard Stern’s Sirius XM show, Jackman recounted dealing with persistent headaches while performing in Beauty and the Beast. A doctor advised him to stay hydrated by drinking more water.
“He said, ‘you’re dehydrated. You gotta drink a lot, you gotta drink a lot of water, drink it before five o’clock, like two litres of water,'” Jackman recalled, leading him to consume two gallons of water.
“The first song I sing, ‘You’ve been dreaming just one dream’, was so hard to get through. I had to pick her up, I had to drag her around, I had to sing,” he continued. “As I picked Belle up, a little bit of p**s came out and I’m wearing red tights. And then I thought, uh oh.”
His co-star quickly noticed something was wrong when Jackman stopped singing and began ‘just marching around.’
Jackman then faced a dilemma: either skip the high note in the song or sing it and risk a public accident.
“At the end of the song, I had a choice. You sing that F sharp and I either sing it, p**s my pants, or I don’t sing it and humiliate myself,” Jackman said. “So I sang it and it was just going, it was just going the whole way.”
Fortunately, the incident was not noticeable to the audience.
“And I immediately, instead of taking my bow, I turned upstage. I just jumped around and I looked down and there was nothing,” he explained, joking that his costume acted like a ‘wetsuit’ that absorbed the liquid and directed it to his shoes.
“I’m like laughing to myself thinking my boot is filled with p**s, both boots filled with p**s.”