Human Interest Real People Real People Parenting Hugh Jackman on His and Wife Deb's Decision to Adopt After Struggles with Miscarriages and IVF "I remember saying to [Deb], 'We were always going to adopt — let's just adopt now,' " Hugh Jackman tells PEOPLE of his and his wife's decision By Jess Cagle Jess Cagle Jess Cagle is the former editor-in-chief at PEOPLE. He left PEOPLE in 2019. People Editorial Guidelines and Jen Juneau Jen Juneau Jen Juneau is a News and Movies Staff Writer at PEOPLE. She started at the brand in 2016 and has more than 15 years' professional writing experience. People Editorial Guidelines Published on December 22, 2017 01:45PM EST For Hugh Jackman, adoption was always on the table. In the latest installment of The Jess Cagle Interview (streaming now on People TV), The Greatest Showman star opens up to PEOPLE editor-in-chief Jess Cagle about his and wife Deborra-lee Furness‘ journey toward becoming parents to daughter Ava Eliot, now 12, and son Oscar Maximillian, now 17. “Because of her age, we started [trying] straightaway when we were together,” says the Australian actor, 49, who wed Furness in 1996 when he was 27 and she was 40. “We struggled, a couple miscarriages, [in vitro fertilization] — it was not easy. It was difficult, obviously particularly on Deb.” “I remember saying to her, ‘We were always going to adopt — let’s just adopt now,’ ” he recalls. Want all the latest pregnancy and birth announcements, plus celebrity mom blogs? Click here to get those and more in the PEOPLE Babies newsletter. Paul Hiffmeyer/Disneyland Hugh Jackman and family RELATED VIDEO: Hugh Jackman Remembers the Day He Met Wife Deb For more coverage, follow our babies magazine on Flipboard. It was important for the Logan star and his wife, now 62, to adopt mixed-raced children as well — a demographic he refers to as “the biggest need.” “Our motivation behind adopting was, ‘Where is the need?’ ” explains the father of two. “And we just knew from talking with people in that space, when we were looking around, that the biggest need is in mixed-race kids.” Steven Ferdman/Patrick McMullan/Getty Hugh Jackman and wife Deborra-lee Furness How Hugh Jackman Keeps His 21-Year Marriage Strong: “We’re a Team, Madly in Love” “A lot of people go into [adoption thinking] it’s really important to them for the kid to look like them, and honestly, for Deb and I, that just never even was an issue,” says Jackman. “I believe in life and I want to tell my kids that your personality is interesting, it in some way very much defines you, the color of your skin, whether you’re a male, whether you’re a female, but that’s not who you really are,” he continues. “What really defines you is beneath all that.” Watch the full episode of The Jess Cagle Interview: Hugh Jackman, streaming now on PeopleTV. Go to People.com/peopletv, or download the app on your favorite streaming device. Hugh Jackman on the cover of PEOPLE FROM PEN: Adoption Holds a Special Place in Katherine Heigl’s Heart Hugh Jackman Posts Sweet Picture with Wife Deborra-Lee Furness: “No Caption Needed” “It doesn’t matter what sexual [orientation] you are, it doesn’t matter what job you do, it doesn’t matter if your hair is straight or curly, if you’re tall or short, man or woman, what race you are,” Jackman elaborates. “What defines you as a human is underneath all that.” The Greatest Showman is now playing in theaters. For more from Hugh Jackman, pick up the latest issue of PEOPLE, on newsstands now.