Australia star Hugh Jackman says "I don't know if I would've kept acting."

As his starring role in the new Baz Luhrmann epic Australia nears release, Hugh Jackman has told of his doubts about continuing to act when he was younger and how his marriage to Deborah Lee Furness saved his career.

"What you learn being married to someone is better than any classroom or anything you can study, or any job," Jackman told Men's Journal, "If I didn't have Deb, I don't know if I would've kept acting. With the risks, having someone's unconditional love means you can really fall on your ass and be completely loved, even if the rest of the world chucks tomatoes at you. And the same with kids, everything is exposed with kids. There's no artifice, because they see you for exactly what you are. You can't pretend. Actors can fool people about the kind of person they are. You can wear whatever mask you want to put on. But it doesn't work with kids, you know? If your career is more important than them, you're going to have hell. You see things get out of whack, out of balance, because they just mirror it back to you. To feel at the end of the day that you haven't done everything you could for your kids - none of it's worth it."

Jackman also commented that starring in a film like Australia could make a great impression on future generations, including his own adopted children Oscar and Ava.

"When the head of the studio saw Australia, he said, 'Mate, when your grandkids ask your kids what you did, this is the movie they'll put in.' But, see? Everything is related to the kids now. Frightening how in love with them you are. It's hard to go away, hard to do things like this. You have those little flashes of them jumping into a road and you stop breathing."