The Wolverine star, 44, says his Grace Watson, left the family when he was just eight. She left Australia for the UK and only broke the news to her five children via telegram. Jackman, who has forgiven his mother, says he discovered she had battled depression and was "struggling", the Daily Mail reported.
"One of the main things I remember is that horrible feeling that people were talking about you and looking at you because it was odd for the mother to leave," Jackman told Australian Women's Weekly.
After his parents divorced, his sisters, Zoe and Sonia, moved to England to live with their mother. Jackman and his brothers, Ralph and Ian, stayed on in Sydney with their father, Chris.
Jackman, however, says that despite everything he never doubted his mother's love.
"The thing I never felt - and I know this might sound strange - I never felt that my mum didn't love me. I've spoken about it at length with her since and I know she was struggling. She was in hospital after I was born suffering from post-natal depression. There wasn't a support network for her here."
The actor, who raise Oscar, 12, and Ava, 7, with wife Deborra-lee Furness, 56, says he was able to forgive his mother when he became a parent himself.
"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."