Hugh Jackman Recalls the Near-Wardrobe Malfunction Sarah Jessica Parker Had Onstage with Him: 'Felt for Her'

Hugh Jackman Recalls Sarah Jessica Parker's Near Wardrobe Malfunction at 2004 Tonys: 'Her Boobs Were About to Come Out'
Hugh Jackman Recalls Sarah Jessica Parker's Near Wardrobe Malfunction at 2004 Tonys: 'Her Boobs Were About to Come Out'
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Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for Disney, Arturo Holmes/Getty

Hugh Jackman is certainly a showman, but one of his onstage jaunts with Sarah Jessica Parker didn't exactly go as planned.

In 2004, The Wolverine star hosted the Tony Awards amid his run as Peter Allen in Broadway's The Boy From Oz, and during a performance in character at the ceremony, he pulled Parker up on stage. What he intended to be a bit of fun almost turned into a major wardrobe malfunction, thanks to her strapless dress.

"I really felt for her that night," Jackman, 54, told Variety in a new interview. "As soon as she got up onstage, I could tell those boobs were about to come out."

Hugh Jackman Recalls Sarah Jessica Parker's Near Wardrobe Malfunction at 2004 Tonys: 'Her Boobs Were About to Come Out'
Hugh Jackman Recalls Sarah Jessica Parker's Near Wardrobe Malfunction at 2004 Tonys: 'Her Boobs Were About to Come Out'

Frank Micelotta/Getty

Parker was wearing a ballerina-style dress with a tight bodice, but it was already low cut, and the wrong move on stage could have easily resulted in her exposing herself to the entire audience.

Parker, 57, was well-aware of that possibility, which is why she was so hesitant to do much dancing, despite Jackman's persistence. While he encourages her to move, she keeps holding onto her dress before telling Jackman she's "scared" of her top. She then makes a comment about something similar happening on the network, most likely alluding to Janet Jackson's breast being exposed by Justin Timberlake during the Super Bowl Halftime Show just a few months prior, also on CBS.

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Before Parker shied away from dancing in her dress, Jackman asked her if she wanted to do something fun for her husband, Matthew Broderick, who was watching from home. He then asks Parker if she'd ever given him a lap dance. Parker stays silent until Jackman replies, "You should!"

The lap dance bit was part of Jackman's schtick as Allen in the Broadway performances, and Parker was far from the first celebrity who got the question.

"The most fun I ever had was playing Peter Allen," Jackman told Variety. "There was, I don't know, roughly 10 to 12 minutes of every [The Boy From Oz show] that was ad-libbed. Once I was 50 or 60 shows in, I felt completely free to do whatever the hell I wanted. I was an a–hole at times. I brought up Barbara Walters and Matt Damon, and made Matt Damon give Barbara Walters a lap dance, which turned into me giving Matt Damon a lap dance. And he didn't punch me."

Parker's Tonys dress may have nearly been an issue for her to dance in but it's just one in a long line of memorable outfits for the Sex and the City star. With season two of the show's spin-off, And Just Like That, currently filming, we're already getting even more sartorial wins, including a flight suit and a JW Anderson pigeon-shaped handbag that costs a cool $890.