Rosie O'Donnell may be off The View, but that doesn't mean everything gay is gone from the show. Case in point was Friday's episode which briefly turned into a discussion about why some folks believe Hugh Jackman is gay. The ladies were actually discussing the phenomenon of unattractive but wealthy men who are married to beautiful when suddenly Joy asked:

Joy: What happens when a beautiful man marries a sort of unattractive woman? Then you have dilemma. People will really talk. They think he's gay. This is what happens.

Barbara Walters: Really?

Joy: Oh, yeah. I was reading in the article that we're reading that Hugh Jackman, who is a very handsome guy, people always think he's gay because his wife looks like the rest of us.

Barbara: That's not true. First of all, his wife is very attractive. I think people--

Joy: Not in his level. He's like Sex Man.

Barbara: I think a lot of people thought was gay because he was doing The Boy From Oz which was about Peter--

Joy: He wasn't "doing" the boy from Oz. He was playing in it. This is making Hugh Jackman's life more miserable.

Barbara: He was playing the role of Peter...Peter Allen who was gay. So people thought he must be gay because he was...She's very good looking and it's a very good marriage.

He must be miserable? Imagine his poor wife, Deborra-Lee Furness having to hear she's not at his "level". Sheesh, I hope she wasn't watching the show.

I've heard both reasons given by folks who think Jackman is really gay, though it's usually gay men who offer up the "unattractive wife" theory and silly straight folks who think playing gay means you really are gay. Jackman is usually linked to his longtime assistant John Palermo with whom he and Jackman's wife had started a production company. As evidence, folks frequently cite the fact that Jackman and Palermo reportedly exchanged rings engraved with the word unity, but according to Wikipedia, Furness also received a ring and it was to celebrate their company.

Maybe the rumors had something to do with same-sex kiss being removed when the show landed in Australia. After the jump you'll see a clip from Jackman's new drama Viva Laughlin. It may just be me, but I'm suddenly a little more confident we'll be seeing Eric Winter back on Brothers & Sisters this fall.