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Hugh Jackman injured in Oprah show stunt

Australian movie star Hugh Jackman was slightly injured on Tuesday while performing a stunt during the taping of an Oprah Winfrey show at the Sydney Opera House.
/ Source: Reuters

Australian movie star Hugh Jackman was slightly injured on Tuesday while performing a stunt during the taping of an Oprah Winfrey show at the Sydney Opera House.

Live television showed Jackman sliding down a cable from the top of the Sydney Opera House towards a giant outdoor stage, but he failed to stop, crashing into the stage's light rigging and hurting his face.

"That was so much fun, until the end," joked Jackman, famed for his tough Wolverine role.

Jackman, later sporting a small bandage under his eye, told Winfrey that the excitement of sliding down the cable caused him to brake too late.

"I came down waving to everyone, looking over Sydney Harbour, saw my dad, the kids and you (Winfrey), went to pull the brake and then boing," he said.

Entertainment reporters at the scene said Jackman was hit in the eye. Television showed Jackman holding some ice on his face and taking a swig of red wine. It was reported that Jackman suffered a black eye.

But Jackman was well enough to give Winfrey a lesson on eating Vegemite, a black yeast breakfast spread many Australians love. He spread some onto a biscuit and offered it to the TV chat show queen.

"I like it," declared Winfrey, before eating some more and washing it down with a glass of one of Australia's best and most expensive wines, the Penfold's Grange.

Winfrey, with 302 specially flown American guests in tow, is in Australia producing two TV chat shows, with Australian guests such as Jackman, Russell Crowe, Nicole Kidman, Keith Urban and Olivia Newton John.

Winfrey's American guests have also filmed their travels around Australia to the Outback and the Great Barrier Reef. Their video journals will be part of the shows that will air later in the United States.

Australia has spent more than A$3 million ($3 million) bringing "The Oprah Winfrey Show" to Australia as a way to boost tourism. The TV show is watched by 40 million Americans and screened in 145 countries.