Jack Nicholson has always been a favorite actor of mine. I don’t believe I’ll ever forget the first time I watched “The Shining” and the sleepless nights that followed.
Thanks to Nicholson’s performance, I have riveted to the screen, which showed me the genuine power an actor or actress could have in a role.
Nicholson, now an incredible 81 years old, can reflect on a remarkable and adventurous career at the pinnacle of Hollywood.
He has portrayed various deranged characters throughout the year’s thanks to his unusual brows and deep growl, including parts in those above “The Shining” and “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.”
He has collaborated with some of the greatest actors and actresses of all time throughout a career spanning over 50 years.
But did you know his family had been keeping something from him for a long time? One that could only be found by accident? If not, you should continue reading.
John Joseph Nicholson was born in New York on April 22, 1937. The little boy would spend his childhood in New Jersey with his grandmother Ethel Nicholson, a businesswoman in the beauty industry.
Since Jack’s alcoholic father abandoned the family when Nicholson was still a child, so Jack believed his grandmother was his biological mother.
June, his 19-year-old sister, quit her job as a dancer to pursue her dream of becoming an actress. Jack traveled to Los Angeles when he was just 17 years old to follow suit.
June died from cancer in 1963, and Ethel, Nicholson’s grandmother, died seven years later.
Jack worked hard to fulfill his goals despite his less-than-perfect start in life. He was tenacious in pursuing his acting goals, and success eventually came to him.
However, he got a call from a reporter who had written a story about him for the film “Chinatown” when he was 37.
The phone call had the power to alter everything.
The reporter in question had discovered a family secret during his research in 1974, which he would later reveal to Jack himself: Jack had mistaken his grandparents for his parents.
In addition, June, his “sister,” had been his biological mother.
The aspiring Hollywood star initially found the claims offensive and rejected them. But in a tearful phone call, his second “sister,” Lorraine, Jack’s aunt, confirmed the family’s secret.
“The incident was rather spectacular, but I wouldn’t describe it as traumatic…I was quite well formed psychologically,” Jack commented in response to the realization.
Since June gave birth to Jack while she was 18 and unmarried, her parents opted to raise Jack as their own. June would pretend to be his older sister, it was determined.
The identity of Nicholson’s biological father has never been established as of this writing.
While other sources contend June was unaware of the father’s identity, there has been substantial speculation that it may have been June’s manager.
Growing up while being fed a lie of this scale must be quite a shock, as we can understand. Ethel and June had each carried the knowledge with them to their graves.
Jack, though, has no resentment for them.
Jack has become one of history’s most renowned and successful actors despite this long-standing family secret.
He does not place blame on his family for the information they hid from him, which I believe is character-defining because it demonstrates a rare insight.
