Having been one of the most critically acclaimed actors there are, with 12 academy award nominations under his belt and a huge number of awards, including the AFI Life Achievement Award and the Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award among the rest, Jack Nicholson leaves most others in the duct.
What makes him one of a kind is his ability to play a wide range of starring and supporting roles, including comic characters, romantic leads, anti-heroes and villains.
When it comes to his personal life, it’s safe to say that The Shining star has led quite a life. Having five children with four different women, Nicholson has always been considered a ladies’ man.
The actor and filmmaker has only been married once, to actress Sandra Knight, with whom he has daughter Jennifer Nicholson, his eldest child.
The marriage ended before even Nicholson reached stardom because Sandra was aware he wouldn’t be faithful to her.
In 1970, the actor became a father to his second child, son Caleb, whom he has with Susan Anspach. He, however, only fully accepted Caleb as his son years later.
His relationship with Winnie Hollman resulted in the birth of his daughter Honey Nicholson. After this, he began a relationship with Rebecca Broussard and the couple welcomed daughter Lorraine and son Ray.
Speaking of co-parenting all of his children with their moms, the actor once said, “It’s a divided parenthood, with their wonderful [mothers] and myself. We’ve always gotten along. I want to be inspirational, or some kind of good influence on them without overburdening them.”
His oldest child is Jennifer Nicholson, whom he had with his first and only wife actress Sandra Knight. Jack was married to Sandra for six years and they divorced in 1968 because Sandra foresaw his stardom and knew he would have a lot of “temptations.”
He then entered into a torrid affair with Susan Anspach. The two had met when they were working on a project together. In 1970, she gave birth to Caleb Goddard. At first, Jack did not publicly accept his son but that changed over time and in 1996, he fully accepted Caleb as his son.
During his time with Anjelica, Jack would often have affairs. Jack was not one to be careful when it came to cheating. Anjelica Huston would often find evidence of other women having been to his home. She writes of the incidents, “Occasionally, I’d find a piece of female apparel — once a jacket of mine turned up on a girl in the street — or I’d find some hand cream, or a trinket might get left behind in the soap dish. Sometimes I’d take to wearing the jewelry to see if anybody would come up and claim it, but that never happened.”
The breaking point for their relationship was in 1990, when Jack revealed to her that he had impregnated Rebecca Broussard. This was what caused the final break in their relationship.
A few days later after Nicholson told her about the other woman’s pregnancy, Anjelica drove to the Paramount Pictures lot where Nicholson was filming a project.
She then attacked the actor. In her memoir, she writes “He was coming out of the bathroom when I attacked him. I don’t think I kicked him, but I beat him savagely about the head and shoulders. He was ducking and bending, and I was going at him like a prizefighter, raining a vast array of direct punches.”
When a few days had passed after her attack on Jack Nicholson, she received a call from him where he told her she had left bruises on his body because of the atta ck. The two were able to laugh about the incident, which surprised the actress.
It is truly sad to see a great actor like Jack Nicholson completely withdraw from public life.
We wish him the very best and are praying for his well-being!