Modern family? Jack Nicholson has welcomed six children with five women over the years — but he has only publicly commented on four of them.
The three-time Oscar winner only tied the knot once, to Sandra Knight, in the early 1960s. After the couple welcomed their daughter, Jennifer Nicholson, in 1963, they remained married for five more years.
Once their divorce was finalized in 1968, the Departed actor allegedly had a fling with his Five Easy Pieces costar Susan Anspach that resulted in the birth of his second child, Caleb Goddard. Jack, however, has yet to publicly acknowledge the paternity.
The Something’s Gotta Give star moved on with Danish supermodel and actress Winnie Hollman, whom he dated for five years. The pair welcomed daughter Honey Hollman in 1982.
Jack’s relationship with American actress Rebecca Broussard is one of his more public romances. The twosome had an affair during his 17-year relationship with Anjelica Huston, which led to the arrival of their first child, daughter Lorraine Nicholson, in 1990.
Two years later, the One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest actor welcomed son Ray Nicholson with Broussard. The duo called it quits in 1993. “We have a relationship,” Jack told Vanity Fair in April 1994 of Broussard. “Because of the children, but we have no other relationship.”
In 2011, the Anger Management star gave fans a rare glimpse at his dynamic with Lorraine and Ray. “They’re great. I was never what you call a hands-on sort of father, but I’m lucky my kids have turned out the way they have,” Jack said at the time via the Daily Mail. “Parenthood is all about being in the lap of the gods. All you can do is your best.”
Lorraine, who is one of Jack’s many children to dabble in acting, teased her dynamic with her famous father three years later.
“He gives me top secret advice,” she told Entertainment Tonight in February 2014. “Obviously, I’m not going to share it with anyone, because it gives our family a competitive advantage.”
Jack’s sixth child, however, claimed she never received the same guidance and support. Tessa Gourin, who was born to waitress Jennine Gourin, in 1994, alleged in early 2023 that she never knew her dad growing up. While she claimed that Jack is her biological father, the actor has never publicly commented on the paternity.
Tessa claimed in a February 2023 interview with The Daily Beast that the As Good As It Gets actor “wasn’t interested’ in having a relationship with her as a child. She did, however, explain that Jack was involved in the funding of her early education.
“I knew he was powerful and Daddy Warbucks-level rich, so I kind of equated my life to being like Orphan Annie’s,” she told the outlet, revealing that her mother told her “not to tell anyone that I have this famous dad.”
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