The Shady Side Of Jack Nicholson

This article contains references to addiction.

In Hollywood's pantheon of stars, one name has stood atop the pyramid for decades: Jack Nicholson. Boasting 12 Academy Award nominations and three wins — the most-nominated male actor ever — Nicholson traditionally sat front-row center at the annual award show, flashing his devilish grin while shielding his eyes behind his trademark sunglasses. His performances have become the stuff of Hollywood legend: his breakthrough as a philosophizing alcoholic attorney in "Easy Rider;" rebellious, anti-authoritarian psychiatric patient McMurphy in "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest;" hard-boiled private investigator Jake Gittes in "Chinatown;" maniacal supervillain the Joker in Tim Burton's "Batman;" and so many more. 

Seemingly retired, his storied acting career appears to have ended; Nicholson, who turned 87 in 2024, hasn't appeared onscreen since the 2010 rom-com "How Do You Know." Since then, he's become a reclusive figure, rarely seen out in public for years until re-emerging in 2023 to take his familiar courtside seat to watch his beloved L.A. Lakers play.

An elusive figure in recent years, his impeccable Hollywood resume has occasionally been overshadowed by controversies in his personal life. To find out more about that side of his life, read on for a deep dive into the shady side of Jack Nicholson.

If there's a through-line that connects Jack Nicholson's most memorable movie roles, it's the anti-authority streak displayed by his characters, evident in films such as "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, "Five Easy Pieces," "Chinatown," and many others. Not surprisingly, that was also a trait that Nicholson demonstrated in real life while growing up in Neptune, New Jersey. 

"I was always against authority, hated being told anything by my teachers, by parents, by anyone," he explained in a 1993 interview with The Independent, revealing that he became somewhat legendary with his teachers. "At school, I created a record by being in detention every day for a whole year ... I don't like listening to what other people think."

As it happened, that particular element of Nicholson's character did not diminish over time. That was evident in Nicholson's 2007 interview with Esquire, in which he declared, "I hate advice unless I'm giving it." He added, "I hate giving advice, because people won't take it."

During his heyday as a Hollywood star during the sexually liberated 1970s, Jack Nicholson developed a well-earned reputation as one of Tinseltown's most notorious lotharios. When The Independent put together a list of the all-time great seducers, Nicholson's name appeared alongside Casanova and NBA great Wilt Chamberlain, who famously boasted of bedding 20,000-plus women.

While Nicholson has long been rumored to have slept with more than 2,000 different women in his day, he's also admitted that he really had no idea what the actual number is — and didn't particularly care. "I don't count," he told the Daily Mail in 2011, admitting that, as a septuagenarian, those days were behind him. "I can't hit on women in public any more," Nicholson admitted. "I didn't decide this; it just doesn't feel right at my age."

Among those who've seen Nicholson in action, so to speak, is "Baywatch" alum Pamela Anderson. In her memoir, "Love, Pamela," Anderson recalled entering a bathroom in the Playboy Mansion, only to find herself intruding upon Nicholson getting intimate with two women. "I walked by to use the mirror, bending over the sink to fix my lip gloss," Anderson wrote, via an excerpt appearing in Variety. "Trying not to look, but I couldn't help myself and caught his eye in the reflection. I guess that got him to the finish line, because he made a funny noise, smiled and said, 'Thanks, dear.'"

There's no denying that Jack Nicholson has made some controversial remarks in his day. For example, during a 1994 interview with Vanity Fair, he rakishly quipped, "You only lie to two people in your life: your girlfriend and the police. Everybody else you tell the truth to."

However, one of his former paramours has claimed that Nicholson once told her something far more shocking than that. "The only time I ever disagreed with him was when he said that I had to admire Hitler for his determination, as Hitler had held to his beliefs," wrote Susanna More in her memoir, "Miss Aluminum," as excerpted in The Sunday Times.

More, who claimed to have had a brief affair with Nicholson in the 1970s while she worked as a script reader, insisted that she was stunned and angered by his admission. "I was furious," she recalled, but didn't want to push back. "I was afraid to argue with him, fearful that it would cause me to think less of him," she added. "As gentle and as malleable as he then was with women, he had a certain fondness for tyrants."

Jack Nicholson co-starred with comedy superstar Adam Sandler in the 2003 comedy "Anger Management," portraying an anger management counselor who's got his own severe issues with anger. There was no scarcity of irony when he took that role, given that a few years earlier, Nicholson had been involved in a headline-making road rage incident that saw him explode in violent rage.

While driving to a golf course in 1994, Nicholson was cut off by another motorist. When he pulled up next to the offending driver's car at a stoplight, Nicholson exited his vehicle, pulled a golf club from the trunk, and proceeded to smash the other car's windshield to smithereens. (He reportedly paid the driver $500,000 in an out-of-court settlement.) "I was out of my mind," he later told Golf Digest, revealing he was stressed out from directing a movie while also coping with the recent death of a friend. "I was on my way to the course, and in the midst of this madness I somehow knew what I was doing," he added, "because I reached into my trunk and specifically selected a club I never used on the course: my 2-iron."

Speaking with The Sun, Nicholson confirmed his temper sometimes got the best of him. "Anger has always been a problem and every once in a while I just have to let it out," he explained. "I always regret it later."

Jack Nicholson's hot temper was at the heart of an alleged 1996 assault. The New York Daily News reported that a woman claimed Nicholson violently attacked her while she attended a dinner party at her home. According to her complaint, she'd criticized him for attempting to kick former girlfriend Susan Anspach out of a house he owned, and an argument ensued. She claimed that Nicholson shoved her in the chest so hard that one of her silicone breast implants ruptured. According to the Daily News, she demanded Nicholson pay her a $10 million settlement; when he refused, she shopped her story to the National Enquirer, demanding $100,000; the tabloid reportedly took a pass.

That wasn't the only time Nicholson was accused of getting violent with a woman. In a 2000 lawsuit filed by sex worker Catherine Sheehan, she claimed she and a friend had been hired by Nicholson. Things became fraught, however, when she tried to collect the agreed-upon $1,000 fee.  The Associated Press reported (via CBS News) that "Nicholson became loud and abusive," the suit stated, "demanding to know what plaintiff was talking about, stating that he had never paid anyone for sex as he could get anyone he wanted as a sexual partner." Sheehan claimed that Nicholson pulled her hair and smashed her head on the floor and subsequently paid her $32,500 as a settlement. She sought further damages and to have the original settlement rescinded.

Jack Nicholson was married once to actor Sandra Knight, who was his wife from 1962 until 1968. After that divorce, Nicholson never embarked on matrimony again and has made it clear over the years that monogamy just isn't his thing. That was confirmed by Margaret Trudeau, his one-time lover (and mother of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau). "He understood that marriage and monogamy were simply not ideally suited to his life as a movie star," she wrote in her memoir, "The Time of Your Life," as excerpted by Chatelaine.

His aversion to monogamy, however, didn't hamper his knack for procreation; in fact, he's the father of six children from five different mothers.

The oldest is Jennifer Nicholson, born in 1963 during his marriage to Knight. He also fathered a child with actor Susan Anspach in 1970, Caleb Goddard, who was adopted by her husband, Mark Goddard; Nicholson didn't publicly acknowledge him as his son until he was in his late 20s. Daughter Holly Hollman — whose mother is model Winnie Hollman — was born in 1981. Nicholson and his then-partner Rebecca Broussard welcomed daughter Lorraine in 1990 and son Ray in 1992. He's also the father of Tessa Gourin, born in 1994, whose mother is Jennine Gourin; Nicholson has never publicly acknowledged that she's his daughter.

Jack Nicholson's youngest child, daughter Tessa Gourin, came forward to lament the non-existent relationship with her biological father. "The truth is, in all of my 28 years of life, we have never had a relationship," she wrote in a piece for Newsweek in 2023. She'd had a few interactions with Nicholson over the years, but they were, to put it mildly, awkward. "Although I flew from New York City to Los Angeles to meet on the odd occasion as a young girl (at the behest of my mother), it was always clear that he wanted no part in my life," she wrote. "Have you ever been on a date and sensed that the other person just wasn't feeling it? That's pretty much how every interaction I have ever had with Jack Nicholson has gone."

In her essay, Gourin insisted that she's hardly illegitimate and never really understood her father's antipathy toward her. "I'm not something to be ashamed of," she wrote. "While Jack has never publicly acknowledged that he is my biological father, I exist in a very major way."

In an interview with The Daily Beast, she reiterated that while Nicholson contributed to her financial well-being, he made it clear he didn't want her in his life. "My mom wanted me to have a relationship with him, but he said he wasn't interested," she explained.

While rampant sex was a huge part of Jack Nicholson's lifestyle during the 1960s and '70s, so too was the consumption of drugs. In fact, he once told Rolling Stone that he was once so out of it that he had no recollection that he'd hung out with The Beatles and Bob Dylan in the 1960s. "I saw this documentary with a scene of me and The Beatles out in Malibu, and I just couldn't remember it," he said. "Of course, I could tell from the film I was a bit loaded — and no doubt about that ..."

Interviewed by Vulture, Nicholson's longtime partner, Anjelica Huston, confirmed he was an enthusiastic aficionado of cocaine. "Very much so. Never took overt amounts, he was never a guzzler," she said, explaining he'd mainly used the drug to keep his energy up. "He was tired, and I think probably, at a certain age, a little bump would cheer him up," she added. "Like espresso."

In his book, "Nicholson: A Biography," author Marc Elliot wrote that Nicholson's drug use had become so prodigious — and such common knowledge in Hollywood — that it cost him a role in the 1982 movie musical "Annie" (via Business Standard). According to Elliot, Nicholson stopped using drugs at some point in the late 1980s or early 1990s after experiencing "physical problems," while the deaths of some friends also weighed on his decision to clean up.

If you or someone you know is struggling with substance abuse and mental health, please contact SAMHSA's 24-hour National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).

Among Jack Nicholson's many films is the 1971 drama "Carnal Knowledge," by late director Mike Nichols, who was later married to broadcast journalist Diane Sawyer. While the film is far from pornographic — featuring some partial nudity from Nicholson's co-star Ann-Marget — the film broke new ground in its frank discussion of sexual content, so much so that it was briefly banned in Italy due to claims of obscenity. Meanwhile, numerous American newspapers refused to advertise "Carnal Knowledge" due to its title.

It was in Albany, Georgia, however, that the response to "Carnal Knowledge" really went over the top when local police arrested and charged theater manager Billy Jenkins with obscenity simply for screening the film in his cinema.

As The New York Times reported, Jenkins — who was fined $750 for violating a state law prohibiting the distribution of obscene material — appealed his conviction. With the backing of the Association of American Publishers, the Authors League of America, and the National Association of Theater Owners, Jenkins contended that "Carnal Knowledge" was hardly obscene and that the state law he'd violated was unconstitutional. However, the Georgia Supreme Court upheld the conviction with a four-three decision determining that "Carnal Knowledge" was indeed obscene. Jenkins took his fight all the way to the Supreme Court, which ruled in his favor, determining the film was not actually obscene.

It's safe to say that one woman who is not among Jack Nicholson's many conquests is Oscar-winning actor Geena Davis. However, as the star of such films as "Thelma and Louise" and "A League of Their Own" has revealed, that's not due to Nicholson's lack of trying. 

During an interview with The New Yorker, Davis recalled that she'd been modeling until landing a breakout role in the comedy "Tootsie." Shortly after, her agent took her to meetings with Hollywood casting directors, at which point she was introduced to Jack Nicholson. "Then one day there was a note under the door that said, 'Please call Jack Nicholson at this number.' I was like, I can't believe it!" She called him, hopeful that he wanted to discuss her potential participation in a movie. That, however, was not what the conversation was about. "He said, 'Hey, Geena. When is it gonna happen?” she recalled.

Taken aback, she suddenly shifted gears, remembering some advice that her "Tootsie" co-star Dustin Hoffman had given her to defuse this precise type of situation. "But it immediately came into my head what to say: 'Uh, Jack, I would love to. You're very attractive. But I have a feeling we're going to work together at some point in the future, and I would hate to have ruined the sexual tension between us,'" she said. "He was like, 'Oh, man, where'd you get that?' So it worked."

The most enduring relationship in Jack Nicholson's life was his on-again, off-again romance with actor Anjelica Huston, lasting 17 years. The two had first started seeing each other in 1973; as she wrote in her memoir, "Watch Me," she learned pretty quickly that his infidelity was something she'd have to live with. She endured all those years of cheating, she wrote, because she continued to hold out hope that they'd eventually get married. She received a rude awakening, however, when they were watching the game show "The Newylwed Game" on television. "Oh, little marriage. Little tiny marriage game," he told her, as excerpted in the New York Post. "I replied, 'If you had any balls, you'd marry me.' And he said, 'Marry you? Are you kidding?'" According to Huston, she sobbed for days.

The final straw, however, came when Nicholson invited her to dinner and broke the news that he'd impregnated another woman, Rebecca Broussard. That was the point when she knew it was over. A few days later, after his betrayal had sunk in, she stormed into his office and let him have it. "He was coming out of the bathroom when I attacked him," she wrote. "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."