Latest news with #Jack'sLife
Economic Times
19-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Economic Times
His sister turned out to be his mother: Oscar-winner actor found family secret while doing movie about family deception
Synopsis Jack Nicholson spent nearly four decades believing his grandmother was his mother and that his real mother, June, was his sister. The truth was revealed in 1974 when Time magazine researchers uncovered his true parentage while preparing a profile on the actor. Nicholson later confirmed the details through family members, but both women had already passed away by then. While he described the discovery as dramatic, he said it was not traumatic and expressed admiration for how well the secret had been kept. Jack Nicholson Lived Through a Family Lie for 37 Years Hollywood icon and three time Oscar-winner actor Jack Nicholson spent nearly 40 years of his life unaware of a deeply personal family truth that mirrored the kind of dramatic plot twists found in his films. Born in 1937 in Neptune, New Jersey, Nicholson believed the woman who raised him, Ethel May, was his mother and that June, the woman he called his sister, was just that—an older sibling. But in reality, June was his biological mother, and Ethel May, his to Unliad, the complex arrangement was the result of the social stigma around unwed pregnancies during that era. June was just 18 years old when she became pregnant with Nicholson. The father, identified only as Don, was a married man. In an effort to avoid public disgrace, Ethel May decided to raise the baby herself, while June was introduced to the world—and to Nicholson—as his older sister. At age four, Nicholson's 'sister' June left for Miami to pursue a career as a showgirl. Nicholson remained in New Jersey with Ethel May. When he turned 17, he moved to Los Angeles to reunite with June, who by then had moved west to explore opportunities in entertainment. 'Since my only relative in the world was June, who was out here, I came out to look around,' Nicholson recalled in a 1986 interview with Rolling began his career at MGM Studios as an office assistant in the animation department, where his talent and charm quickly led to acting opportunities. But as his fame grew, so did interest in his personal 1974, just as Chinatown was set to release, Time magazine prepared a profile on the actor. During the research process, the magazine's team uncovered startling details about Nicholson's parentage. They contacted him directly to verify findings that contradicted the actor's understanding of his family: that June was in fact his mother and Ethel May his grandmother. They also believed his father might still be alive and residing in Ocean Grove, New by the revelation, Nicholson reached out to a family member for clarification. According to biographer Patrick McGilligan in Jack's Life, the actor phoned his aunt Lorraine's husband, Shorty, saying it was the most disturbing information he had ever received. Initially, the family member denied the claim, but later admitted it was true. Sadly, by then, both June and Ethel May had died, robbing Nicholson of the chance to speak to them about the long-kept the unexpected nature of the discovery, Nicholson later described the experience as 'dramatic' rather than 'traumatizing.' In his interview with Rolling Stone, he expressed a certain respect for the family's ability to maintain the secret for so long. 'I was very impressed by their ability to keep the secret, if nothing else,' he said, acknowledging that the situation, while unconventional, had not harmed him emotionally. 'It's done great things for me.'Interestingly, the revelation coincided with Chinatown, a film in which Nicholson's character unearths a disturbing family truth—adding a haunting parallel between his real and reel life. While Nicholson has rarely spoken about the matter publicly, he has jokingly referred to June as his 'sister-mother' in past interviews.
Fox News
22-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Fox News
Rory Feek, Jack Nicholson, Tim McGraw have 'traumatic' family secret in common
Rory Feek's daughter, Hopie Feek, recently announced on social media she found out he was not her biological father. After taking a DNA test through 23andMe, Hopie found out she and the 59-year-old musician were not biologically related, adding she discovered who her biological father was, referring to him as "B.C." Rory raised Hopie, and her sister Heidi, as a single parent, after his marriage to their mother came to an end. During a new interview with People magazine, Hopie expressed her dismay over the personal details that Rory recounted in his blog post, including their conversation, which she had thought was "private and sincere," and objected to the way in which he portrayed their mother. "My relationship with my dad is broken. Not because of this new revelation, but because he refuses to go to family therapy," Hopie told the outlet. It seems Hopie and Rory's story is not unique in Hollywood, as many of the industry's biggest names have also opened up in the past about unearthing their family histories. Tim McGraw and Jack Nicholson were both shocked to find out the people they viewed as their biological parents were not, in fact, who they thought they were. Here are some celebrities who have spoken out about how they found out about their biological relatives. Jack Nicholson found out the woman he grew up thinking was his mother, Ethal May, was actually his grandmother, and that his sister, June, was actually his mother in 1974, when he was 37 years old. According to Patrick McGilligan's biography on the actor, titled "Jack's Life," Nicholson first learned of his true parentage when he received a call from a journalist at Time magazine working on a profile of him. After hanging up with Time, the "Chinatown" actor called his brother-in-law Shorty, really his uncle, for confirmation. "Shorty, this is the most f---ed thing I've ever heard," he said, according to the biography. "A guy calls me on the phone, and says that my father is still alive, and that Ethel May wasn't really my mother, that June was my mother." After denying it at first, Shorty handed the phone to Nicholson's sister Lorraine, really his aunt, who confirmed the news for him. While the identity of his mother was now known, little remained known about Nicholson's biological father, including his name, a detail which was unknown to even Lorraine. The actor told Rolling Stone in 1986, "Both grandmother and mother were deceased before this particular group of facts came to my attention," so he wasn't able to ask them. According to the McGilligan biography, June became pregnant in 1936 and gave birth at the age of 18 to Nicholson in 1937. A pact was then made between Ethel May, June and Lorraine to never reveal that June was the baby's actual mother. Nicholson told Rolling Stone he "was very impressed by their ability to keep the secret." Country music superstar Tim McGraw learned who his biological father was when he was 11 years old. During a 2002 interview on "Larry King Live," McGraw shared that he was raised by his stepfather, Horace Smith, who he believed was his biological dad until finding out otherwise at the age of 11. He shared he even went by the name Tim Smith. "My mother used to keep Christmas presents in her closet. I was going through the closet looking for Christmas presents," McGraw said on the show. "I ran across my birth certificate. That's how I found out." He found out his birth father was the professional baseball player Tug McGraw, someone who the singer was a fan of. The "Humble and Kind" singer went on to say that his mom then reached out to Tug and said Tim wanted to meet him. He then went to one of his games in Houston and watched Tug pitch. "It was awkward. I was 11 years old. I was a kid. I think it was more traumatic for everybody around me than it was for me. I think it probably became a little more traumatic for me as I got a little older," McGraw explained. "Actually, at 11, I saw him twice, and then I didn't see him again until I was 18. I didn't talk to him maybe but once." While the two didn't immediately click, McGraw said they grew closer as time went on, and they remained close until the former baseball player's death in 2004. Liv Tyler grew up believing her stepfather, musician Todd Rundgren, was her birth father before finding out she was the daughter of Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler. During an appearance on "The Jonathan Ross Show" in November 2015, Liv recounted the "emotional story" of learning who her father was, saying "my mother was very young when she had me and there was a little bit of confusion about where I came from." "I did find out that [Steven] was my dad, but I kind of figured it out, because he looked exactly like me, and I have a sister named Mia who's a year younger than me and I saw her standing on the side of the stage at a concert, and literally it was like looking at my twin," she explained. "She looked exactly like me, and I looked at my mom and she had tears in her eyes and I kind of put it all together." The "Captain America: Brave New World" star has since grown close to her birth father, but told Jonathan Ross about Rundgren, "I still consider him my father," and addied that "he's been such a beautiful, wonderful influence in my life." Kerry Washington found out the truth about her family history after she told her parents she would be appearing on the PBS series "Finding Your Roots," which helps celebrities learn about their ancestral history through their DNA. Her parents then made the decision to tell the "Scandal" actress that after struggling with fertility issues when trying to have a baby, they chose to use a sperm donor to conceive a child. The discovery led Washington to write her memoir, "Thicker Than Water," telling People that it was her way to help in the journey "to understand my life up until now," and that she has what she considered "the missing puzzle piece" of her life. "I really started to have so much more love and compassion and understanding for my parents," she said. "Taking this deep dive into our family history made me put myself in their shoes and think about the things that they've had to navigate and what they've been through and what they've sacrificed. And it really made me feel closer to them."
