Jack Nicholson discovers that his sister is actually his mother; Understands

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Nicholson was 32 when he played George Hanson in the hit movie “Easy Rider” (1969), but he also discovered hidden information about his identity — something that had already raised suspicions years earlier, in 1954, when he tried to get his driver’s license and learned that there was no record of his birth. Ethel May, the woman believed to be his mother, then gave evidence that her “son” was born on April 22, 1937.

“You explained a lot of things to me.”

Everything changed in 1974, when a journalist from Time magazine revealed the truth to him over the phone, during an investigation for a documentary about the actor. The reporter asked about his mother, June Nicholson, and at that moment Jack had to face the woman he had always considered his sister. The truth is that June gave birth to him at the age of 17, and his parents, Ethel May and John, decided to raise him as their own to avoid social stigma and allow June to pursue her artistic career without the burden of motherhood. His grandmother Ethel May (the woman believed to be his mother) died in 1963.

Although he preferred to keep the matter a secret, the documentary “Dr. Jack and Mr. Nicholson” ended up revealing the secret. Over time, Nicholson accepted his origins. “After all, when I found out who my mother was, I was already psychologically mature. In fact, it made many things clear to me. If I felt anything, it was mainly gratitude,” he admitted years later.

He added in a 1984 interview with Rolling Stone: “If John or Ethel had been less of a character, I probably wouldn’t have been able to survive at all. These women gave me the gift of life. They raised me well. To this day I’ve never borrowed a dime from anyone and never believed I couldn’t take care of myself. They made self-sufficiency a necessity.”

The actor’s father is still unknown

Although part of his story has been discovered, 88-year-old Nicholson still doesn’t know who his father is. The biography The Life of Jack, written by American author Pat McGilligan, mentions two possible candidates: Don Forcello Rose, a showman and singer of Italian descent whom John married shortly before Jack was born, and Eddie King, an actor and John’s dance partner.

Don died in 1998, but before that he asked his daughter, Donna Rose, to continue his “campaign” to have him recognized as the father of the Hollywood star. For this reason, Donna published the book “You Don’t Know Jack: The Story of a Judicial Father” in 2001, but she died of cancer in 2005 without receiving any response from Nicholson.