HERE'S JOHNNY! JACK NICHOLSON IS ADOPTED

As promised, I'm spotlighting well-known individuals who were adopted!

Halloween is a week and one day away and I can't celebrate the month of October without watching some good old-fashioned horror flicks. Devil-themed ones give me the straight-up heebie jeebies, The Shining is no exception. Right now you probably have this image of and line by Jack Nicholson in your head:

Ah, reminds me of my Dad and our relationship, but I digress.

You are also probably thinking what does this have to do with adoption? Well, hold your horses. I'm getting to that. Did you know Jack Nicholson is an adoptee? His adoption story has more twists than The Departed.

According to Biography, Nicholson was born in Neptune, New Jersey, on April 22, 1937 to John and Ethel May Nicholson. John dressed department store windows and Ethel styled hair. His older sister June was an aspiring actress. Turns out the whole family were skilled actors...because 37 years later a TIME magazine reporter, researching a cover story on Nicholson, called him with startling news: his sister Ethel wasn't his sister, she was his mother. The people he thought were his parents were his grandparents. His father was an ex-boyfriend of June's. 

 June Nicholson

Maybe he channeled his feelings from the day of the phone call and used them for the courtroom scene in A Few Good Men.

Could you handle the truth? Whoa.

Unfortunately, he couldn't get any answers from June because she died of cancer over a decade earlier. According to Snopes, even on their deathbeds, neither June nor Ethel May had offered up the truth.

"I'd say it was a pretty dramatic event, but it wasn't what I'd call traumatizing," Nicholson said       about discovering his family's secret. "After all, by the time I found out who my mother was, I was pretty well psychologically formed. As a matter of fact, it made quite a few things clearer to me. If anything, I felt grateful."

 It's no surprise he made this statement in 2013 about his stance on abortion.

What would the last few decades of American films be like without Jack Nicholson? I'm grateful he's here, entertaining me with his movies and talent, and I'm grateful his mother gave him a chance at life. 

#ShoutYourAdoption 

Much Love ~ The Adopted Goddess