Jack Nicholson’s son, Ray Nicholson, made rare comments about his relationship with his famous father.
Speaking to his sister, Lorraine Nicholson, for Interview magazine on Wednesday, November 11, Ray admitted that he and his dad “can’t talk about a lot.”
Ray, 34, explained that he and Jack, 89, have a shared interest in sports and they bond over their mutual passion.
“I love sports so much. It’s also the language of love that me and dad share,” Ray said. “We can’t talk about a lot, but we can talk about the f***ing Lakers until kingdom come.”
Ray, who is following in his father’s footsteps as an actor, also recalled the moment he decided to give up chasing a football career in college in order to try his luck in the film industry instead.
“It was this voice-of-god moment that was like, ‘You don’t want to do this. You want to be an actor,’” Ray told Lorraine, 36, for the Interview piece. “I was really scared to tell Dad. But I went to [the University of Southern California] and learned to love everything about filmmaking. My education really taught me that dad isn’t god. He’s not the only thing in this film industry. He’s a beautiful part of it, but a very small part.”
Ray continued, “Yes, of course, making dad proud is high on my list but this is really a way of finding who I am. And I feel that I’m on the right path to that.”
Before he stepped out of the public eye following his role in 2010’s How Do You Know?, Jack forged an incredible career. His extensive list of credits over the decades include classics such as One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, The Shining, The Departed, As Good As It Gets and more.
In an exclusive interview with Us in June 2025, Ray spoke candidly about what it was like to pursue acting after his Oscar-winning dad’s well-documented success.
“Do I have that pressure? I don’t know. Is that a good thing? Is that a bad thing? It’s all of these things,” he shared while questioning his “nepo baby” status. ”Ultimately, I do know, by going step by step on this journey, I begin to understand [my dad] more. And in a weird way, he becomes more human to me. I understand him more and it makes me love him more, even if we don’t necessarily talk about it.”
Away from his professional career, Jack has had a complex family life. Jack welcomed Lorraine in 1990 with Rebecca Broussard. Ray was born in 1992 before his parents called it quits the following year.
Jack had earlier welcomed his first daughter, Jennifer, in 1963 with ex-wife Sandra Knight. After their divorce was finalized in 1968, Jack allegedly had a fling with Susan Anspach, which resulted in the birth of his second child, Caleb Goddard, in 1970. Jack has not publicly acknowledged his paternity.
Years later, Jack welcomed daughter Honey with actress Winnie Hollman in 1982. Tessa Gourin, who was born to waitress Jennine Gourin in 1994, has claimed that Jack is her biological father — but he has not confirmed his paternity.
