Jack Nicholson's Estranged Daughter Is Speaking Out (& She's Spilling The Tea)
Jack Nicholson's estranged daughter Tessa Gourin just spilled all the details about their relationship. Since the 1950s, the "Batman" star has led a long and expansive career in the film and television universe. From his unforgettable performance in "The Shining" to his Academy Award-nominated role in "A Few Good Men," Nicholson has certainly left his mark in the industry. However, alongside his career feats, the "Anger Management" star has made headlines for his personal life — including his non-existent relationship with his daughter Gourin.
While Nicholson has neither confirmed nor denied that the aspiring actor's his daughter, the latter has remained an open book about their estranged predicament. Back in 2022, Gourin described "The Departed" star as an "illegitimate parent" on Instagram after a news article labelled her an "illegitimate child," according to Your Tango. "I just pinched myself, and it turns out... I LEGITIMATELY exist," she added in a now-deleted Instagram post. Now it looks like Gourin is spilling more tea regarding Nicholson and his absence from her life.
Tessa Gourin says Jack Nicholson doesn't want a relationship with her
Like her father, Jack Nicholson, Tessa Gourin has been bitten by the acting bug. Yet, while the two share the same profession, the aspiring actor has made it clear that they still remain estranged. In a recent interview with The Daily Beast, Gourin revealed intimate details of her childhood and never knowing her "Daddy Warbucks"-like father. "From a very young age, my mother told me not to tell anyone that I have this famous dad," she told the news outlet. The "Stranger's Arms" star went on to say that Nicholson — who supposedly paid for her to attend private schools in New York — was never interested in having a relationship with her despite her mom's encouragement.
"When you're a child, you don't have a choice where you're going, so if your mom pushing you on someone who's technically your father and he agrees to see you for anywhere between one hour and a couple of days, that's where you're going to go," she explained. "I don't know this person very well, we'll just say that." Prior to her aforementioned interview, Gourin opened up about growing up "on the sidelines" of Nicholson's life in an op-ed about nepo babies for Newsweek. "Jack Nicholson has affected every part of my life imaginable," she wrote. "One of the most influential actors happens to be my biological father and for whatever reason he isn't interested in having a relationship."
Jack Nicholson does have a relationship with his other five children
While Tessa Gourin is adamant that Jack Nicholson does not want a relationship with her, she is quick to point out that he is a present father to some of his other children.
"So many people have been forced to live with the pain of a parent's absence, famous or not. But it makes it that much harder when that absent parent is actively in the lives of their other children, which is the case for me," she penned in a bombshell opinion piece for Newsweek. But don't just take her word for it. "I want to be inspirational, or some kind of good influence on them without overburdening them. It's their time of life to find out who they are," Nicholson explained to AARP The Magazine in 2008 about his role as a father to his daughter Lorraine and son Raymond, whom the publication described as the "two youngest of his five children." He added, "I always read to them, from childhood on; I think that's a father's responsibility. I took them to things I knew they might not love — opera, ballet. They like going to the ball games with me. And they are very comfortable around show business; they are good set rats," he gushed.
But what about the remaining three of Nicholson's aforementioned "five" children, including Jennifer Nicholson, Caleb Goddard, and Honey Hollman?
Tessa Gourin is not Jack Nicholson's only estranged child
Tessa Gourin isn't the only one of Jack Nicholson's offspring who has dealt with daddy drama.
As it turns out, Nicholson publicly denied paternity of his son Caleb Goddard, whom he shared with the late actor Susan Anspach, within the confines of a profile for Vanity Fair. Many years later, however, Goddard, who was adopted by his step-father Mark Goddard, told People that the "A Few Good Men" star finally acknowledged him as his son during a tense phone call. Yikes. But that's not all. It's also reported that Nicholson's daughter, Honey Hollman, whom he shares with model Winnie Hollman, was raised many, many miles away from her famous father in Denmark.
On the contrary, however, Nicholson's eldest child, Jennifer Nicholson, appears to have a good relationship with her father. "I like being Jack Nicholson's daughter and I'm proud of him," she declared in a 2003 interview with the Los Angeles Times before lamenting about the pressure that comes with being the child of an A-list actor. Perhaps both she and her half-sister Gourin could commiserate over a coffee or tea sometime soon. TBD, we suppose.