The Tragedy Of Joshua Jackson Just Gets Sadder And Sadder

Joshua Jackson has been booked and busy since his teens, and he has had the staying power in Hollywood most actors can only dream of (let alone those who had their big breaks early). Even so, that doesn't mean every aspect of his life has been a fairytale. On the contrary, between an at-times tough childhood and career doubts, feeling used, and several heartbreaking personal moments, Jackson has been very open about some of the sadder details of his life. 

We'll start with Jackson's childhood. The "Dawson's Creek" star has mentioned on a number of occasions that he was a child of divorce. Speaking to The Seattle Times in 1998, he told the outlet, "My parents getting divorced as a kid was obviously a very traumatic experience. And then after, it was just me, my sister and my mother, and we went at it alone." Jackson added that the family's financial situation also changed a lot. "I went from being a very well-off little kid to having a couple rough years, to rebuilding — my mother did that," he recounted, adding that through it all, they'd become incredibly close. 

Of course, Jackson went on to become a very big star in his teens, thanks first to "The Mighty Ducks" and then "Dawson's Creek," meaning at least from a money perspective, things were on the up-and-up. Sadly, though, the emotional wounds were tough to heal — particularly because after the divorce, his dad disappeared from their lives. In a 2020 interview with OK!, the actor mused about that situation, "You never really get over it ... I don't think you can. You just metabolize it. It just becomes a part of your life" (via Today). Sure enough, Jackson has gone on to reference the divorce countless more times over the years. 

Despite the lasting trauma he endured after his parents' divorce, Joshua Jackson went on to become a huge star in his teens, particularly when he earned a starring role on "Dawson's Creek." A big break many times over, no question about it. However, Jackson has said that experiencing success at such a young age occasionally got to him. 

In a 2021 interview with Mr Porter, Jackson mused, "Suddenly, at 19 years old, I was making more in a week than most of my friends' parents would make in a year." He added that he was grateful for it, but continued to say, "It was that feeling of nobody is worth that kind of money. You feel like a fraud and it took me a long time to forgive myself for not being the thing that I was perceived as." Two years later, "The Affair" actor doubled down on that sentiment while speaking to Bustle. "You get the sense of 'I don't deserve any of this.' That all felt very unreal to me, very dissociative, if I'm being honest," he admitted. 

The money aspect was just part of what made Jackson feel like an impostor, though. Speaking to The Times in 2023, he explained that he struggled with the pressures that came with his fame, especially since he felt like he was being groomed to be a shining example for young viewers. "You're trying to set me up to be a role model to kids, and I definitely am not," he said. Ultimately, Jackson kept going in spite of it all, and as he told Bustle, he's totally fine talking about and being recognized for his iconic role, even years down the line.

Joshua Jackson was in his mid-20s by the time "Dawson's Creek" ended in 2003, and in his chat with Mr Porter, he compared the setup to his college experience, where he and his co-stars even lived together. As with many college graduates, when that ended, he felt a little out of sorts while trying to find his way. That said, unlike so many stars on major shows, he didn't struggle to find work afterward. Quite the contrary, he had a pretty constant stream of new opportunities.  

Lucky as he was to have all the work, Jackson has said he ended up grabbing every opportunity that came his way, telling Mr Porter, "I was so used to working all the time that I just worked all the time." Unfortunately, he didn't enjoy many of his new gigs, but more than that, his consistently full pipeline began taking a toll on him. Eventually, his manager picked up on where he was at and suggested he slow down before he joined the ranks of many other former Disney stars who crashed and burned as young adults. "My manager at the time just said, 'Take a break. You're burnt out," he recounted. 

After a brief pause, Jackson signed on for another project — this time, a theater production in London's West End. "It reminded me that I actually enjoyed being an actor, that it's not about the red carpet or travelling around the world. What I really enjoy is working on good material with good people," he gushed. As for all the projects he'd done up until that point, he told the outlet he didn't regret them, even if he hadn't loved doing them at the time. "It all becomes bricks in a path," he shrugged. Fair enough!

Another drawback to Joshua Jackson achieving such a high level of fame so early on? Becoming a magnet for those who weren't quite as invested in him personally as they were in his star power. 

In his interview with Mr Porter, Jackson shared that on one occasion, after "Dawson's Creek" had ended, he'd been on a date with a socialite, only to learn that the entire thing had been a publicity stunt. "She was acting completely bizarre, looking over her shoulder the whole time," he said, adding that he only figured out what was going on after the fact. "I came to find out that she had hired a photographer to follow us through the park and gave a whole story to the tabloids about how I was going to meet her family," the actor recounted. 

Ever the class act, Jackson didn't share who the socialite in question had been, even making a point of noting that he wouldn't share her name. He also didn't share when exactly the date had taken place, simply sharing that it had been some time in the mid-aughts. As those aware of Jackson's dating history may know, his relationship with Diane Kruger began in 2006, so clearly the ordeal didn't cause him to swear off love altogether. 

Despite dating Diane Kruger for a decade, the couple never married — something they both seemed to be on board with. As Jackson had told Glamour in 2014, while he wouldn't rule out the possibility altogether, neither felt it was necessary. What's more, childhood trauma hadn't exactly set them up to see marriage as a happily ever after. "We're both children of divorce, so it's hard for me to take marriage at face value as the thing that shows you've grown up and are committed to another person," he said.

Jackson and Kruger split up in 2016, and after brief flings with Shafia West and Alyssa Julya Smith, he finally settled down with his first wife, Jodie Turner-Smith. To say the two were smitten would be an understatement, and in addition to Turner-Smith proposing to Jackson (who himself later proposed), the couple started a family together. Sadly, though, Jackson's relationship with Turner-Smith wouldn't last, and, in October 2023, TMZ reported that the model had filed for divorce.

The former lovebirds were initially cordial, with Turner-Smith telling The Times, "We obviously had such a beautiful moment together. And now it's time for a new moment for both of us. And how exciting!" As is so often the case with divorce, though, things did hit some rough patches, particularly when it came to things like custody. In early June 2025, People reported that Jackson had filed an emergency custody order after Turner-Smith changed their daughter's school without prior discussion. The same month, Us Weekly had also obtained a letter he'd written to his ex, asking for better communication prior to international travel. That said, the letter was a very polite one, and Jackson specifically noted that he was open to discussion and was grateful for their ongoing dialogue. 

Unfortunately for Joshua Jackson, divorce and custody woes weren't the only sad things he had to contend with in the years since becoming a father. As he revealed in an early 2025 Instagram Story, the home he shared with his and Jodie Turner-Smith's daughter burned down during the Pacific Palisades fires. Making matters even more devastating, it had been Jackson's childhood home in Topanga, which he'd bought to remind him of the good times he'd had there before his parents' split. 

Jackson spoke about house and losing it in an episode of "Dinner's On Me with Jesse Tyler Ferguson," explaining that he'd been at a wedding in Topanga when he and a friend walked past his childhood home and began a conversation with the new owner. The then-20-year-old actor ultimately asked the owner to give him a call if he ever decided to sell — and the following morning, he did. Jackson gushed that having the home was a way of "reclaiming of power from my father, who kind of snatched it from us." Like we said, though, tragedy struck in 2025 when the house burned down. 

Jackson told Ferguson that he'd been filming the day of the fire, and had even opted not to go home because he believed Topanga was far enough from the Pacific Palisades for it to be safe. The following day, however, he learned that his house had burned down. The actor shared that he'd dissociated at first and been very anxious about telling his daughter. That said, he went on to add that she'd come up with a bunch of sweet ideas to protect the house once it was rebuilt (like surrounding it with water), and that he'd taken notes from their meeting, which he planned to frame. 

Finishing off where we started, one particularly sad detail about Joshua Jackson is that although he did see his father after he'd become a star, it hadn't exactly been a tearful reunion. On the contrary, speaking in an interview on "George Stroumboupoulos Tonight," he shared that it had been "a very odd experience." Speaking of his dad coming to see him backstage while he was doing a play, Jackson recounted, "And so there he was after 20 years. Just came to, I don't know actually what it was about, other than just to say, 'I'm here.'" He added that it had been awkward all around and that even though he knew his mom wouldn't be upset with him for having a conversation, he felt guilty about it all the same. 

Several years later, in an episode of "Dinner's On Me with Jesse Tyler Ferguson," Jackson shared that after having become a father himself (and going through a divorce), he couldn't help but feel sorry for his dad, who had since passed away. "I find myself for the first time with a great deal of sympathy for him, because the pain that he must have lived with, to have four children in the world and essentially no relationship with any of them ... if I ever did anything to estrange my daughter from myself, I would be a wreck," the actor mused. 

Sympathy aside, Jackson went on to say that he was grateful to have the opportunity to effectively re-experience a father's love, even if that was coming from himself, and described his new role (which he deemed the most important) as a chance to heal. There's certainly been a lot to heal from, and we couldn't be happier for him.