Here's Daddy! All About Jack Nicholson's 6 Kids

Jack and Ray Nicholson

Jack Nicholson has only tried his hand at marriage once (and then only for six years), but he’s given parenthood a shot six times. The Oscar winner shares six kids with five different women, becoming a dad for the first time in 1963 when he welcomed daughter Jennifer with then-wife Sandra Knight.

Nicholson isn’t close to all of his kids, but the ones he does have a good relationship with get to see a side of him that fans don't. Those fans might be surprised to learn that Nicholson has the same concerns as any regular dad who isn’t the most nominated male actor in Academy Awards history.

“I want to be inspirational, or some kind of good influence on them without overburdening them,” Nicholson told AARP The Magazine in 2008 while discussing his relationship with Lorraine and Ray, whom he shares with ex Rebecca Broussard. “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. They walked in on my death scene in The Departed. I said, ‘If I can get these two kids really worried, I’m doin’ my job!’”

Keep reading for a complete guide to Nicholson’s six children.

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How many children does Jack Nicholson have?

Jack Nicholson has six children: Jennifer Nicholson (born in 1963), Caleb Goddard (born in 1970), Honey Hollman (born in 1982), Lorraine Nicholson (born in 1990), Ray Nicholson (born in 1992) and Tessa Gourin (born in 1994).

Who are the mothers of Jack Nicholson’s children?

Sandra Knight

Jack Nicholson shares his eldest child, daughter Jennifer, with ex-wife Sandra Knight. Nicholson and Knight tied the knot in 1962 after working together on the Roger Corman film The Terror, which hit theaters in 1963—the same year that Jennifer arrived. The duo divorced in 1968 after six years of marriage.

​​“The real Jack is a loving, caring, giving person,” Knight told Closer in 2016. “We had a very beautiful, sweet marriage.”

Susan Anspach

Nicholson’s second child, son Caleb, was born in 1970 to his Five Easy Pieces costar Susan Anspach. While she was pregnant, Anspach married fellow actor Mark Goddard, who adopted Caleb after he was born. Nicholson later publicly denied paternity, but Caleb told People in 1995 that Nicholson privately acknowledged him as his son. Anspach died in 2018 at age 75 after suffering heart failure.

Winnie Hollman

Nicholson welcomed his third child, daughter Honey, with Winnie Holman in 1982. Holman, a Danish model, dated Nicholson from 1980 to 1985. After their split, she raised Honey in her native Denmark.

Rebecca Broussard

Nicholson shares two children, daughter Lorraine and son Ray, with Rebecca Broussard, whom he dated from 1989 to 1994. (Broussard’s first pregnancy inspired Anjelica Huston to end her off-and-on romance with Nicholson after 17 years.)

After Nicholson and Broussard’s split, rumors swirled that she’d left him for a younger man, but she told Vanity Fair in 1994 that wasn’t the case. “After I had my kids, I changed,” she said. “[The other man] is a very important person in my life. He has nothing to do with Jack and my reality.”

Nicholson, meanwhile, said he was still in love with her after the breakup. “I’m still in love with all the women I ever loved,” he told Vanity Fair in the same article. “I trusted her too much. I’d trust again too much tomorrow night because I like her. She’s great.”

Jennine Gourin

Nicholson’s youngest child, daughter Tessa, was born to Jennine Gourin in 1994. Tessa has said that her mother told her not to speak about who her father was. “From a very young age, my mother told me not to tell anyone that I have this famous dad,” Tessa told The Daily Beast in February 2023. “I knew he was powerful and Daddy Warbucks-level rich, so I kind of equated my life to being like Orphan Annie’s.”

Nicholson, meanwhile, has never publicly acknowledged Tessa.

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Who are Jack Nicholson’s kids?

Jennifer Nicholson

Jennifer Nicholson (born Sept. 13, 1963) is the eldest child of Jack Nicholson. The Oscar winner shares Jennifer with Sandra Knight, whom he divorced in 1968 after six years of marriage. Jennifer grew up in Hawaii with her mother. “I like being Jack Nicholson’s daughter and I’m proud of him, but people don’t understand the pressures that come along with that,” she told the Los Angeles Times in 2003.

Jennifer has worked as an interior designer and set designer, and in 2003, she founded her own fashion line. She shares two sons, Duke and Sean, with ex-husband Mark Norfleet. Like his grandfather, Duke is an actor, having appeared in Us and Alone at Night. (He’s also the guy on the cover of Lana Del Rey’s 2019 album, Norman F--king Rockwell.)

Caleb Goddard

Born Sept. 26, 1970, Caleb Goddard is Jack Nicholson’s oldest son. Goddard’s mother was the late Susan Anspach, who had a fling with Nicholson after they met on the set of 1970’s Five Easy Pieces. Nicholson publicly denied paternity, but Goddard later said that the actor privately acknowledged him as his son.

Honey Hollman

Honey Hollman is Jack Nicholson’s third child, born Jan. 26, 1982. Nicholson dated Honey’s mother, Winnie Holman, from 1980 to 1985. Honey stays out of the public eye, but she shares three children—Walter, Daisy and Hank—with husband Peter Duffy. While she appeared in one film in 2010, she works primarily in the food industry, having owned a pub and founded an organic grocery store.

Lorraine Nicholson

Jack Nicholson’s first child with Rebecca Broussard, daughter Lorraine Nicholson, was born on April 16, 1990. Lorraine and her father have a close relationship, with Jack taking her to events like the Golden Globes. In 2007, she told People that her dad’s nickname for her is “Perf,” which is “short for perfect.”

Ray Nicholson

Jack Nicholson and Rebecca Broussard’s second child, Ray Nicholson, arrived on Feb. 20, 1992. “Ray may have a problem with being a little too good-looking,” Jack told Vanity Fair in 1994, when his youngest son was just two years old. “He does move like me. There’s a lot of body language on him. You don’t miss them Nicholson legs. Somebody’s got to get them, poor thing. They’re useful but short. Most infants pretty much don’t have chins. But Ray always had a jaw. You can’t wait to get him into a collar or a shaving commercial.”

Ray ultimately followed in his dad’s footsteps by becoming an actor, starring in the 2022 rom-com Something From Tiffany’s alongside Zoey Deutch (the daughter of Lea Thompson and 2021’s Licorice Pizza alongside Cooper Hoffman (the son of the late Philip Seymour Hoffman).

Tessa Gourin

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Born Aug. 15, 1994, Tessa Gourin is Jack Nicholson’s youngest child, though he has never publicly acknowledged his paternity. In February 2023, Gourin told The Daily Beast that Nicholson was “never interested” in having a relationship with her but claimed he paid for some of her education. "When you're a child, you don't have a choice where you're going, so if your mom is 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 added. "I don't know this person very well, we'll just say that."

How old are Jack Nicholson’s children?

Jack Nicholson’s eldest child, daughter Jennifer, turned 60 in September 2023. Caleb Goddard celebrated his 53d birthday that same month, while Honey Hollman will turn 42 in January 2024. Lorraine Nicholson turned 33 in April 2023, and her younger brother, Ray Nicholson, celebrated his 31st birthday in February 2023. Jack’s youngest child, daughter Tessa Gourin, turned 29 in August 2023.

Are any of Jack Nicholson’s kids actors?

All of Jack Nicholson’s six kids have dabbled in acting, but only a few of them have pursued it seriously. Jennifer Nicholson had a small role alongside her dad in 1992’s Hoffa and later starred in 2017’s Johnny Christ, while Caleb Goddard starred in one episode of The Slap Maxwell Story in 1988. Honey Hollman, meanwhile, starred in 2010’s Empire North, and Tessa Gourin has appeared in short films.

Jack’s children with Rebecca Broussard, Lorraine and Ray Nicholson, have been the most successful in the entertainment industry. Lorraine starred in 2011’s Soul Surfer after landing a small role in Something’s Gotta Give alongside her father; she later turned her eye to directing with the 2017 short film Life Boat. Ray, meanwhile, has appeared in Promising Young Woman, Licorice Pizza, Mayans M.C., and more.

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