Jack Nicholson’s Grandson Duke Shares Rare Update on Legendary Actor’s Health Following Retirement

Jack Nicholson’s grandson, Duke, is making a name for himself in the entertainment business, and he is offering updates on his grandfather along the way. Duke Nicholson is a rising star in Hollywood, but he has no problems talking about his famous family. The actor opened up in a new interview with The Hollywood Reporter, and shared details about his famous grandpa.

Duke gave an update on his grandfather’s retirement and his health near the beginning of the interview, presumably understanding that it was at the forefront of readers’ minds. The 20-year-old revealed that he last saw Nicholson, 82, at Thanksgiving, which Nicholson hosted.

“It’s usually pretty small. Me, my Uncle Ray, my Aunt Lorraine, my mom,” Duke said.

As for his health, Duke said Nicholson is doing well, with nothing major to report. “He’s doing great. He’s 100 percent,” he said.

Fans have worried about Nicholson at times, as his public profile has grown scarce in recent years. From the sound of it, the iconic actor is simply enjoying his retirement. Fans did get those viral swimming pictures last month, which affirmed for most that Nicholson is “living his best life.”

As for Duke, he is already doing a good job of following in his grandfather’s footsteps, while still carving his own path. The young actor appeared in Jordan Peele’s latest horror film Us earlier this year, and is in Nicholas Jarecki’s drug epic Dreamland, coming out soon. He also appears on the cover of Lana Del Rey’s album.

Duke is the son of Jennifer Nicholson, Jack’s daughter. Jennifer, 56, is a fashion designer with a boutique in Ojai, California. His father is 54-year-old retired pro surfer Mark Norfleet. Duke revealed that his father named him after the legendary Hawaiian surfer Duke Kahanamoku.

Duke said that he actually spends a lot of time with the aunt and uncle mentioned above, who are not much older than him. Ray and Lorraine, 27 and 29 years old respectively, come from Jack Nicholson‘s relationship with actress Rebecca Broussard in the early 1990s.

These days, Nicholson is single, but he does value his children above all else. In a Ryan D’Agostino’s 2009 book Esquire the Meaning of Life: Wisdom, Humor, and Damn Good Advice from 64 Extraordinary Lives, Nicholson said that children “give your life a resonance that it can’t have without them… As a father, I’m there all the time. I give unconditional love.”

Sadly, he feels he did not measure up in his relationship with Duke’s mother. In 2012, he told reporters from The Sun: “I didn’t see enough of my eldest daughter because I was trying to make a career.”

From the sound of it, Nicholson is making up for lost time in his retirement, and his grandson values the legacy of his work. Dreamland is due out some time in 2020.