Lorraine Nicholson Reveals Dad Jack's Famous Ex Lara Flynn Boyle 'Acted As a Bridge Between Him and His Children' — As She Admits Actor 'Had A Hard Time Connecting To Us'
Jack Nicholson's daughter Lorraine opened up about his relationship with Lara Flynn Boyle.
Feb. 3 2025, Published 4:45 p.m. ET
Jack Nicholson's daughter Lorraine laid his relationship with Lara Flynn Boyle bare in a shocking tell-all from her point of view, RadarOnline.com can reveal.
Lorraine, 34, confessed while her father couldn't "connect" with her as a child, his much younger girlfriend willingly stepped into the role, subsequently "answering" his daughter's "prayers" by becoming her very own "Mary Poppins of Mulholland Drive."
Boyle and Nicholson's May-December relationship began when Lorraine was nine-years-old.
The 34-year-old opened up about one of her father's most infamous relationships in an article for Vanity Fair.
Lorraine recalled the first time she met Boyle, now 54, when she was nine-years-old. The Twin Peaks star wore a thong bikini with flames and read a book while lounging in the pool.
Nicholson's daughter wrote: "That day, I was too afraid to speak to her. Instead, I watched her surreptitiously from the shallow end, as she read a book on a plastic raft, the wind gently pushing her back and forth across the surface of the water.
"Finally she had arrived, the answer to my prayers—the Mary Poppins of Mulholland Drive."
Lorraine branded Boyle her very own 'Mary Poppins of Mulholland Drive.'
Lorraine explained, "at that point in my life, I yearned for the entrance of such a character," as her mother started dating again and she lived in a "mausoleum-level quiet" home with her dad.
She added: "By his own admission, my dad had a hard time connecting to us as children—though he loved beautiful women, he had no interest in playing with dolls. Lara, on the other hand, was happy to play with me."
The Soul Surfer actress recalled Boyle playing dolls with her on the floor and how she was "shocked to find she was smashing the dolls faces together," making her Barbies "kiss."
Lorraine confessed Nicholson had a 'hard time connecting' with her and her siblings as children.
Boyle was credited not only for being a friend to Lorraine but also for helping her grow into her own.
Lorraine confessed: "In me, Lara found a little girl who hated herself before puberty even."
She later added: "As someone who spent so many nights praying to be different, I was amazed to watch Lara lean into her physicality, daring the already predatory paparazzi and press to criticize her—which inevitably, they did."
The actress said Boyle not only helped her relationship with herself as a young girl, but also aided in her and her siblings' relationship with their famous father and dismantled the "children are to be seen, not heard" mentality they grew up in.
Boyle and Nicholson broke up after his ex-wife's alcoholism hit a breaking point.
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She explained Boyle "acted as a bridge between him and his children," while recalling the family suddenly "doing things we had never done before" like whitewater rafting and playing games together as a family.
Unfortunately for young Lorraine, Boyle and Nicholson's relationship soon fell apart. At the time, her biological mother, Rebecca Broussard, reached a tipping point in her battle with alcoholism – and she caused a scene by punching a flight attendant in the face, forcing an emergency landing on a trip to London.
Lorraine added: "Lara, as Mary Poppins, knows that an incident so embarrassing, so public, would jump-start my mother's recovery. My father would be forced to take action. And in this one sense, fictional Lara was right: This episode marked a new phase in my relationship with my dad."
The actress added: "In reality, I have no clue why my father and Lara broke up. I don't know if he cried or if she cried, but I certainly did."
