Jack Nicholson and Anjelica Huston would have made the perfect Gomez and Morticia Addams because their relationship was just as weird.
While Nicholson was accumulating his $400 million net worth, appearing in some of his most famous roles, like Jack Torrance from The Shining and Joker in Batman, he and Huston were having one of the most complicated on-again, off-again relationships, beginning from 1973 to 1990.
But you thought Jennifer Aniston and Brad Pitt's breakup was bad? Wait until you hear how Nicholson chose to break it off with Huston for good. We'll give you a hint. Right after they broke up, Nicholson started a relationship with Rebecca Broussard, with whom he has two children, including his daughter Lorraine. See where we're going with this? If not, get ready because we can write a small book on all the drama that went down between Huston and Nicholson.
Their Relationship Was Just A Tad Toxic
Huston met Nicholson at his birthday party in 1973. Their first date set the tone for their "emotional rollercoaster" of a relationship for the next 17 years. They arranged to see each other, but Huston later found out that Nicholson had canceled their arrangements to see his previous girlfriend.
In her 2014 memoir Watch Me, Huston divulged all the nitty-gritty details. Early into their relationship, she knew it would be difficult competing with Nicholson's playboy antics.
Huston found herself "tragically gullible" most of the time and always teetered on the idea of leaving him. She fell in love with him more every time she tried. She hated him, yet "enjoyed his brief flash of possessiveness," she wrote.
There were his gifts too, like the beautiful Mercedes-Benz and the elephant, but Huston remembers only her jealousy rather than his kindness. Every time she'd bring up his flirtations, he'd brush them off.
Marriage was another issue. Huston once said, "If you had any balls, you’d marry me," and he replied, "Marry you? Are you kidding?"
Nicholson told People they didn’t "get around to it," explaining, "I ask her to get married all the time. Sometimes she turns me down; sometimes she says yes." On the other hand, Huston said Nicholson’s business manager and lawyer wanted them to get married to save him money on taxes, which she thought was "strictly unromantic."
Huston left him in 1975 and began an affair with Ryan O'Neal, which ended up being even more toxic. It ended violently after O'Neal assaulted her at a party. She was back with Nicholson shortly after but got her own place. Nicholson didn't change his ways.
By the late '80s, Huston saw less of Nicholson because her career was skyrocketing, but the big finish had yet to happen.
Nicholson Invited Her For Dinner
In 1990, Nicholson invited Huston over for dinner and said, "someone is gonna have a baby," and it wasn't going to be Huston. He revealed he was having a baby with Rebbecca Broussard, who was 12 years younger than Huston and 26 years younger than Nicholson.
"There’s only room for one of us women in the picture, and I am going to retire from it," Huston said. But that wasn't the last straw. Days later, an article came out in Playboy, quoting a young woman who'd had a sexual encounter with Nicholson. This set Huston over the edge. She rushed down to Nicholson's office and offloaded her 17 years of frustration on him.
"I was in a quandary," Nicholson said in an interview with Parade. "I knew having a child was a boon to my life, but I was in a wonderful relationship with Anjelica. It was as good as it gets. I immediately told her what was up, and she made the decision for us. Anjelica’s first response was, 'You have to support this woman,' Her second response was to come down to my job and beat the hell out of me."
It was a very satisfying moment for Huston. After, she "felt a strange underlying gratitude to him for allowing me to beat the living hell out of him."
They spoke on the phone days later. "Goddamn, Toots, you sure landed some blows on me. I’m bruised all over my body,” Nicholson said. Huston replied, "'You’re welcome, Jack, you deserved it.' And we laughed. It was tragic, really."
All Huston was left with was a pearl-and-diamond bracelet from Nicholson with a note that said, "These pearls from your swine," signed "Yr Jack." It was ironic; he never was hers, yet she was charmed just as much as she was furious.
They didn't speak until 1995 when they were cast as an ex-married couple in The Crossing Guard. They had lunch on the last day of the shoot, and Nicholson said to her, "You and me, Toots — we’re like 'Love in the Time of Cholera.'"
Huston liked that comparison because it was "about one of my favorite subjects — hopeless, enduring love." Even though Nicholson said she was the love of his life, Huston only realized after the fact that Nicholson would have never been able to focus on their relationship.
Huston told the Here’s the Thing podcast, "I can’t say I enjoyed him all that much. I spent a lot of time in tears and a lot of time crying when I was with Jack, a lot of the time feeling slighted or I wasn’t getting enough attention from him. I always knew that I wasn’t the most important thing in Jack’s life."
In the end, Huston got a healthy romantic relationship with sculptor Robert Graham who she married in 1992 and remained with until he died in 2008. Nicholson had two children with Broussard, but they split in 1994.
Looking back, Huston wasn't drawn to Nicholson's "wildness," more like his "extraordinary charisma." She wanted the perfect romance and wanted Nicholson to be as obsessed with her as she was with him. She wanted to "tame the beast." But it never happened. At least they were able to have some of the best times of their lives together. There is that, at least.