Are you my mommy? – 4 Celebrities who were fooled about their parents’ identity

  Jack Nicholson

Nicholson must have inherited his acting skills from his mother, who he believed to be his sister for thirty-seven years.  June Nicholson gave birth to Jack in 1937.  She was only eighteen years old and pursuing a career as a showgirl.  June’s mother and father, Ethel and John, insisted on raising little Jack, while June continued with her career.  Jack grew up in New Jersey, was voted class clown during high school, and lived a care-free childhood with dreams of becoming an actor.  He accomplished his dream with great success, and was interviewed for the cover of Time magazine in 1974.  The Time magazine interviewer discovered that June was Jack’s real mother and asked Nicholson about it.  Nicholson denied the fact, but later called his “brother-in-law” to check.  His “brother-in-law”, Shorty, was also in the dark about the maternal swap, so he assured Jack that the interviewer was incorrect.  However, later in the evening, Shorty called Nicholson back and put his wife, Lorraine, on the phone.  Through tears, Lorraine revealed that Jack was raised by his grandparents and that June was his biological mother.  Both June and Ethel died taking the secret to their graves, passing in 1970 and 1963.

“Son she said, have I got a little story for you.  What you thought was your daddy was nothin’ but a fool” begin the lyrics for “Alive” a popular Pearl Jam song written by vocalist Eddie Vedder.  The lyrics ring true, as Vedder grew up believing his step-father was his biological father.  Vedder was born in Evanston, Illinois, just before Christmas, in 1964, to Edward Louis Severson Jr. and Karen Lee Vedder.   His parents divorced shortly after his birth, and his mother remarried Peter Mueller.  Eddie believed that Mueller was his biological father until his late teens.  He was told the truth when Karen and Mueller divorced, but it was too late for Vedder to get to know his real father who had passed away from multiple sclerosis.

Bobby Darin, the mastermind behind the catchy “Splish Splash” and other popular songs in the 50’s and 60’s was devastated when he learned that the woman who raised him was not his biological mother, but instead his grandmother.  His older sister, Nina, was his real mother.  Nina was just seventeen and single when she gave birth to Bobby— quite the scandal in the 1930’s!  Nina’s mother, who went by Polly, thought it best to raise the child as her own.  Darrin lacked a father figure, as Polly’s husband, a wannabe Italian mobster, died in prison from pneumonia before Darin’s birth.  Nina revealed the truth to Darrin after thirty-two years.  It was a tough year for Darrin, as he also suffered through the loss of Robert Kennedy, his friend and employer, as he worked for the politician’s 1968 presidential campaign.  Darrin dealt with his emotions by secluding himself in a trailer in Big Sur for a year.

 Eric Clapton

Eric Clapton and his biological father shared a love for music and probably would have gotten along great if they had ever met.  Unfortunately, Clapton never met his real father and believed his grandmother and step-grandfather to be his biological parents until the age of nine.  Patricia Clapton gave birth to the three-time Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee in 1945, at the young age of 16.  She had met twenty-five year old Canadian solider, Edward Fryer, at a small pub where he was playing piano and singing to earn some extra cash while stationed in Britain during WWII.  Fryer returned to battle before Eric was born and later moved back to Canada.  Eric’s grandparents raised him, while his real mother played the role of big sister.  Patricia eventually married another Canadian solider and moved away.  She told Eric that she was his biological mother at the age of nine.  Although Patricia had more children at this time, she decided to leave Eric in England to continue to be raised by her mother.