Hollywood's Biggest Druggie? New Tell-All Exposé Reveals Jack Nicholson's Chronic Drug Use
Sept. 19 2013, Published 1:43 p.m. ET
Hollywood legend Jack Nicholson was one of the most prolific actors of his time before recently deciding to retire. But his rise to the top wasn't just fueled by ambition and talent: A new memoir, Nicholson, by Marc Eliot, reveals how Jack's drug use was intimately tied with his career successes -- and failures -- for many years.
It all started, Eliot claims, with LSD, which Jack first tried in the early 60s.
"Jack's experiences with the drug were life-changing," Eliot says. "He believed after taking it the first time that he had seen the face of God. He also had castration fantasies, homoerotic fantasies, and revelations about not being wanted as an infant."
LSD became such a big part of their lives, according to the book, that when their marriage began to crumble and they consulted a therapist, they each took acid before the first session!
And as Jack began to get into screenwriting, acid was coursing through his veins, Eliot writes, claiming he wrote the screenplay for 1967's The Trip while, appropriately, on a trip of his own.
He also "regular got stoned and dropped acid" during the writing of the Monkees feature Head the next year, Eliot claims.
And in a big meeting to secure funding for the movie that would become Easy Riders, Jack allegedly greeted the potential investors with a joint.