Both women were gone. The questions that only they could answer were gone with them. The family tree had been redrawn, quietly, by a magazine doing background research on a film. And the person most affected absorbed the redrawing with the composure and complexity of someone who had spent his professional life studying the gap between who people appear to be and who they actually are.
His name had always been his. The rest, it turned out, had always been somewhat more complicated.
Sources and Further Reading
Jack Nicholson entry — Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Nicholson
“How Jack Nicholson Discovered His Sister Was His Mother” — Grunge.com: https://www.grunge.com/621340/how-jack-nicholson-discovered-his-sister-was-his-mother/
“How Jack Nicholson Found Out The Truth About His Mother” — Nicki Swift: https://www.nickiswift.com/638971/how-jack-nicholson-found-out-the-truth-about-his-mother/
“How Jack Nicholson Learned His Sister Was Really His Mother” — Cheat Sheet: https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/how-jack-nicholson-learned-his-sister-was-really-his-mother.html
“When Jack Nicholson discovered that his sister was actually his mother” — Far Out Magazine: https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/jack-nicholson-sister-was-his-mother/
“8 Things You Might Not Know About Jack Nicholson” — Mental Floss: https://www.mentalfloss.com/posts/jack-nicholson-actor-facts
“The Untold Truth of Jack Nicholson” — Looper: https://www.looper.com/310604/the-untold-truth-of-jack-nicholson/
Jack Nicholson — Snopes.com: https://www.snopes.com/movies/actors/nicholson.asp
Jack Nicholson biography — Biography.com: https://www.biography.com/actors/a29838091/jack-nicholson
Jack Nicholson — The Swinging Sixties: https://www.theswinging60s.com/jack-nicholson/
“What do Jack Nicholson and Justin Bieber have in common?” — Denison Forum: https://www.denisonforum.org/daily-article/what-do-jack-nicholson-and-justin-bieber-have-in-common/