Jack Nicholson's Daughter Shares Touching Story of Lara Flynn Boyle's Impact on Her Childhood

Jack Nicholson and Lara Flynn Boyle broke up over two decades ago, but there's one person who still continues to be affected by their relationship: Jack's daughter, Lorraine Nicholson.

In a new essay for Vanity Fair, Lorraine, 34—whose mother is Rebecca Broussard—opened up about what it was like when her father starting dating Lara in 1999.

"When I was 9, my best friend was 30-year-old ingénue Lara Flynn Boyle," Lorraine wrote.

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As Lorraine explained, while the "spectacle" of Jack and the Twin Peaks actress—who is 33 years younger than him—was "scandalous," her family at the time was "actually kind of typical."

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"In our house, we lived more by the motto 'Children are to be seen, not heard' than any hippie California ethos," Lorraine revealed.

"And yet, this was the marvelous world of Jack Nicholson. We would drive golf balls into the canyons. We’d eat dinner after 9 p.m. And though we never saw him, my brother and I lived in constant terror of our reclusive neighbor Marlon Brando, who could come lumbering down our shared driveway in search of ice cream at any moment, trailed by his pair of snapping black English mastiffs. In other words, like the Banks family of Mary Poppins fame, we were primed for the arrival of magic."

Lorraine went on to share that she would "never forget the first day Lara was introduced to us children" (referring to herself and her younger brother Ray, now 32).

As Lorraine recalled, Lara joined the kids in the pool, wearing a thong bathing suit with flames "licking up the crotch."

"That day, I was too afraid to speak to her," Lorraine admitted. "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."

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According to Lorraine, while her father "had a hard time connecting" to his children, Lara "was happy to play" with her—and in time, she came to act as a bridge between Jack and his kids.

"Suddenly, we were doing things we had never done before," Lorraine recalled.

"In Aspen, we went whitewater rafting down the Colorado River. We cackled wildly while playing Parcheesi. In one particularly traitorous game of Uno, my brother and I kamakazied ourselves so that while we wouldn’t win, my father wouldn’t either. After he stormed out of the room, followed by a trail of very Nicholson obscenities, it was Lara who put a stop to his sulking and lured him back upstairs. Since his relationship with my mom, I had never seen my father with another woman. Like in the Mary Poppins films, I understand why it was Lara who sent the other applicants blowing ass-over-heels down the street."

As someone who struggled with body image, Lorraine felt uniquely understood by Lara, who was often picked apart by the press for her own appearance.

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"Lara made me feel like my pain mattered," Lorraine wrote.

When Lara and Jack ultimately split in 2005, Lorraine didn't know why—but the breakup happened around the same time her mother's battle with alcoholism "reached its Jerry Springer heights" with an incident involving Rebecca punching a flight attendant.

"In my fantasy version of this story, Lara leaves our family because she knows I got what I needed," Lorraine theorized.

"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. Though I was just 12, he could speak to me like an adult—we could now become best friends.

"And so with a knowing smile and a wink, Lara opens her magical umbrella and disappears into the sky," Lorraine 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."

Next: Michael Douglas Shares "Epic" Throwback Photo With Jack Nicholson