Five things Jackie Chan glossed over in his new memoir Never Grow Up
- Jackie Chan writes candidly about his troubled past in his book, but leaves out some details of his life
- The actor’s illegitimate daughter Etta Ng is never mentioned and her actress mother is not named
In his new memoir, Never Grow Up, kung fu film legend Jackie Chan writes about many low points of his life, such as drinking, visiting prostitutes and overspending. However, he glosses over several controversial areas of his life which are already matters of public record.
Here are five areas mentioned only in passing that many readers would want to learn more about.
The affair
“In 1999, I made a serious mistake.” Chan writes that after having an affair, he held a family meeting with wife Joan Lin and son Jaycee to discuss the matter. But he says nothing at all about the “other woman”, actress Elaine Ng, such as how they met, how long the affair went on, how their affair was discovered, and how this affected his reputation.
He also doesn’t address rumours of other affairs.
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Illegitimate child
Along with not mentioning Elaine Ng by name, Chan says nothing at all about their daughter, Etta Ng. It has been reported that Etta – who came out as a lesbian last year and married her girlfriend in Canada last month – does not consider Chan a part of her family. Elaine Ng’s lawyer has said Chan has never paid any child support.
Son’s prison sentence
Several parts of Never Grow Up are written by Chan’s co-author Zhu Mo, such as the section about son Jaycee’s conviction on marijuana charges in Beijing in 2015.
Zhu simply describes the basic facts of the case, adding that Chan couldn’t be there for Jaycee’s release and instead sent him a video with some fatherly advice.
Mother’s drug dealing
Chan has previously revealed that his mother was dealing opium in Shanghai when she met his father, but his cursory explanation in Never Grow Up (his father “found out she was actually quite notorious in Shanghai, and had quite the underground reputation”) leaves many questions unanswered.
Drink driving
“I drove drunk all the time. In the morning I’d crash my Porsche, then in the evening I’d total a Mercedes-Benz.”
Drink driving is more frowned on socially than it once was, but Chan’s admission that he regularly crashed vehicles while drunk (even allowing for a certain hyperbole) also raises questions. Was he ever arrested? Did he injure anyone? Maybe these questions will be answered in his next memoir.
