Jackie Chan Confesses to Having a Distant Relationship with His Son
Although international star Jackie Chan (成龍) rarely spoke of his family, he made an exception at the premiere of his film, Whispers of Gratitude <過家家>. The 71-year old star opened up how his parenting approach ended up damaging his relationship with his son, Jaycee Chan (房祖名).
Jackie gave a glimpse of their relationship, “I taught [Jaycee] myself. It was like a military training. I didn’t spend a lot of time with him. When I do spend more time with him, he avoided me.”
The actor confessed to placing high expectation for Jayce and even trained him to be a part of his stunt team. Jackie was strict and often scolded him, and as a result, Jaycee began to avoid him. Jackie said, “I scolded my son whenever I saw him. When I talked about him on TV, I never said a kind word about him.”
He revealed that Jaycee used to call him once a year to wish him a happy birthday, but he would yell at him, “Don’t call me on my birthday, call me at any other time, you know?” and then hung up abruptly.
When asked why Jackie reacted so strongly when Jaycee called him on his birthday, Jackie explained that he believe every day could be a holiday and children shouldn’t rely on day of significance to show they care about their parents.
Jackie had thought that his parenting approach was cool and would prompt his son to call him more. However, his tone was too harsh and now Jaycee stopped calling altogether. Now, the father and son lost contact with each other and communicate only through Jackie’s assistant. It got to the point where, Jackie would be scared if Jaycee suddenly calls him because it means Jaycee is in trouble.
Over time, Jackie reflected on himself, “Later I realized I was wrong. Parenting shouldn’t be like that. He should be allowed to express himself freely, to create freely. In the end, he was afraid of me.”
Now that Jaycee is 43 years old, Jackie Chan says he has no more expectations for his son: “Now I just hope he’s safe and happy. And I myself am the same; I don’t have so many attachments anymore. Letting go is good for my own happiness. I Make the movies I like, and I see the people I like to see. Now, I have fewer friends and I wear simpler clothes. It’s enough.”
Source: [1]
This article is written by Sammi for JayneStars.com.
Guy is a disaster as a father to both his kids. He treated his daughter even worse by not even acknowledging her existence. He has no one to blame but himself for estranging both his kids.
Compare him to guy like Sammo and Donnie Yen, who seen to have healthy relationships with their families and you see what a failure of a father Jackie was.