Celebrity parents have to navigate a tricky minefield. Their children did not choose this lifestyle but had it thrust upon them, and with that comes both privileges, such as wealth, and difficulties, such as lack of privacy and the possibility of entitlement. In order to raise good human beings, it is sometimes necessary to give tough love.
Some celebrity parents, such as Jackie Chan, do this by deciding to not leave their children any of their wealth. Jackie has stated that his son, Jaycee Chan, will not receive an inheritance because Jackie wants Jaycee to make his own way in the world. Those are some big shoes to fill, but Jaycee will have to be up for the challenge.
Jackie Chan has had an impressive career that began in Hong Kong when he was just 5 years old. He honed his martial arts skills working as a stunt double in films such as Bruce Lee's Fist of Fury. He crossed over into the North American market and Hollywood with films such as Rumble in the Bronx and The Big Brawl in the 1980s and '90s.
Jackie’s Hollywood star continued to rise in the 2000s. He also expanded and added singing to his list of accomplishments, releasing 20 albums in Asia. He began a production company called JCE Movies Limited.
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In 2016, Forbes reported he was the second-highest-paid actor in the world. It is estimated today that he is worth $400 million. He worked incredibly hard to acquire it.
Beyond his career, Jackie is a father of two. In 1982, he married Taiwanese actress Joan Lin, and the pair welcomed a baby boy to the world, Jaycee Chan. Chan also shares a daughter, Etta Ng Chok Lam, with Elaine Ng Yi-Lei, with whom he had an extramarital affair, but Jackie and his daughter do not have a relationship.
Jackie has no plans of leaving his money to son Jaycee. “If [Jaycee] is capable, he can make his own money. If he is not, then he will just be wasting my money,” Jackie said. He will instead be donating the wealth he acquired during his lifetime to charity.
Unlike Jackie and daughter Etta, Jackie and Jaycee do have a relationship, but it is often strained. One reason might be the fact that Jackie cheated on Jaycee’s mother. The other is that in 2014 Jaycee served time for possession and distribution of marijuana.
Jackie was so disheartened about this. “When I first heard the news, I was absolutely enraged. As a public figure, I feel very ashamed; as his dad, I’m very sad and disappointed. But the person who feels heartbroken the most is his mom,” he wrote on his website.
At the end of the day, Jackie still loved his son and wanted to support him through this hard time. “I would like to take this opportunity and say to Jaycee: you’ve done something wrong and you have to be responsible for the consequences. I’m your dad and I’ll always be with you. We will face the road ahead of us together.” Jackie even blamed himself. “I should also take some of this responsibility because as his dad, I didn’t teach him well,” he concluded.
