Despite amassing an estimated net worth of $400 million through decades of death-defying stunts and blockbuster films, actor Jackie Chan once said his son will inherit nothing from his Hollywood fortune.
The action star’s approach to parenting reflects a philosophy rooted in self-reliance, one that has both strained and ultimately strengthened his relationship with his son.
“If he is capable, he can make his own money. If he is not, then he will just be wasting mine,” Chan told Channel NewsAsia in 2011, referring to his son Jaycee. This wasn’t just empty rhetoric. Chan has consistently demonstrated his commitment to teaching independence.
The most telling example came during a flight detailed in his 2015 autobiography. Chan deliberately booked himself a first-class ticket while purchasing an economy seat for Jaycee.
“You have no money now, so you sit here in economy,” he told his son, Unilad reports, attempting to drive home that privilege must be earned.
The lesson backfired when Jaycee was upgraded to a vacant first-class seat. Chan noted with frustration that his son has received free upgrades on every subsequent flight. Still, his message remained clear: “You have me as a dad, but other people don’t. When you get to sit in first class, because of your own hard work, then that’s success.”
Chan has been equally direct about his son’s character, stating that Jaycee had “no discipline” and didn’t “know how to talk” in conversations, when interviewed on SOH Talks & Ideas Archive.
He even expressed regret about not sending his son to military service to “temper his character.”
Chan’s tough-love approach faced its ultimate test in 2014 when Jaycee was arrested in Beijing for marijuana possession and sentenced to six months in prison. The incident sent shockwaves through Chan’s public image.
“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,” Chan wrote publicly. On Chinese social media, he described himself as “extremely furious” and hoped that “young people will see Jaycee as a cautionary tale.”
However, Chan also accepted partial responsibility.
“I failed to teach my son and I should also bear responsibility,” he wrote, before addressing his son directly: “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.”
Surprisingly, this crisis became a catalyst for positive change. Chan later told The Associated Press in 2015 that his son’s time in prison helped Jaycee mature and actually improved their father-son bond.
In the same interview, he said working alongside Will Smith and his son Jaden on “The Karate Kid” in 2010 had begun to shift his perspective. He observed Smith’s supportive presence on set daily and began questioning his traditional approach.
“I was too Chinese, traditional — you, son, go away, I don’t want to help you,” Chan admitted. “I say, ‘Why am I so stubborn? I have to help my son.'” This led to genuine regret: “I didn’t see much of my family at all. If you asked me now if I regret this, I’d say yes.”
While Chan has rebuilt his relationship with Jaycee, the situation with his daughter Etta remains complicated. Born in 1999 from Chan’s affair with former beauty queen Elaine Ng Yi-Lei, Etta represents what Chan called a “serious mistake” in his memoir.
People reported that, unlike Jaycee, Etta has been completely estranged from Chan. The situation became more complex when Etta, who is openly LGBTQ+, faced homelessness in 2018 with her partner Andi Autumn due to what she described as “homophobic parents.”
In a YouTube video, she revealed they had “slept under a bridge” for a month.
“He is not my dad. I have no feelings for him,” Etta told Express in 2015. “He is my biological father but he is not in my life.” When she married Autumn later that year, she wrote, “A home is with the family that you can choose.”