Michael Nesmith of The Monkees confesses he was a sick celebrity who not only betrayed his wife but became a bizarre groupie of movie hunk Jack Nicholson!
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“I thought he was the coolest guy,” Mike admits in his just-released memoir, "Infinite Tuesday." “Since this was before the term ‘bromance’ … some people in my crowd of friends thought my fascination with him was beyond the pale.”Mike’s friendship with the legendary actor began shortly after he, Mickey Dolenz, Peter Tork and Davy Jones were put together by NBC bigwigs as a Beatles-like band dubbed "The Monkees."
Their TV series debuted in 1966 and became an instant hit with tunes like "Daydream Believer" and "Last Train to Clarksville." Suddenly a star, Mike was stricken by what he calls “celebrity psychosis” — arrogance and willful pride. Mike became a motorcycle-riding buddy of Peter Fonda, who introduced him to his "Easy Rider" costar Jack. Texas-raised Mike began hanging out with Jack — and doing drugs like LSD and marijuana.
He knew he didn’t fit in with Jack’s fast crowd, but the actor was “like catnip to me. It wasn’t in any sense sexual or even emotional, but I felt an affection.” The pair would get stoned and “crack each other up … laugh until we both ran out of breath and collapsed, coughing.” But after Jack worked on the 1968 Monkees movie "Head," he suddenly dropped Mike — coldly telling him not to come by his house before first calling.
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Rube Mike writes Jack and his pals “were heavy players: smart, educated … I had no chance of keeping up with them.” Mike didn’t keep up with his own family, either. The spoiled star says he had an affair with his best friend’s wife, Kathryn Bild, and later married her — ditching his first wife, Phyllis, mother of his three children!
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